OCP, Current/OS Push Direct Current Standard for AI Data Centers

The two open-source foundations formalize a joint roadmap for low-voltage DC power distribution in AI data centers ahead of their appearance at the Barcelona summit later this month.

The Open Compute Project Foundation and the Current/OS Foundation said Wednesday they are advancing a joint effort to establish open standards for direct current power distribution in AI data centers, with a joint keynote planned for the OCP EMEA Summit in Barcelona on April 29-30.

The alliance was formalized in December 2025. Since then, the two organizations have developed a white paper on low-voltage direct current (LVDC) power distribution, a training program through the OCP Academy, and a formal specification document outlining technical requirements and interoperability standards. The goal is vendor-neutral adoption across the data center industry.

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Direct current reduces the number of electrical conversion stages between a power source and computing hardware. In a conventional alternating-current infrastructure, each conversion step dissipates energy as heat. Eliminating those steps, the foundations argue, increases power density and cuts waste, a material concern as AI workloads push facility power demands to new levels.

By uniting OCP’s open data center leadership with Current/OS’s open DC microgrid standards, we’re shaping a path toward a vendor-neutral industry framework for DC-native data centers, making them more adaptable to next-generation AI infrastructure while improving overall facility efficiency and resilience.
James Kelly, VP of Market Intelligence & Innovation, Open Compute Project Foundation

Vincenzo Salmeri, president of Current/OS, said direct current “offers significant gains in energy efficiency and architectural simplicity,” describing the OCP collaboration as a step toward accelerating that transition across the broader industry. 

At the Barcelona summit, a joint session tied to the OCP Data Center Facility sub-project will address LVDC adoption, including the practical barriers the organizations say still face in the industry. No timeline for finalizing the specification was disclosed in Wednesday’s release.

The Current/OS Foundation, headquartered in the Netherlands, focuses on interoperability guidelines for DC microgrid systems. The Open Compute Project, based in Austin, Texas, was founded by Meta in 2011 to open-source data center hardware designs and has since grown to include hyperscalers, telecom operators, and technology vendors.

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