Powering the AI revolution — 3M’s advanced solutions help drive efficiency, speed, and reliability in data centers

As artificial intelligence (AI) workloads surge, U.S. data centers are under immense pressure to grow capacity while minimizing energy demand. A recent analysis from Epoch AI highlights that computational performance per watt in AI supercomputers has increased by 34% every year from 2019 to 2025, driven by innovations in cooling, power delivery, and energy efficient chip design. To sustain this momentum, data centers must optimize every aspect of power and thermal management.

According to a July 2025 report by 174 Power Global, AI workloads could push U.S. data center electricity demands sharply upward—AI alone may soon account for nearly eight percent of national power use and global demand may double by 2030. Flexible, smart energy architectures are vital to meeting this challenge, aligning with national goals to lead the AI era responsibly.

“From the grid to the rack, 3M innovations are designed to help hyperscalers and data center operators build faster, operate more efficiently and adapt to new workloads with confidence,” said Alex An, vice president, 3M Data Center Vertical.  “Whether it’s enabling high-bandwidth, low-latency optical interconnects, solving mission-critical thermal challenges, improving the efficiency of power delivery, or improving hot aisle containment, 3M is helping data centers meet their increasing challenges of AI-driven growth by pushing the limits of our materials science, minimizing energy footprints and helping increasing connectivity speeds.”

3M innovations: Efficiency, performance, and sustainability

The 3M Cable Quality Prep System helps customers accelerate their medium voltage cable preparation while embedding performance monitoring – crucial in minimizing installation time and helping customers ensure reliable energy pathways.

3M Sensored Cable Accessories provide real-time data on electrical grid performance, helping data centers detect faults, optimize energy distribution, and reduce their downtime. By integrating sensors into cable accessories, these smart grid solutions can help hyperscalers enhance their predictive maintenance, minimize outages, and improve overall grid resilience.

Optical fiber interconnects can dramatically outpace electrical copper in both power efficiency and performance. Research by Frontiers in Physics shows that optical interconnects can deliver 10 times greater energy efficiency, with improved bandwidth, lower latency, and scalability to 1.6 terabits per second and beyond. They help customers eliminate bottlenecks and enable faster real-time data exchange critical for AI compute environments.  As the industry evolves, 3M will address growing AI needs beyond traditional networking with advanced solutions like active copper, dense compute fabrics for GPUs, and co-packaged optics (CPOs), positioning 3M at the forefront of materials science-based innovations.

The 3M Expanded Beam Optical Interconnect, with significantly reduced dust sensitivity compared to physical contact optical connectors, helps data centers accelerate their hyperscale deployment by reducing cleaning and inspection requirements, which accelerates time to build.

As hyperscalers target zero waste, carbon neutrality, becoming water positive, and operating on 100% renewable energy, 3M is exploring materials to help them support their sustainability goals with products such as biobased floor marking tapes, longer life and recyclable air filters and solutions to help improve water usage efficiencies. The 3M Air Containment Barrier Film provides low-carbon alternative to traditional hot-aisle containment. Effective air management is a cornerstone of efficient data center design, as strategic approaches can help significantly reduce energy overhead associated with cooling, lighting, and airflow.  Furthermore, 3M vibration and noise damping solutions are helping hyberscalers mitigate nuisance noise and vibration from servers and racks.

Smart grid integration and demand flexibility

Smart grid integration is helping transform how data centers manage their electricity. Advanced, low-voltage switchboards with real-time sensing and load balancing significantly help improve resilience, reduce waste, and accommodate renewable power sources. Notably, demand response flexibility enables data centers to scale back during peak grid usage, a strategy that some advanced hyperscalers are already implementing in collaboration with local utilities.

Flexible data centers not only help utilities avoid costly grid expansions but also accelerate deployment timelines—a recent report from Energy Innovation shows that demand flexibility can reduce the need for new gas generation or grid upgrades.

Why 3M matters for AI-Ready U.S. infrastructure

• Efficiency from installation to operation: By cutting cable prep time and improving reliability, 3M systems help data centers/hyberscalers reduce their labor and downtime risks.
• Next-Gen connectivity: Copper and optical interconnects help data centers/hyperscalers enable high bandwidth with low power and thermal footprint—key for dense AI workloads.
• Lower carbon solutions: 3M is committed to helping customers support their sustainability goals with innovations like biobased floor marking tapes, longer life and recyclable air filters, and solutions to help improve water usage efficiencies.  Air barrier film contributes to hot aisle containment strategies that help data centers/hyperscalers meet their thermal requirements and support energy goals.
• Grid-aware infrastructure: Sensor-enabled cabling integrates seamlessly with smart grid and demand-response regimes, aligning with the U.S. aspiration to lead AI infrastructure efficiently.

As the U.S. competes on the global AI stage, data centers must be fast-built, energy-efficient, reliable, and smart-grid ready. 3M integrated solutions—from cable preparation and monitoring tools to optical interconnects and airflow management—help empower operators to meet their demands while also advancing their sustainability. Our innovations help unlock AI’s full potential with less energy, more speed, and greater resilience.