TIDAL PWR, BTQ Plan Data Center Power for Advanced Computing
A Texas data center developer and a technology firm specializing in advanced systems are creating a 90-day blueprint for integrating future advanced computers into large-scale infrastructure.
Texas data center developer TIDAL PWR is collaborating with technology company BTQ Technologies to plan how power and data center infrastructure can accommodate future advanced computing systems. The companies announced the collaboration on July 20 and expect a 90-day workstream to produce a planning blueprint for developers, engineers, and procurement teams.
According to the companies, the effort is pre-customer and pre-deployment. The goal is to create a guide for the long-lead decisions that determine where large computing campuses can be built and how they will be powered. This aims to help planned infrastructure accommodate future generations of computing equipment alongside conventional AI and high-performance computing (HPC) workloads.
Defining an Infrastructure Blueprint for Advanced Systems
Working from opposite sides of the infrastructure stack, TIDAL PWR and BTQ have proposed a "trusted data center reference architecture for advanced systems." The initial scope includes data center design principles for these systems, trusted supply chain requirements, vendor procurement standards, post-quantum cryptographic security, and a repeatable deployment model. The companies told POWER the blueprint is a design guide, not a certification standard, intended to define what operators should consider before installing such a system.
BTQ is developing a full-stack neutral-atom computing platform and post-quantum security technologies. TIDAL PWR develops large-scale AI campuses built around land, grid interconnection, dispatchable generation, fiber, water, and data center infrastructure. The collaboration seeks to combine BTQ's expertise in advanced systems with TIDAL PWR's power and campus-development experience.
Power and Cooling Demands of Advanced Systems
The first 90-day phase is expected to produce a written report with a preliminary reference architecture and a roadmap. A crucial complication is that these advanced computers do not share a common physical design, leading to varied infrastructure needs. The companies emphasized designing flexible campuses that can support both traditional AI workloads and future advanced systems in dedicated areas.
This equipment would be housed in zones designed for its specific cooling, power, and environmental needs while remaining connected to a larger AI campus. The campus power, cooling, networking, and building infrastructure are being designed with flexibility to support new computing technologies as they mature. The power demand, physical footprint, and cooling requirements would depend on the specific system selected.
Integrating Security and Procurement Standards
The proposed architecture also addresses security and procurement requirements that apply before an advanced computer is installed. This includes post-quantum cryptography (PQC), described as a new generation of encryption technology designed to remain secure against future advanced computers while running on today's conventional machines.
The work will build on standards the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) finalized in August 2024, including ML-KEM for encryption keys and ML-DSA and SLH-DSA for digital signatures. The collaboration is focused on the practical infrastructure layer - how those standards translate into procurement requirements, vendor evaluation, security architecture, and deployment inside a data center.
For AI and hyperscale operators, the issue is that data centers built today will operate for many years and protect valuable data and systems. "Crypto-agile design simply means making sure equipment and security systems can change or upgrade their cryptography as standards evolve, rather than requiring hardware to be replaced every time an algorithm changes," the companies said.
For now, the collaboration remains at the planning stage with no named customers or pilot deployments announced. The companies stated their belief that the future of computing will combine AI, HPC, and advanced technologies, and their goal is to build campuses ready to support all three.
