Meeting China’s demand for reliable data centers in AI boom
Web Story
4min
2025-05-26
“Exploding demand and lagging supply” is how the global hunger for data centre capacity – to support surging use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) – was described in a recent report by McKinsey & Company¹.
ABB power solutions inside China’s KCY Could Data Center
To help meet the demand for AI-ready data centers, we are supplying them with innovative power distribution solutions worldwide, addressing their need for safe, reliable and energy-efficient power supply.
One such center, China’s KCY Cloud Data Center, located in Sichuan province, was designed to support the growth and development of AI across China. It is one of the largest data centers in the region, with 500 petaflops of computing power in its first phase.
How much is a petaflop?
A petaflop is a unit for measuring a computer’s speed, equal to one thousand million million (a quadrillion) processes per second. 500 petaflops is 15 x 1015 calculations per second.
This level of performance has become increasingly essential to support AI’s need for vast amounts of data to be processed rapidly.²
Demand for AI-powered services extends to more than 300 use cases, according to an analysis by global consulting firm PwC , including automating previously manual tasks such as data entry, customer service, manufacturing, financial auditing and bookkeeping, and translation services.³
The analysis also estimated that AI would contribute more than USD$15 trillion to the global economy and increase GDP in some developed and emerging economies by up to 26% through automation and increased productivity.
Reliable power is key for the data center boom
Ensuring the reliability and efficiency of power supply is a priority for data center operators and at KCY we have supplied a space-efficient power distribution solution, using high-performance circuit breakers and software designed to improve energy management.
Developed in partnership with KCY’s owners, Sichuan Zhongdu Data Technology, our solution includes:
Space-saving 500mm UniGear ZS1 switchgear
Air-insulated switchgear for high demand applications in primary power distribution
Emax 2 air circuit breakers
From a traditional circuit breaker to a real Power Manager. SACE Emax 2 embeds more and more functionalities to become the all-in-one solution able to manage low-voltage distribution systems.
Tmax XT moulded case circuit breakers
Tmax XT moulded case circuit breakers guarantee an extremely high performance level while being progressively smaller in size, simple to install and able to provide increasingly better safety.
ATS dual power switching control cabinets
ABB offers automatic transfer switches (ATS), from 40 to 1600 Amperes in range. They have the features and functionality that makes them suitable for diverse applications: industrial plants, docks, airports and data centers.
Together, these core components help ensure reliability of power supply. Their digital functionality allows for easier and more accurate energy management to reduce operational energy consumption and optimize Power Usage Effectiveness (PUE).
“We are creating a high-quality AI data center here in Sichuan. This facility will provide strong support for the development of AI, accelerate digital growth within China, and will lay solid foundation for our future competitiveness.”
- Yang Bing, company director of Sichuan Zhongdu Data Technology
“Innovative projects like the KCY Cloud Data Center demonstrate why customers work with ABB to develop complete medium- and low-voltage power solutions. Our expertise provides the reliability that data center operators worldwide need to support growing demand.”
- Brian Johnson, ABB Data Center Segment Head
KCY Cloud Data Center’ in Chengdu, China uses ABB technology for its safe, reliable, energy-efficient power supply