ZincFive introduces battery system designed for AI DCs

Author: Joe Peck

ZincFive, a producer of nickel-zinc (NiZn) battery-based solutions for immediate power applications, has announced a new nickel-zinc battery cabinet designed for data centres deploying artificial intelligence workloads.

The system, named BC AI, is positioned as an uninterruptible power supply (UPS) battery platform that can support both high-intensity AI power surges and conventional backup requirements.

The company says the new system builds on its existing nickel-zinc battery range and is engineered for environments where GPU clusters and rapid power fluctuations are driving changes in electrical infrastructure requirements.

The battery technology is intended to respond to fast transient loads associated with AI training and inference, while also providing backup during power interruptions.

The system includes a battery management platform and nickel-zinc chemistry designed for frequent high-power discharge cycles. The company says this approach reduces reliance on upstream electrical capacity by managing dynamic loads at the UPS level.

Nickel-zinc battery design for transient load handling

As well as incorporating a new nickel-zinc battery cell designed for high-intensity usage and long service life, ZincFive highlights the product’s compact footprint and field-upgradeable design.

Nickel-zinc chemistry offers power density characteristics that allow the system to accommodate rapid load spikes without significant footprint expansion. ZincFive says competing approaches may require substantially more physical space to manage similar peak loads, particularly where AI applications can generate power demands above nominal UPS levels.

The system is targeted at hyperscale operators, colocation facilities, and UPS manufacturers integrating AI-ready backup capacity.

The company also points to potential benefits related to infrastructure design, including reduced UPS sizing requirements and support for power-management strategies aimed at improving grid interaction.

Tod Higinbotham, Chief Executive Officer of ZincFive, says, “AI is transforming the very foundation of data centres, creating new challenges that legacy technologies cannot solve.

“With BC 2 AI, we are delivering a safe, sustainable, and future-ready power solution designed to handle the most demanding AI workloads while continuing to support traditional IT backup.

“This is a defining moment not just for ZincFive, but for the entire data centre industry as it adapts to the AI era.”