Physics / mechanism
HVDC transmission moves bulk power at ±320–800 kV DC, cutting resistive losses to ~3% per 1,000 km versus ~7% for HVAC equivalents. At the hyperscale campus level, medium-voltage DC (MVDC) distribution at 6–24 kV feeds campus substations; from there, 480 V AC or 400 V DC bus architectures deliver to rack. Modern rack power density has crossed 100 kW (liquid-cooled GPU clusters) with roadmaps to 200–300 kW by 2027. The critical loss budget runs: transmission → step-down transformer → switchgear → UPS/rectifier → PDU → VRM, each stage adding 1–3% loss. End-to-end efficiency from grid to silicon is typically 85–90%; every point recovered at GW scale is tens of MW of avoided capacity.
Competitive landscape
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Frontier (open questions)
- To be added.