Taiwan's Compal is building a test site in the US for a new way to power AI servers, a positive step for its push into the AI hardware business.

• Compal signed a letter of intent with Exascale Labs to build a data-center-grade 800-volt DC system for GPU servers.
• AI server racks are drawing so much power that the industry is moving to 800-volt DC to cut waste in power conversion.
• Compal supplies the US site, GPU servers and liquid cooling; Exascale brings its solid-state transformer power setup and modular data center design.
• Few companies have tested power, servers, cooling and control software together as one full system, which is what this platform aims to prove.
• If the platform passes agreed tests, Compal plans to buy Exascale's equipment and software licenses under a later formal deal.

Outlook: The site will run compatibility and power-on testing to gather data for UL certification and industry standards, opening up to supply-chain partners for their own testing.