Lessons · Lesson 1 of 6
What is an AI data center?
One chip, then a rack, a hall, a building and the grid connection behind it.
It starts with a chip
AI runs on special chips called GPUs (graphics processing units). They are very good at doing millions of small sums at once, which is exactly what training and running AI models needs.
Each one draws hundreds of watts, and nearly all of that electricity ends up as heat.
Chips team up
Several GPUs sit together in one server. Servers stack into a rack, a cabinet about the height of a person. Racks fill a hall, and halls fill a building.
Use the zoom above to step through each level and see the numbers for the project in your planner.
Three things keep it alive
Every AI data center needs the same three things: power to run the chips, cooling to carry their heat away, and network cables so the chips can talk to each other.
Planning one is mostly about getting enough of those three, in the right place, in time.
Quick check
What happens to almost all the electricity a GPU uses?
- It is stored in the chip
- It becomes heat
- It is sent back to the grid
Show the answer
It becomes heat. Nearly every watt a chip uses ends up as heat, which is why cooling is half the story.