The EMC Testing Challenge: Why AI Infrastructure Is Outpacing the Labs That Certify It

The EMC Testing Challenge: Why AI Infrastructure Is Outpacing the Labs That Certify It

Every AI server rack deployed in a data center must pass electromagnetic compliance (EMC) testing before it can go live — it is a legal, regulatory requirement enforced by the FCC. But as AI hardware scales to megawatt-class racks with disaggregated compute, power, and liquid cooling systems, the test labs responsible for certifying that hardware are falling dangerously behind. There are only one or two labs in the world currently capable of handling the size, weight, and power demands of today's AI rack configurations — and the gap is widening with every new product generation. In this episode, Jaswanth Vutukury — Lead EMC AI Hardware Infrastructure Engineer at Meta — joins host Rob Coyle to break down exactly why this bottleneck exists, what it means for hyperscalers and ODMs trying to bring next-gen AI infrastructure online, and why he is using the OCP podcast as a call to action: for test labs to join the OCP ecosystem, for hyperscalers to begin collaborating on the problem, and for the industry to explore alternatives to traditional testing before this becomes a hard stop on AI deployment. What You'll Learn - What electromagnetic compliance (EMC) testing is, why it is legally required, and what failure looks like in a real data center environment - Why AI rack infrastructure — with disaggregated compute, power, and liquid cooling across multiple racks — presents an entirely different testing challenge than traditional IT equipment - The three specific bottlenecks breaking the current EMC testing model: weight and turntable capacity, power delivery (1MW+), and physical chamber size - Why there are only 1-2 labs globally capable of testing today's AI rack configurations — and the scheduling crisis this creates for the entire industry - Why the problem is structurally self-perpetuating: AI rack cycles run 12-18 months, but building or upgrading an EMC lab takes about a year — with no sign of the pace slowing - Jaswanth's direct call to action for EMC labs, hyperscalers, and ODMs — and why OCP is the right forum to bring all parties together - What alternatives to physical testing — including simulation — may need to be explored as the industry works toward a longer-term solution Chapters 0:00 — Introduction — Meet Jaswanth Vutukury, Lead EMC AI Hardware Infrastructure Engineer at Meta 0:33 — What Is EMC Testing and Why Does It Matter? The 30-Second Explainer 2:00 — Why AI Infrastructure Is Different — Scale, Speed, and the Widening Lab Gap 5:01 — Inside the Bottleneck — Weight, Power, and the Chamber Size Problem 11:33 — Real-World Impact — Only 1-2 Labs Globally, and Everyone Is Competing for Them 21:20 — The Path Forward — Bringing Labs into OCP, Industry Collaboration, and What Comes Next About the Guest Jaswanth Vutukury Jaswanth Vutukury is the Lead EMC AI Hardware Infrastructure Engineer at Meta, where he oversees electromagnetic compliance testing and certification for AI server rack infrastructure. His background spans multiple hardware-intensive industries — including autonomous vehicles and consumer electronics — giving him a uniquely broad perspective on why the AI infrastructure EMC challenge is unlike anything the industry has faced before. He came to the OCP podcast with a clear message: the bottleneck is real, the timeline is short, and the solution requires the industry to move together. About the Open Compute Project The Open Compute Project (OCP) is a collaborative community committed to redesigning hardware technology to efficiently support the growing demands on compute infrastructure. Its members span hyperscalers, ODMs, component manufacturers, and ecosystem partners — sharing open designs and working together on shared technical challenges that no single company can solve alone.

