- GIGATONS and Schneider Electric announce strategic global partnership to accelerate deployment of self-powered AI data centers.
- Partnership combines GIGATONS' proprietary solar-powered GIGABLOCK™ microgrids with Schneider Electric's critical infrastructure expertise and data center solutions to deliver AI compute capacity in months.
- Landmark collaboration targets an initial development pipeline approaching 1 GW of AI compute capacity, with flagship projects in Abu Dhabi and Australia.
GIGATONS, the AI infrastructure platform business pioneering self-powered AI data centers, today announced a strategic global partnership with Schneider Electric, the leader in the digital transformation of energy management and automation.
Credit: GIGATONS/Schneider Electric
The partnership brings together GIGATONS’ proprietary GIGABLOCK™ energy platform with Schneider Electric’s world-class expertise in data center, power, automation, and digital infrastructure solutions to accelerate the deployment of next-generation AI infrastructure at gigawatt scale.
The collaboration represents a significant step forward in solving two of the greatest challenges facing artificial intelligence: access to power and water.
Toddington Harper, Founder & CEO, GIGATONS, said:
“The future of artificial intelligence is not being constrained by chips, but by power. GIGATONS was created to solve that challenge by developing a completely new model for AI infrastructure - one that integrates solar power, water and compute into a single platform that can be deployed rapidly and scaled globally. Our partnership with Schneider Electric brings together two organisations committed to rethinking what is possible, creating a new blueprint for delivering AI infrastructure at gigawatt scale.”
As AI demand accelerates globally, the ability to deliver new compute capacity is increasingly constrained by the availability of grid infrastructure, with utility connection lead times in many markets extending beyond five years. GIGATONS was created to overcome this bottleneck by developing self-powered AI campuses that integrate solar energy generation, energy storage, water infrastructure and advanced computing into a single, massively scalable platform.
Unlike conventional data centers that depend on utility networks for power, which often means delays of 5-10 years waiting for new grid connections, GIGATONS' integrated solution – called a GIGACENTER™ – includes both a microgrid + AI data center + water generation platform and is designed to be delivered within 12 months.
The partnership with Schneider Electric creates a powerful framework for deploying AI infrastructure faster, more sustainably, and on a timeline previously considered impossible in many places.
GIGATONS is advancing a development pipeline approaching 1 gigawatt of AI compute capacity, with flagship projects planned in Abu Dhabi and Australia. The first phase of development targets approximately 100 MW of AI compute capacity in each market, with significant expansion planned over the coming years.
Redefining AI Infrastructure
GIGATONS was founded by a team with decades of experience developing large-scale renewable energy, critical power and digital infrastructure projects, including creating GRIDSERVE, the United Kingdom’s leading electric vehicle charging and sustainable energy company.
Having experienced first-hand the challenges associated with securing grid connections for major infrastructure projects, the founding team recognised that the future of AI would require an entirely new approach.
Rather than waiting 5-10 years for utility upgrades, GIGATONS develops and deploys the energy infrastructure required to power AI directly, creating a new category of integrated infrastructure where energy and compute are designed together from the outset.
Through this partnership, Schneider Electric will collaborate with GIGATONS to support the design and deployment of highly efficient, resilient, and scalable AI infrastructure platforms, helping establish a repeatable blueprint for future gigawatt-scale developments globally.
Engineering a New Standard of Reliability
GIGACENTERS™ are being engineered to achieve up to 99.999% availability, supported by Schneider Electric’s advanced critical infrastructure technologies and the resilient architecture of the GIGABLOCK™ platform.
For AI workloads where uninterrupted operation is essential, the partnership aims to establish a new benchmark for reliability, sustainability and speed of deployment.
While conventional thinking assumes that grid-connected facilities offer the highest levels of resilience, GIGATONS takes a fundamentally different approach. By reducing dependency on increasingly constrained utility infrastructure and integrating power generation directly into the campus design, GIGACENTERS™ are designed to provide greater certainty, control and long-term scalability, with delivery in months, not years.
Abu Dhabi: A Global Hub for the AI Economy
The partnership reinforces Abu Dhabi’s growing position as a global centre for artificial intelligence, advanced technology and sustainable infrastructure.
With world-class digital ambitions, abundant renewable energy resources and a commitment to innovation, Abu Dhabi provides an ideal environment for the deployment of next-generation AI infrastructure.
The GIGATONS model is particularly well suited to regions where energy security, infrastructure resilience and sustainable economic growth are strategic priorities.
Amel Chadli, President, Gulf Cluster Schneider Electric, said:
"Abu Dhabi is becoming one of the most important places in the world to build the infrastructure behind artificial intelligence, and that progress depends on getting energy right. Through this partnership, Schneider Electric brings its role as an energy technology partner, integrating power, cooling, software and services from grid to chip and chip to chiller, to help GIGATONS design AI campuses that are efficient, resilient and ready to scale. The aim is to bring new compute capacity online at pace and power it reliably, and to do so on a more sustainable footing. For the talent and the businesses across the Emirates that will build on this infrastructure, that is a meaningful step forward."