Microsoft tests superconductors to shrink data centers and tackle AI power demands

Microsoft wants to rewire data centers to save space

Microsoft wants to design more efficient data centers using materials that allow electricity to flow with zero resistance. If these new materials, called high-temperature superconductors, can make it to market, Microsoft thinks it could be a game changer for how data centers and the energy infrastructure they connect to are built. Tech companies are facing backlash over how much power generative AI demands, delays connecting to power grids that lack the infrastructure to meet those demands, and the impact construction of new data centers has on local residents. High-temperature superconductors (HTS) could potentially shrink the amount of space needed for a data center and the transmission lines feeding it power. "Microsoft is exploring how this technology could make electrical grids stronger and reduce the impact data centers have on nearby communities," Microsoft GM of Global Infrastructure Marketing Alistair Speirs wrote in a blog published today. Today's centers -- and most of our energy infrastructure -- rely on old-school copper wires, which conduct electricity pretty efficiently. HTS cables, however, can move an electrical current with zero resistance, slashing the amount of energy lost in the process. It also allows for cables that are lighter and more compact. You'll already find HTS in MRI machines, and more recently used in short stretches for power lines in dense metropolitan areas including Paris and Chicago. So far, though, their use has been limited in part because HTS cables have been more complicated and expensive to use in energy systems than copper cables. To reach zero resistance, the HTS would need to be cooled to very low temperatures -- likely using liquid nitrogen. And the HTS "tape" that forms the basis of superconducting cables is typically made with rare-earth barium copper oxide material. While a superconducting cable only requires a small amount of rare-earth material, the supply chain for the rare earth element is still largely concentrated in China. A bigger challenge, experts tell The Verge, will be increasing the manufacturing capacity for this tape enough for it to be affordable. That's starting to change as a result of the power demands of generative AI. In recent years, tech companies have fueled research into the development of a nuclear fusion power plant, long considered the holy grail of clean energy. Much of the HTS tape manufactured today goes toward fusion research, and growth in that department has managed to lower costs for the material. "That actually helped the supply chain and manufacturer variety, and even some of the costing of HTS ... for us to, like, oh, 'Well, let's think about that. Now things have changed a little bit,'" says Husam Alissa, director of systems technology at Microsoft. Microsoft is primarily interested in using HTS in two ways, Alissa tells The Verge. Inside a data center, smaller cables would allow for more flexibility in how the electrical rooms and racks of hardware are laid out. With funding from Microsoft, Massachusetts-based superconducting company VEIR demonstrated last year that HTS cables at a data center could deliver the same amount of power with about a 10x reduction in cable dimension and weight compared to conventional alternatives. "The future data center will be superconducting ... High power, more efficient, more compact," says Ziad Melhem, professor in practice in the physics department at Lancaster University who sits on the editorial board for the Superconductivity Global Alliance. (Melhem disclosed that he previously worked at Oxford Instruments, which supplied Microsoft with components for its quantum computer system.) Outside of the data center, Microsoft is open to working with energy companies to support the buildout of long-distance power lines using HTS. Expanding transmission lines has been one of the biggest bottlenecks when it comes to updating the power grid, connecting data centers, and building out more power supply. The process of getting approvals to build such large infrastructure across multiple jurisdictions can be long and arduous. With power lines made from HTS, the amount of space needed for those power lines could shrink significantly. While overhead transmission lines might spread out over an area around 70 meters in width, superconducting cables might only need 2 meters of clearance, according to the Microsoft blog. The smaller area ostensibly shaves down the time and cost needed for construction. "This is an obvious evolution of the use of this technology," says Dennis Whyte, a professor of nuclear science and engineering at MIT. Whyte has not worked directly with Microsoft, but co-leads an effort to build a fusion machine called SPARC that's a collaboration between MIT and a company called Commonwealth Fusion Systems that's received funding from Bill Gates' Breakthrough Energy Ventures. The additional interest in HTS for data centers could also allow fusion companies get more of the material for less money, helping propel advances in nuclear fusion technology as well. Microsoft has separately inked a deal with another company developing a fusion power plant in Washington state. "It's come full circle," Whyte says.

