SolarEdge Partners with Nvidia on 800V Data Center Power Systems

SolarEdge has announced a significant collaboration with Nvidia, focusing on the development of 800-volt DC power systems for AI data centers. This partnership aims to define a framework for protection and grounding within these high-voltage systems, a critical step for enabling large-scale AI infrastructure.

This announcement follows SolarEdge's recent expansion of its partnership with Infineon to develop solid-state circuit breakers for 800V DC systems. The collaboration with Nvidia specifically addresses the protection and grounding aspects, which are more complex in DC systems compared to AC. Nvidia is a key player driving the industry-wide shift towards 800V DC data centers to support the increasing power demands of next-generation AI servers.

Nvidia advocates for the 800V DC architecture, citing benefits such as reduced conversion stages, lower current, less copper usage, and improved efficiency of up to 5%. This move is part of a broader industry effort involving numerous chip and power equipment manufacturers, as well as tech giants like Google and Microsoft through the Open Compute Project.

SolarEdge is actively developing its own components for this architecture, including solid-state transformers (SSTs) and protection layers. The company reported that its medium-voltage to 800V DC conversion stage is already operating under load in its labs, with system-level validation of the full power path underway. While this signifies progress, SolarEdge emphasizes that its data center products are still in development and not yet commercially available.

The collaboration with Nvidia is described as technological and vendor-neutral, allowing other companies to develop compliant solutions. For SolarEdge, the importance lies in its involvement in shaping the future infrastructure of data centers, leveraging its expertise in power electronics and DC systems to enter the rapidly growing AI market.