By Alice Chambers |
Microsoft is exploring high-temperature superconductors (HTS) to make data centres more efficient and reduce energy waste.
“Superconductors let electricity flow with no resistance,” said Alistair Speirs, general manager of global infrastructure marketing at Microsoft, in a blog post titled ‘Can high-temperature superconductors transform the power infrastructure of data centres?’. “This means we can move power more efficiently, increase capacity faster […] and build cleaner, more compact systems.”
Today, data centres rely on copper and aluminium cables, which lose energy as heat and limit how much power can flow. HTS cables, cooled to very low temperatures, carry electricity with zero resistance, meaning they produce no energy loss, heat build-up or voltage drop.
With superconducting cables, data centres should deliver more power in a smaller, lighter package. In some cases, HTS cables could be ten times smaller than traditional wires for the same load, allowing facilities to handle more compute without expanding their footprint.
“Superconductors allowed ComEd [the largest electricity provider in Illinois, USA] to connect Chicago substations without disrupting local communities,” said Daniel McGahn, CEO of American Superconductor Corporation (AMSC).
Superconducting cables require smaller trenches and reduce the need for overhead power lines (image: AMSC, LIPA Superconductor Project)
Microsoft is working with technology partners such as AMSC and Veir to rethink how data centres move electricity, supporting long-term cloud and AI growth.
“Updating power systems with superconductors lets infrastructure grow with rising demand for cloud services,” said Speirs. “It could even enable entirely new types of data centres in the future.”
Tim Heidel, CEO of Veir, a superconducting power solutions company, said: “Superconductors are poised to transform how power is moved across the electricity value chain, […] enabling customers to overcome critical bottlenecks in energy infrastructure, unlock new data centre capacity faster, and achieve higher power and compute density.”