The power demands of data centers have grown from tens to two hundred kilowatts in just a few years. This rapid pace has data center developers scrambling to design future facilities that can handle the load. According to Tim Heidel, CEO of Veir, power requirements are expected to reach six hundred kilowatts in the next couple of years, and then progress to a full megawatt. He notes that the industry is now trying to design data centers with multi-megawatt racks.
At these immense scales, even the low-voltage cables that deliver power to the racks begin to take up too much space and generate excessive heat. To address this challenge, Veir has adapted its superconducting electrical cables for use inside the data center. The Microsoft-backed startup’s first product will be a cable system capable of carrying three megawatts of low-voltage electricity. To demonstrate the technology, Veir built a simulated data center near its Massachusetts headquarters. The cables are scheduled for pilot testing in data centers next year, ahead of an expected commercial launch in 2027.
Superconductors are a class of materials that can conduct electricity with zero energy loss. The only requirement is that they must be cooled to temperatures well below freezing. Veir had previously focused on using superconductors to improve capacity on long-distance transmission lines. However, utilities are cautious and slow to adopt new technology. While utilities may eventually use superconductors for high-demand transmission lines, that transition is further in the future.
The pace at which the data center community is moving, evolving, and scaling is far higher than that of the transmission community, Heidel said. Veir has been in talks with data centers for years, and recently the tone of those conversations changed. While many were concerned with grid interconnection problems, a handful of potential customers began reporting hard problems to solve on their campuses and inside their buildings.
In response, the startup took the same core technology developed for transmission lines and adapted it for the low-voltage needs of data centers. Veir buys the superconductors from the same suppliers and wraps them in a jacket containing liquid nitrogen coolant, which keeps the material at minus 196 degrees Celsius. Termination boxes at the end of the cables transition from the superconductors to conventional copper cables. Heidel described the company as a systems integrator that builds cooling systems, manufactures cables, and assembles the entire system to deliver an enormous amount of power in a small space.
The result is a cable system that requires twenty times less space than copper while carrying power five times farther. The AI and data center community is desperate to find solutions today and stay ahead of demand, driven by tremendous competitive pressure to remain at the forefront.