Texas Instruments launches chips to boost AI data centres

Texas Instruments has introduced three semiconductor products for AI data centres, focused on monitoring, power protection and timing in server and networking equipment.

The new devices are the ADC34DSO75 analogue-to-digital converter, the LMI800PS isolated hot-swap controller and the LMK6B oscillator. They are intended to address power instability, fault detection and signal timing issues that can contribute to outages in AI infrastructure.

The ADC34DSO75 is designed for continuous remote monitoring of power rails at nanosecond resolution. Existing monitoring systems can miss short-lived glitches that affect low-voltage, high-current rails in data centres.

The chip samples at 3 gigasamples per second and uses on-chip digital signal processing to detect and capture transient fault events in real time. It is also intended to reduce the need for on-site debugging equipment such as oscilloscopes.

Downtime has become a bigger issue as AI workloads expand and operators pack more computing equipment into each rack. Brief interruptions in power quality or system timing can affect clusters running training and inference tasks, where high utilisation and service availability come at significant cost.

Data-centre outages can cost operators hundreds of thousands of dollars an hour. Earlier detection of brief power anomalies could help identify faults before they develop into larger interruptions.

Power architecture

The LMI800PS targets a separate shift in data-centre design as operators consider higher-voltage distribution systems to improve efficiency and manage the growing power demands of AI servers. The chip supports both ±400V and 800V distributions.

Texas Instruments describes the LMI800PS as an 800V isolated hot-swap controller that combines functions that would otherwise require five integrated circuits. Its isolated bias supply and PMBus telemetry reduce board area by more than 60% compared with a discrete design.

Hot-swap controllers allow equipment to be connected safely to live power systems while limiting in-rush current and protecting the power path. The device also supports fault isolation so that a failure in one load does not disrupt a shared power bus.

The product includes 5kVrms reinforced isolation and more than 8mm creepage, which Texas Instruments says helps it meet relevant safety requirements for high-voltage systems. Those specifications matter as data-centre operators explore denser rack designs and more demanding power-delivery schemes.

Timing focus

The third product, the LMK6B, is a bulk acoustic wave-based oscillator designed for high-speed networking equipment. Texas Instruments says the device delivers jitter performance of 9.6 femtoseconds at 625MHz.

Timing precision has become more important as transmission rates rise across switches, accelerators and interconnects inside AI data centres. As speeds approach 3.2Tbps, smaller timing errors can increase bit error rates and affect system stability.

Oscillators provide the reference signals that keep high-speed data links aligned. In that context, lower jitter can help preserve signal integrity across complex systems that depend on close synchronisation between processors, memory and network devices.

Karthik Vasanth, Vice President and General Manager for TI's Data, Converters and Clocks business unit, linked the new products to broader changes in AI infrastructure design. "As AI workloads drive massive scale, the need for real-time visibility and architectural stability has never been greater," said Vasanth.

"By delivering industry-leading solutions for high-speed telemetry, advanced power protection and precision timing, TI is enabling hyperscalers and operators to design the next generation of AI data centers with optimized performance and minimal downtime," said Vasanth.