Video: The Infrastructure Behind AI Data Centers

Alix Paultre talks with Texas Instruments’ Karthik Vasanth about power, cooling, sensing, and system design

In this Video QuickChat, host Alix Paultre interviews Karthik Vasanth, vice president and general manager for data converters and clocks at Texas Instruments, about the technologies supporting rapidly evolving data centers. Vasanth explains how rising GPU and CPU performance increases demands on power delivery, cooling, communications, and reliability.

The conversation explores optical networking, efficient power conversion, and the transition from air cooling to liquid cooling. Vasanth describes how high-voltage DC architectures could simplify power delivery while introducing safety challenges. Precision sensing and fast control help operators manage power budgets, monitor processor health, detect leaks, and respond immediately to dangerous conditions.
He also outlines Texas Instruments’ shift from supplying individual components toward providing integrated reference designs and software that accelerate customer development. 

Both speakers emphasize that power efficiency, thermal management, and reliability are interconnected. Vasanth concludes that suppliers must evolve quickly as computing advances push infrastructure requirements and development timelines at an unprecedented pace.

Listen to the Podcast. 

Read the Ask the Expert article.

To learn more about Texas Instruments' solutions, please visit the links below:

About the Author

Alix Paultre

Alix Paultre

Editor-at-Large, Electronic Design

An Army veteran, Alix Paultre was a signals intelligence soldier on the East/West German border in the early ‘80s, and eventually wound up helping launch and run a publication on consumer electronics for the US military stationed in Europe. Alix first began in this industry in 1998 at Electronic Products magazine, and since then has worked for a variety of publications in the embedded electronic engineering space. Alix currently lives in Wiesbaden, Germany.

Also check out his YouTube watch-collecting channel, Talking Timepieces. 

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