How are AI data centers different from traditional data centers? AI data centers and traditional data centers can be physically similar, as they contain hardware, servers, networking equipment, and storage systems. The difference lies in their capabilities: Traditional data centers were built to support general computing tasks, while AI data centers are specifically designed for more sophisticated, time and resource-intensive workloads. Conventional data centers are simply not optimized for AI’s advanced tasks and necessary high-speed data transfer. Here’s a closer look at their differences: AI-optimized vs. traditional data centers Traditional data centers: Handle everyday computing needs such as web browsing, cloud services, email and enterprise app hosting, data storage and retrieval, and a variety of other relatively low-resource tasks. They can also support simpler AI applications, such as chatbots, that do not require intensive processing power or speed. AI data centers: Built to compute significant volumes of data and run complex algorithms, ML and AI tasks, including agentic AI workflows. They feature high-speed networking and low-latency interconnects for rapid scaling and data transfer to support AI apps and edge and internet of things (IoT) use cases. Physical infrastructure Traditional data centers: Typically composed of standard networking architectures such as CPUs suitable for handling networking, apps, and storage. AI data centers: Feature more advanced graphics processing units (GPU) (popularized by chip manufacturer Nvidia), tensor processing units (TPUs) (developed by Google), and other specialized accelerators and equipment. Storage and data management Traditional data centers: Generally, store data in more static cloud storage systems, databases, data lakes, and data lakehouses. AI data centers: Handle huge amounts of unstructured data including text, images, video, audio, and other files. They also incorporate high-performance tools including parallel file systems, multiple network servers, and NVMe solid state drives (SSDs). Power consumption Traditional data centers: Require robust cooling