Elice Group said on Wednesday it signed a memorandum of understanding with Standard Energy to jointly develop a power solution that combines an artificial intelligence (AI) modular data centre (PMDC) with a vanadium ion battery (VIB).

The agreement is aimed at improving power stability, fire safety and energy efficiency at the same time, in response to rising data centre demand driven by the spread of AI services. The two companies will apply Standard Energy's VIB technology to Elice Group's liquid-cooled AI PMDC to develop a high-efficiency power infrastructure solution.

Standard Energy's VIB uses an electrolyte solution made mainly of water to block the outbreak of fires. The company said it is drawing attention because it can provide stable power in GPU-intensive AI data centre environments. Elice Group commercialised Asia's first liquid-cooled B200 AI data centre last year.

The two companies will jointly develop a modular uninterruptible power supply (UPS) and an energy storage system (BESS) optimised for PMDC environments, and will also work to advance an AI-based energy management system (EMS). Elice Group will support AI technology based on PMDC operations data, while Standard Energy will be responsible for stable VIB supply and technology standardisation.

The two companies plan to jointly participate in government-led projects to build national AI data centres and will also cooperate on expansion into overseas markets such as Japan.

Elice Group CEO Jaewon Kim (김재원) said, "We will combine Standard Energy's battery technology with AI modular data centre technology to build the standard for next-generation AI data centres."

Standard Energy CEO Boogi Kim (김부기) said, "Power infrastructure will become the final battleground for the AI industry," adding, "The combination of AI PMDC and VIB will be an important catalyst for the expansion of data centres."