Schneider Electric touts software-defined MV switchgear for AI data centres

Schneider Electric has introduced a software-defined medium-voltage switchgear architecture aimed at shortening the build-out of electrical infrastructure for AI factories and data centres. The company announced the system at YOTTA 2026 in Las Vegas.

The design relies on standardised hardware, with more functionality moved into software. Schneider Electric says this can speed ordering and manufacturing by up to three times and commissioning by up to twice, while cutting component count and wiring. Features and performance improvements would arrive through over-the-air updates rather than physical changes, the company claims. It also cites connectivity and analytics for real-time monitoring and predictive maintenance through EcoCare Services.

Those figures are Schneider Electric's own and have not been independently verified. The company says the architecture has been piloted in a live colocation data centre and plans to extend it across its PremSet, AirSeT and MCSET EvoPacT ranges. Pilots are expected to continue through 2027, with broader availability to follow in 2028.

For plants planning capacity around AI workloads, the stated pitch is shorter lead times on engineered-to-order medium-voltage equipment, though the timeline means the architecture is not yet broadly available.