NVIDIA and Emerald AI partner on grid-flexible AI factories
NVIDIA and Emerald AI have teamed up with several major US energy companies to develop a new model of AI infrastructure that can function as a flexible asset for the power grid. The initiative, unveiled at CERAWeek 2026, aims to accelerate the deployment of AI factories while helping stabilize electricity networks facing rapidly growing demand from data centers.
The collaboration brings together companies including AES, Constellation, Invenergy, NextEra Energy, Nscale Energy & Power and Vistra to combine AI infrastructure design with advanced energy generation and grid management.
For eeNews Europe readers following the rapid expansion of AI computing infrastructure and its impact on power systems, the project highlights how semiconductor and data center technologies are increasingly shaping energy infrastructure planning. It also points to new architectural approaches that could reduce grid bottlenecks as AI workloads scale.
AI factories designed as grid assets
At the center of the initiative is NVIDIA’s Vera Rubin DSX AI Factory reference design, which incorporates the DSX Flex software library to allow AI facilities to interact directly with grid services.
Instead of acting solely as large electricity consumers, these “flexible AI factories” could dynamically adjust their power usage based on grid conditions. The goal is to shorten the time needed to connect large AI data centers to power infrastructure while simultaneously providing services that support grid stability.
Emerald AI’s Conductor platform will coordinate compute workloads with onsite energy resources such as batteries and generation assets. By orchestrating both compute and power resources, the platform aims to maintain service quality for AI workloads while providing grid-responsive flexibility.
“AI factories are the engines of the intelligence era, and like any great engine, every system must be designed together — energy, compute, networking and cooling as one architecture,” said Jensen Huang, founder and CEO of NVIDIA. “NVIDIA and Emerald AI are working together to enable a future for AI where performance, efficiency and grid responsiveness can be tapped into immediately.”
Faster power connections for AI infrastructure
One of the key challenges facing large AI data center projects is the long timeline for grid interconnection. Many projects now rely on temporary onsite power generation to begin operations while waiting for full grid access.
The new architecture allows AI factories to start with co-located generation and storage, acting as “bridge power,” and later transition into flexible grid-connected assets. Once connected, those energy resources can also supply electricity back to the grid during peak demand.
According to Emerald AI, this approach could help unlock up to 100 GW of capacity across the US power system by improving utilization of existing infrastructure and reducing the need for extensive grid expansion.
“AI factories are too valuable to be treated as either passive loads or permanent islands,” said Varun Sivaram, founder and CEO of Emerald AI. “They produce tremendously valuable AI tokens and knowledge, and with DSX Flex, they can also provide measurable relief back to the grid.”
Energy industry partners join the initiative
The participating energy companies will evaluate generation projects designed to power these AI factories and accelerate their connection to the grid. The approach combines new energy generation, flexible demand from AI workloads and intelligent control systems.
Industry executives say the strategy could help address the surge in electricity demand driven by AI data centers.
“Grid flexibility will be key to addressing AI’s unprecedented demand while supporting system reliability,” said Andrés Gluski, CEO of AES. “DSX Flex embeds flexibility from the outset, allowing AI infrastructure to operate as a grid asset that supports faster, more efficient growth.”
The companies have already conducted trials of AI power flexibility at five commercial data centers worldwide. A commercial-scale deployment is expected later this year at the NVIDIA AI Factory Research Center in Virginia, which is planned as one of the first power-flexible AI factories built using the Vera Rubin infrastructure.
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