Schneider, AMD publish AI data centre reference design

Author: Joe Peck

Global energy technology company Schneider Electric and AMD, an American multinational semiconductor company, have released a jointly developed reference design for the AMD Helios rack-scale platform, providing data centre operators with a framework for deploying high-density AI infrastructure.

The reference design is the first outcome of the companies’ collaboration and is intended to simplify the planning and deployment of AI data centres by providing a validated approach to power, cooling, and IT infrastructure.

It supports the AMD Helios platform, which combines AMD Instinct GPUs, AMD EPYC CPUs, AMD Pensando networking technology, and the ROCm software ecosystem.

As AI workloads continue to increase power density and cooling requirements, the reference design aims to help operators reduce deployment complexity by offering a tested blueprint covering facility power, facility cooling, IT space, and lifecycle software.

Framework targets high-density AI deployments

According to the companies, the reference design supports modular AI clusters with up to 10.4MW of IT capacity for greenfield developments and rack densities of up to 246kW.

It also outlines liquid cooling approaches using Schneider Electric’s Motivair coolant distribution units (CDUs) alongside hybrid air and liquid cooling systems capable of removing up to 84% of generated heat.

The design incorporates digital modelling and monitoring tools – including ETAP, EcoStruxure IT Design, and AVEVA’s Unified Operations Center – to support infrastructure planning, performance monitoring, predictive maintenance, and operational management.

Manish Kumar, Executive Vice President, Secure Power & Data Centers at Schneider Electric, says, “Today, organisations require comprehensive, AI-ready reference designs that can take them from planning to deployment faster and with less risk.

“Through our collaboration with AMD, we’re delivering an engineering-backed reference design that bridges the gap between advanced AI compute platforms, energy tech, and real-world data centre implementation, enabling customers to deploy scalable, high-density AI environments with greater confidence, efficiency, and speed.”

Forrest Norrod, Executive Vice President and General Manager, Data Center Solutions Business Group at AMD, adds, “AI infrastructure is rapidly moving to full-scale AI factories and that requires compute, networking, power, and cooling to be designed together from the start.

“AMD Helios provides an open, rack-scale architecture built to deliver the performance, efficiency, and flexibility required for next-generation AI workloads. By working with Schneider Electric to create a validated reference design, we are giving customers a practical blueprint to accelerate high-density AI deployments, reduce integration risk, and scale with greater confidence and efficiency.”

The reference design has been validated to ANSI standards for deployments in the United States, with support for IEC standards planned for future international implementations.