Internet and software giants such as Google, Amazon Web Services, and Microsoft are all constantly expanding their already vast data centers and building new ones to meet the requirements of the evergrowing internet traffic. The growth has only accelerated with the emergence of AI tools such as ChatGPT by OpenAI (who have raised $10bn from Microsoft), Google's Bard, Claude by Anthropic, and others.
If AI tools are the rocket fuel in the accelerating growth of the data center industry, power is what keeps them running, or in the worst case, is the bottleneck for the growth of the industry. CBRE's Global Data Center Trends 2023 report highlights this in no uncertain terms: "A worldwide shortage of available power is inhibiting growth of the global data center market."
By 2023, data centers account for 3% of global electrical energy consumption even though this figure can reach localized peaks such as the incredible 18% we can find in Ireland. Furthermore, data centers global energy consumption is escalating at nearly 20% annually, with new, more power-hungry facilities emerging each year.
A Google data center in the Netherlands. (source: Adobe Stock)
In addition to these challenges, AI tools like ChatGPT have changed how data centers operate and consume power.
Unlike standard cloud computing services where a facility might handle different tasks simultaneously and thus averaging out power demand (and being a predictable, stable load for power grids), AI operations often lean towards parallel computing. This means the entire data center could be performing the same task across all processor cores, leading to massive, continuous power demand spikes. With major industry players all vying for dominance in the AI market, this results in an unprecedented strain on the power grid, creating a bottleneck.
Supercapacitors, known for their extreme power capacity and 1 million charge-discharge cycle lifetime, are the only technology that can reliably, time after time, respond to the accelerating high-power demands of AI data centers.
Skeleton's supercapacitors were originally developed for aerospace applications, to operate in the harshest possible conditions with unparalleled reliability. Our supercapacitor energy storage is also enabling the development of fusion reactors built by leading companies in the industry, meaning Skeleton's solutions are enabling the key applications in electrification, sustainable energy production, and now, artificial intelligence and data center evolution.
No one knows who will end up winning the AI race, but what is certain is that companies like Microsoft, Google, AWS, and others are doing their all to end up at the top. What is also certain is that our high-power energy storage solutions are the key enabling technology - the skeleton - of AI data centers going forward.
Skeleton's modular SkelGrid supercapacitor systems are built to the customer's requirements and are capable of supplying tens of Megawatts in seconds, easily handling the enormous power requirements of AI data centers.
