Over the past few years, record heat waves have hit nearly all regions of the world. This alone would strain local and national power grids, but the world’s obsession with artificial intelligence (AI) has put additional pressure on energy consumption.
Data centers accounted for an estimated 1.3 percent of global electricity demand in 2022 according to the International Energy Agency (IEA). That percentage is expected to grow as the amount of data and computation handled in the cloud continues to rise. That’s a challenge for a world in which overall global electricity growth is already expected to average more than 3 percent per year through 2026.
The increasing competition for electrical power from growing consumer demand, expanding use of electric vehicles, increased heating and cooling due to changes in global climate, smart cities and the electrification of industrial enterprises mean data centers will need to become more efficient to realize their full potential.
Rob Picken, Sourceability
The IEA and other organizations have been sounding the alarm regarding global power consumption. “If you read studies by various groups including the Boston Consulting Group, they estimate around 7.5 percent of the U.S. power grid will be consumed by AI and AI-related activities by 2030. 2030 seems like a very long way away, but it’s actually not,” said Rob Picken, SVP of digital transformation at electronics distributor Sourceability.
Electronics content in everything from smart phones to automobiles is on an upward trajectory, further straining power grids and energy storage systems such as batteries.
“At the moment there is massive proliferation of electronics and more importantly high power, high capability electronics into multiple industries, not least of which is power grid and infrastructure, but also into infotainment,” said Picken. “The back of every plane seat right now and a majority of vehicles have a huge degree of electronics.”
This isn’t just about consumer demand, it’s also a government policy issue, he added. New fabs funded by various CHIPS acts will go online in the next 5 or so years. “So, it is coming very quickly, but at the same time, you’re layering in other aspects which are also going to be extremely hungry for power generation and for other resources like water, for example, for cooling,” Picken said.
Electronics companies are in a prime position to tackle some of those challenges. Component makers are designing parts that optimize or lower power consumption. Electronics manufacturers are building new plants that better utilize both power and water. And supply chain organizations assist customers in designing energy-sipping products and recommend optimal components for an application.
“Even though battery technology and power consolidation technology are advancing as well, the power that you can consume while fulfilling functions of course is incredibly important,” Picken noted. “Now you have this kind of split in the way the world is working. So, a lot of industries and organizations are trying to save power and make things much more efficient, but they also all want to use AI. “
AI has a voracious appetite for energy. “An AI-powered search uses about 15 times as much power as a regular search,” Picken explained. “When you carry out a Google search, it’s manually inputted. But quite a lot of things and quite a lot of Google’s AI assistance are happening automatically right now.”
Industries are facing a dilemma, Picken said. How do you balance the desire for AI against a commitment to power conservation?
Solutions start at the design phase
“Projects such as various CHIPS acts are slated to being operating between 2026 and 2030. At the same time, the current U.S. administration has increased the number of EV charges across the U.S. to around 180,000. As power consumption is being massively increased due to AI searches, there’s also a ton of other power-hungry investments being made across the same network,” Picken said.
The electronic components industry not only has to come up with new power efficient products, services and solutions, but they have to be sustainable for a long period of time. Product designers don’t always have visibility into component lifecycles, which have steadily been contracting.
“It’s our intent to help customers make better decisions by giving them the most information that they can possibly have at their fingertips that isn’t just technical information — which of course is important and is usable through our partnership with Cadence – or through our Datalynq integration with their EDA tools,” Picken said.
Sample Datalynq dashboard. Source: Sourceability
Considerations for design should include the long-term viability of components. “For example, are the components that you’re trying to design going to be available for the lifetime of the product that you’re designing?” Picken said. “Are the products that you are committing to in your maintenance repair and operations [MRO] contracts going to be viable for the use cases in which you have?”
Electronics distributors, which partner with thousands of component sources, also collect data on components and have visibility into component specs and lifecycles. Sourceability is authorized for some component lines and procures through the open market.
Strategic considerations
If a customer is developing an EV charging unit, the design should be the same if it’s operating in Arizona or Alaska, Picken recommended.
“You have to have enough of an operating envelope to be able to use those components safely repeatably for a long period of time in any of those conditions,” Picken explained. “So, by working with a company like [ours], we’re able to provide the overall technical information as to whether you can fulfill the technical demand of your assembly by working with these components. We’re also able to show if those components going to be available and suitable in the markets that you’re looking to service for the entire lifetime of your program.”
Personnel safety is another priority. “You couldn’t well maintain components in the EV base station if they weren’t safe for the general public who are not technically trained to use them. Similarly, if components are going into military, aerospace, defense assemblies, you have service personnel’s lives at risk every time you’re activating that assembly,” Picken added. Sourceability tests components to ensure they are authentic and suitable for intended applications.
So, distribution support extends well beyond component transactions. Organizations must prioritize the components and technologies that best aid power distribution and management to support the growing AI industry and power grid infrastructure, Picken concluded.
“Customers don’t just need to buy components. They’re looking for more information around those parts as well. ‘What alternatives could I use? Are the alternatives drop-in replacements? What’s the pricing of those components in the marketplace, and what’s the availability?’ Adding that level of context to the market is important for customers.”
