The European Commission’s launch earlier this year of a multi-pronged strategy to make the European continent a global leader in artificial intelligence (AI) development and deployment has been a clarion call to technology companies to come with solutions to meet the challenge.
A case in point is a collaboration between Paris-based Schneider Electric and US chipmaker NVIDIA to advancing research and development initiatives for power, cooling, controls, and high-density rack systems to equip the next generation of AI factories across Europe and around the world.
On announcing the partnership in June, the companies said they were responding to the European Commission (EC) AI Continent Action Plan, which sets out a mission to mobilise €200bn of investment in AI, including the construction of at least 13 AI factories across Europe, and the establishment of up to five AI gigafactories.
Olivier Blum, Schneider Electric’s CEO, said the two firms had already had success in deploying next-generation power and liquid cooling solutions, purpose-built for AI data centres.
“This strategic partnership — bringing together the world leaders in sustainability and accelerated computing — allows us to further accelerate this momentum, pushing the boundaries of what’s possible for the AI workloads of tomorrow,” he said.
Schneider Electric said it was also unveiling a suite of AI-ready data centre solutions, including its new EcoStruxure infrastructure, which allows rapid construction of data centres using prefabricated modules.
Earlier in the year, Schneider Electric and California-based tech firm ETAP launched what they said was the world’s first digital twin for electrical and large-scale power systems in AI factories, which uses the NVIDIA Omniverse Blueprint. Schneider Electric and NVIDIA have also co-developed a series of electrical and liquid cooling-based reference designs.
The partners expect to accelerate their infrastructure initiatives, fast-tracking new product rollouts and reference designs to build cutting-edge AI factories.
Schneider Electric is also part of the drive to advance digital twins in the energy industry. Matthias Boelke, the company’s VP Strategy Industrial Automation told the Future Digital Twin & AI USA conference held in Houston in May how digital twins were present and increasingly standardized in many aspects of energy projects, from first ideas through design, engineering, commissioning, operations and predictive maintenance to recycling,
“Lifecycle management using digital twins is a reality. We have efficient solutions, and the loop can be closed now,” he told the event. Boelke is also chairman of the Industrial Digital Twin Association.
AI action plan
The European Union launched its AI Continent Action Plan in Apil, following a commitment made by EC President Ursula von der Leyen during the AI Action Summit held in Paris in February, to boost efforts to use and develop AI in Europe. The EC said on launching the plan that only 13.5% of EU companies currently use AI and that it was keen to integrate AI into strategic sectors such as the public services and healthcare.
The goal is to at least triple the EU’s data centre capacity within the next five to seven years, prioritising the development of sustainable data centres. Under the plan, at least 13 AI factories will be set up across Europe to support startups, industry, and researchers developing AI models and applications. In addition, the EC also wants to establish up to 5 AI gigafactories, with massive computing power and data centres to enable large-scale training of complex AI models.The EC said both public and private investment would be required.
An “InvestAI” financial facility has been established that aims to mobilise €20b and drive private investment in gigafactories.
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