Amazon Web Services' Trainium3 AI chips - over 1000W of power and liquid cooled

High-end AI hardware is power-hungry, and Amazon Web Services (AWS) next-generation Trainium3 chip will consume 1000 Watts of power and require liquid cooling to keep temperatures in check.

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Prasad Kalyanaraman, Amazon's VP of infrastructure services, said that "the next generation will require liquid cooling," alluding to the upcoming Trainium3 AI chip. "When a chip goes above 1,000 watts, that's when they require liquid cooling," he added. For those keeping tabs on the incredible pace of AI chip development, this would put Amazon's next-gen chip on par with NVIDIA's beefiest Blackwell chip when it comes to power consumption.

AI hardware is becoming increasingly power-hungry. Although being a 1kW chip could make the Trainium3 a Blackwell competitor, word is that NVIDIA's next-gen Rubin architecture (which it's already talking about) will consume upwards of 1500 Watts on the high-end.

Prasad Kalyanaraman didn't explicitly say that the Trainium3 chip would push 1000W. However, as it's the company's next-gen chip, AWS would need to upgrade its data centers to accommodate the more advanced cooling - as they currently rely on air cooling.

If the upgrade is not already underway, there are probably plans for it. AWS and its data centers will continue to offer NVIDIA hardware. Blackwell will require liquid cooling, and in addition to Trainium3, more power-hungry AI hardware is on the horizon.

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