The Opportunities and Challenges of Global AI Industry Development for Power Transformers
Writer： Hengfeng you electric Time：2024-03-25 views：times
Global artificial intelligence welcomes a new round of rapid development
On a global scale, artificial intelligence is ushering in a new round of rapid development. Despite concerns about a slowdown in economic growth, the artificial intelligence track remains relatively stable. Industry research shows that the development of artificial intelligence has formed multiple tiers globally. Among them, the United States and China are in the first tier, while the second tier includes 11 countries including the United Kingdom, Germany, Singapore, etc. Sweden and the Netherlands have entered this tier for the first time; The third tier includes 12 countries such as Denmark and Finland; The fourth tier includes 21 countries such as Czech Republic and Brazil.
According to statistics, the global AI industry is expected to reach $150 billion by 2030, with a compound growth rate of about 40% in the coming years. At present, the number of global artificial intelligence enterprises is rapidly increasing. In 2022, the estimated size of the global artificial intelligence (AI) market is 19.78 billion US dollars, and it is expected to reach 159.03 billion US dollars by 2030. From 2022 to 2030, the compound annual growth rate is 38.1%.
The rapid development of artificial intelligence has also brought unprecedented opportunities and challenges to various industries.
The Important Role of Power Transformers in the Field of Artificial Intelligence
The rapid development and popularization of artificial intelligence are bringing unprecedented challenges to global electricity demand. Tesla CEO Elon Musk pointed out in a previous speech that the rapid development of generative artificial intelligence will lead to shortages of electricity and power transformers becoming bottlenecks in technological development. He predicts that this power shortage may occur as early as 2025.
ChatGPT, which ignited the global wave of artificial intelligence industry, consumes over 500000 kilowatt hours of electricity per day, which is more than 17000 times the average electricity consumption of American households. And if generative AI is further adopted, it may consume more power. Musk had predicted that the industry would shift from a "silicon shortage" to a "power shortage" in the next two years, which could hinder the development of artificial intelligence.
Although various countries are currently actively developing renewable energy sources such as wind and solar energy. But the current situation of the power grid makes it difficult to effectively integrate these clean energy sources into the grid. Even if sufficient renewable energy is generated, insufficient transmission lines may still result in ineffective delivery to the demand location.
As an indispensable part of the power transmission route, power transformers can not only improve power quality, reduce power fluctuations and interference by adjusting voltage and other parameters, but also ensure the stable operation of AI equipment and systems, improve operational efficiency and performance. Moreover, the intelligent management and optimization control of power transformers can achieve energy efficiency optimization of the power system, reduce energy consumption and emissions, meet the environmental requirements of energy conservation and emission reduction, and provide sustainable energy support for the development of AI.
Analysis of Power Transformer Products for the Main Demand of AI Industry
1. Data centers typically use large 66kV-232kv power transformers to reduce the high voltage of the transmission network to a voltage level suitable for the internal distribution system.
2. Medium and low voltage transformers:
Within the data center, 10-35kV medium and low voltage transformers further reduce the voltage to the safe voltage level required by servers, cooling systems, and other infrastructure.
3. Isolation transformer:
Dry type isolation transformers below 2690V are used to prevent grounding circuit interference, ensure stable operation of AI system equipment, and reduce electromagnetic interference (EMI).
3. Efficient and energy-saving transformer:
With the advent of the AI computing era, data centers have increasingly high requirements for energy conservation and efficiency. Therefore, the use of efficient and low loss transformers has become a trend, such as epoxy resin cast dry-type transformers, NOMEX insulation system dry-type power transformers, amorphous alloy transformers, etc.
4. Smart Transformer:
This type of transformer integrates advanced sensors, communication technology, and control algorithms, which can monitor its own status in real-time, optimize performance, and interact with the smart grid to adapt to the constantly changing power load requirements of AI facilities.
Due to the advancement of AI technology and the continuous expansion of data center scale, as well as the increasing focus on sustainability and energy efficiency, future transformer designs will place greater emphasis on efficiency, flexibility, and intelligence. Meanwhile, considering the shortage issue mentioned by Musk, it may also include transformer products with fast production and deployment capabilities, as well as the ability to cope with high load fluctuations. The power transformers produced by Hengfengyou are currently used in a large number of data centers and operate stably and reliably. Hengfengyou Electric has obtained multiple international certifications including CE, TUV, ISO, CSA, UL, STL, etc. It has been exported to more than 30 countries and regions around the world, including Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Pakistan, Kuwait, Iraq, United Arab Emirates, Zimbabwe, Tanzania, South Africa, Spain, France, Germany, the United States, Canada, Mexico, the Philippines, Malaysia, Honduras, Guyana, Brazil, etc. And received unanimous praise.
Opportunities and challenges brought by the development of the global AI industry to power transformer enterprises
With the rapid development of the AI industry and the transformation of the global energy structure driven by it, as well as the continuous growth of electricity demand, power transformers, as one of the core equipment of the power system, are currently facing a shortage of supply in overseas markets. From the perspective of industry, the shortage of local capacity supply in the United States and Europe and the demand for power infrastructure in the Belt and Road countries make the overseas business of Chinese transformer companies in a growth opportunity period. The General Administration of Customs of China stated that in 2023, the cumulative export quantity of transformers in China reached 2.74 billion units, with an export amount of 5.93 billion US dollars, a year-on-year growth rate of 18.4%. And it is expected to continue to grow this year
From the perspective of the international trade environment, in recent years, global trade protectionism has risen, and countries have introduced policies to restrict imported products. For Chinese transformer enterprises, this is both a challenge and an opportunity. On the one hand, this requires Chinese enterprises to improve the quality and technical level of their own products to meet the needs of overseas customers; On the other hand, this also provides opportunities for large enterprises with strong competitiveness to expand their market share. In the increasingly complex international trade environment, enterprises with export capabilities will have more development opportunities, and those that can provide high-quality and high-performance products will be more likely to stand out.
In summary, Taylor, the sales manager of Hengfengyou Electric, believes that the power transformer industry is facing unprecedented development opportunities. For relevant enterprises, seizing these opportunities, increasing R&D investment, improving product quality and technological level will help achieve sustainable development. At the same time, government departments also need to strengthen their support for the power transformer industry and create a favorable development environment for it