Microsoft turns to superconductors for distributing power to its AI data centers -- zero-resistance cables could reduce power losses and produce zero heat

Microsoft is currently looking at high-temperature superconductors (HTS) for transmitting the massive amounts of electricity that it needs for its data centers. According to the company blog, since superconductors have zero resistance, adoption of that exotic tech would mean that the HTS cables would not suffer voltage drops or generate heat as electricity travels through them. The advantages of HTS cables means that they can be lighter and take up less space compared to traditional copper and aluminum wires. For example, overhead lines typically need 70 meters of space to prevent the electrical fields of the individual cables from interfering with each other, among other reasons. HTS cables, on the other hand, only requires a 2-meter-wide trench. HTS has been studied for several decades now, but it seems that recent advancements have made it more viable to deploy at scale. The biggest challenge that this technology faces is the cryogenic technology required to keep the conductors at their optimal temperature. Classic elemental superconductors, like mercury, need to operate below 10 Kelvin -- that's around -263 degrees C or less than -440 degrees F. And even though HTS do not need to stay as cool as traditional ones, conductors made with those materials still require temperatures around -200 degrees C or less than -320 degrees F. As Mark Zuckerberg predicted a couple of years ago, power constraints are one of the biggest constraints hampering AI growth. Even Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella has said that the company has idle AI GPUs in its inventory because it did not have enough electricity to install them all. AI data centers' massive demand for power has started affecting ordinary users, with politicians taking notice of the toll it has put on ordinary Americans. Because of this, President Donald Trump has called on AI tech companies to "pay their own way" when it comes to their power consumption. Microsoft was the first AI hyperscaler to respond to this promising the public that it will follow its "Community-First AI Infrastructure" framework when building its data centers. The company's first and biggest promise in this framework is "We'll pay our way to ensure our datacenters don't increase your electricity prices." This means that the company will have to spend more to carry the burden of investing in the power plants and other infrastructure required for its planned data centers. But aside from just building more and more power lines and facilities, Microsoft has apparently decided that it wants to reduce the waste brought about by inefficiencies in the system It seems that data centers' massive electrical demand is making HTS technology economically viable to deploy, especially if it will reduce the massive amounts of space that substations and other conventional power infrastructure require. More importantly, it would allow Microsoft to build more data centers without needing more electricity from the grid as it's still working on the research and development of small-modular reactors (which isn't even guaranteed to work). If high-temperature superconductors become viable, it would be yet another example of the mind-boggling economics of AI expanding the frontiers of every part of the technology stack.

Microsoft exploring using advanced power lines to make data centers more energy-efficient

Feb 10 (Reuters) - Microsoft is exploring using superconducting power lines in its data centers, which could potentially accelerate its massive U.S. build-out of the server warehouses by making them more energy-efficient, the company said on Tuesday. Big Tech's effort to swiftly build and electrify giant data centers across the U.S. to expand technologies like artificial intelligence has been slowed by the country's aging power system and constrained electricity supplies. Microsoft said recent tests of high-temperature superconductor cables have shown that the power lines can deliver the same amount of electricity as traditional cables while taking up less space. "The technology helps us scale power density without expanding our physical footprint," Husam Alissa, who leads the Systems Technology Team at Microsoft's CO+I CTO Office. "It can also help us reduce the size of power transmission infrastructure and lower community impact." High-temperature superconductor cables use a ceramic-like material that transports electricity more efficiently than conventional copper and aluminum conductors, which are used widely in power infrastructure. Deploying the cables, which are not currently used in data centers, could shorten the time it takes to power the large server warehouses. Microsoft said the technology could allow it to increase electrical density inside facilities without expanding infrastructure like substations. The company, however, did not disclose its investment in superconducting technology or when it would be able to deploy them in its data centers. U.S. government research shows the electricity use of data centers may consume about 12 percent of U.S. power supplies by 2028, a tripling from four years earlier, which would require more infrastructure to generate and transport the electricity. Single data center campuses being built today will require more than one gigawatt of electricity at a single location, enough to power about 750,000 homes. The cable technology has been under development for decades, but stymied by high costs and manufacturing constraints. Microsoft is investing in superconducting companies, including Massachusetts-based cable manufacturer and cooling system vendor, VEIR, which closed a $75 Series B funding round this last year. VEIR, which recently completed a test of its three megawatt cable to power a server rack in a simulated data center, said the advanced cables can be more than 10 times smaller and lighter than traditional cables, allowing for a smaller data center footprint. (Reporting by Laila Kearney in New York; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama )