Here’s what you should know today:

• COOLING, TECH, AND POWER: Google’s Trillium TPU sets a new standard, DOE to create “transmission corridors”, Bloom Energy + Intel

• CHECK THIS OUT: Way too cool for school 🚌

• BIG DEALS: More CHIPS, Q Loophole sells more, and AWS chief steps away

- Cooling, tech, and power -

Google’s new TPU, Trillium, hits the stage

Google has introduced the Trillium TPU, its sixth-generation custom tensor processing unit AI chip.

Designed for large language and recommender models such as Gemini, Imagen, and Gemma, Trillium aims to enable faster training and reduced latency for larger AI models, all at a lower cost.

Google's most advanced TPU, Trillium boasts a 4.7× increase in peak compute performance per chip compared to the TPU v5e. This improvement is achieved through larger matrix multiple units (MXUs) and increased clock speed.

The Trillium doubles the High Bandwidth Memory (HBM) capacity bandwidth and the Interchip Interconnect (ICI) bandwidth of its predecessor.

Plus, it’s 67% more energy-efficient than the TPU v5e.

The chip can scale up to 256 TPUs in a single pod and further scale to hundreds of pods using Google’s multislice technology, connecting “tens of thousands” of chips via Google's Jupiter data center network technology.

Trillium TPUs will be part of Google Cloud's AI Hypercomputer, which launched in December 2023. This supercomputer architecture, optimized for AI workloads, combines performance-optimized hardware, open software, machine learning frameworks, and flexible consumption models.

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DOE to create “transmission corridors” for grid expansion

The US Department of Energy (DOE) has drawn up a list of 10 “national interest electric transmission corridors,” (NIETCs).

The corridors would cover more than 3,500 miles of the US and allow for the rapid expansion of the power grid.

Given current power constraints and the growth of data centers and digital infrastructures, policymakers, energy companies, and data center operators are all looking to increase capacity, while also managing the transition away from fossil fuels to renewable energy.

The NIETCs are designed to accelerate the development of transmission projects in areas with urgent needs for greater grid capacity. These zones would be eligible for increased federal funding and the ability to expedite necessary developmental approvals.

For instance, the Mid-Atlantic corridor includes multiple power lines up to 180 miles long across Maryland, Pennsylvania, Virginia, and West Virginia, targeting Northern Virginia, the world's largest data center market.
Another notable corridor is the 540-mile Mountain-Plains-Southwest corridor, spanning Texas, Colorado, and New Mexico, crucial for the second-largest digital infrastructure market in the U.S.

The plans are still out for consultation.

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More in Cooling, Tech, and Power

1. Silicon Valley’s new largest fuel-cell-powered data center: Solid oxide fuel cell innovator Bloom Energy announced last week they will expand their footprint at Intel’s Santa Clara campus, marking the area’s largest fuel cell capacity agreement. Bloom’s mainstay offering is their Series 10 solution, designed to use “Bloom Boxes” to provide up to 10 MW of power with 99.99% uptime.

2. Digital Realty’s new direct liquid cooling product: DR is now launching a new direct-to-chip cooling offering at over 170 data centers globally. The announcement states the offering will include solutions to support up to 150kW/rack.

Check this out

Now this is cool: StorageReview.com just looked at Chilldyne’s liquid cooling loop, which has some very unique features. Specifically, check out the negative-pressure safety system.

- Deals and Developments -

Next up for CHIPS funding: Polar Semiconductor

Polar Semiconductor manufactures chips for the automotive and consumer markets and produces power chips for servers, data centers, switch mode power supplies, and megawatt power systems. This includes high-voltage integrated circuits and 40V MOSFET transistors used in microprocessors and memory devices.

The $120 million CHIPS investment will enable the 60-year-old company to double its production of sensor and power chips within two years and introduce advanced technology capabilities to its Minnesota site.

The money from CHIPS will support the expansion and upgrade of its manufacturing facility in Bloomington, MN. The federal funding is only part of the total $525 million for the project.
Another $75 million will come from the state and $175 million from private equity.
The Department of Commerce also noted that the investment will attract further private capital to Polar, “transforming it from a majority-foreign-owned in-house manufacturer to a majority-US-owned commercial foundry.

More Big Deals

• Quantum Loophole sells 150 acres to unidentified customer: QL, the 2100-acre development campus just north of Data Center Alley, provides land, fiber, water, and power for data center developers. If you haven’t yet, check out QLoop, their massive fiber project.

  

  Qloop.

• AWS CEO steps away, cloud giant reaches $100 billion run rate: After only a couple of years at the helm, Adam Selipinsky is being replaced by longtime AWS executive Matt Garman. Under Garman, the cloud giant will be making some “organizational adjustments” in the coming weeks.

• DCF Podcast: I recommend DCF episodes all the time. This is another great one. DC news GOAT Rich Miller talks about gigawatt facilities with his alma mater at Data Center Frontier.

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- Taylor