The AI Disruption: Challenges and Guidance for Data Center Design

From large training clusters to small edge inference servers, AI is becoming a larger percentage of data center workloads. This represents a shift to higher rack power densities. AI start-ups, enterprises, colocation providers, and internet giants must now consider the impact of these densities on the design and management of the data center physical infrastructure. This paper explains relevant attributes and trends of AI workloads, and describes the resulting data center challenges. Guidance to address these challenges is provided for each physical infrastructure category including power, cooling, racks, and software management.