Challenges, Metrics, and Allies in Women in OCP with Shruti Sethi

In this second installment of the Women in OCP series, host Rob Coyle goes deeper with Shruti Sethi, Sr. Product Manager on Azure Storage at Microsoft, OCP Sustainability Steering Committee rep, and Women in OCP Co-Lead. Where Part 1 covered the founding and structure of the group, this conversation digs into the harder questions: the real challenges the initiative faces, how it measures progress, what it will take to scale, and, critically, why male allies and non-women supporters are not just welcome, but essential. Shruti's perspective bridges her sustainability work with Microsoft Azure and her leadership at Women in OCP, making this a rich and candid conversation about what meaningful inclusion actually looks like in the data center industry. What You'll Learn The real operational challenges of running a geographically distributed community — and how Women in OCP is adapting Why keynote abstract submissions are the most tangible, front-and-center metric for measuring women's representation at OCP Global Summit How Women in OCP tracks membership growth as a leading indicator of community health (230+ members and climbing) Plans to collaborate with external women's groups such as Women in Tech and Women in Mission Critical Why scaling across all OCP technical domains — networking, security, sustainability, cooling, and more — is a deliberate priority A clear and direct message: Women in OCP is open to all supporters, regardless of gender How the group plans to build internal alliances with OCP domain sub-groups to ensure representation across the board Chapters 0:00 — Introduction — Meet Shruti Sethi, Microsoft Azure PM and Women in OCP Co-Lead 1:00 — Real Challenges — Geography, Virtual Events, and Bridging the Personal Connection Gap 2:59 — Representation on Stage — The Keynote Abstract Problem and How to Fix It 6:34 — Measuring Impact — Membership Growth, Summit Momentum, and Key Metrics 7:58 — What's Next — External Partnerships, Industry Collaboration, and Scaling Across OCP Domains 12:15 — Allyship and Open Invitation — Why Women in OCP Welcomes Everyone About Shruti Sethi Shruti Sethi is a Senior Product Manager on the Azure Storage team at Microsoft, where her work centers on the intersection of cost efficiency and carbon efficiency — end-to-end environmental and economic impact across cloud infrastructure. At OCP, she serves on the Sustainability Steering Committee and is Co-Lead of Women in OCP alongside Sung Kim of bp Castrol. Shruti brings a systems-level perspective to both her technical product work and her community leadership, approaching inclusion as an industry-wide challenge that requires cross-organizational solutions. About the Open Compute Project The Open Compute Project (OCP) is a collaborative community committed to redesigning hardware technology to efficiently support the growing demands of data centers. Its members span the entire data center value chain — from hardware manufacturers to hyperscalers — sharing open designs and best practices that advance the industry as a whole. Connect with the OCP Podcast: Join our Facebook Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/opencompute/ Follow us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/OpenComputePrj Join our LinkedIn Group: https://www.linkedin.com/groups/4152886/ Follow our Linkedin Profile: https://www.linkedin.com/company/4284419/

Building Community and Breaking Barriers: Women in OCP with Sung Kim of bp Castrol

In this episode, host Rob Coyle sits down with Sung Kim, Global Head of Technology for Data Center Liquid Solutions at bp Castrol and Co-Lead of Women in OCP, to discuss how a simple observation at an OCP summit sparked a thriving initiative that is reshaping how women are represented across the data center industry. From founding the Women in OCP group to hosting its first Women and AI luncheon co-sponsored by Nvidia and Lenovo, Sung shares the journey, the challenges, and the collective energy that is driving real change at the industry level. What You'll Learn How Women in OCP was founded and why the timing was right The mission to address gender representation at the industry level — not just within individual companies How the group is structured, governed, and organized through a bi-weekly planning committee Key events including the Global Summit breakfast, regional networking sessions, and the Women and AI luncheon Insights from community feedback: mentorship programs, safe spaces vs. inclusive allies, and geography as a challenge Plans for 2026 including expanding mentorship and regional chapters How to get involved and subscribe to Women in OCP updates Chapters 0:00 — Introduction — Meet Sung Kim, Global Head of Data Center Technology at bp Castrol 0:33 — What Is Women in OCP? — Origin Story and Why It Was Needed 1:44 — Mission and Goals — Driving Industry-Level Inclusion Across the Value Chain 3:38 — Structure, Events, and Community Building — How the Group Operates 6:23 — Challenges and Surprises — Geography, Feedback, and Navigating Inclusion 9:08 — Successes, Looking Ahead, and How to Get Involved with Women in OCP About Sung Kim Sung Kim is the Global Head of Technology for Data Center Liquid Solutions at bp Castrol, where she oversees product development, research, testing, and technical partnership activity across a global team spanning the United States, Europe, and Asia-Pacific. At OCP, Sung serves as a Sustainability Co-Lead and is the founder and Co-Lead of Women in OCP, a community initiative dedicated to increasing the visibility, representation, and leadership of women across the data center and technology industry. About the Open Compute Project The Open Compute Project (OCP) is a collaborative community committed to redesigning hardware technology to efficiently support the growing demands of data centers. Its members span the entire data center value chain, from hardware manufacturers to hyperscalers, sharing open designs and best practices that advance the industry as a whole. Connect with the OCP Podcast: Join our Facebook Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/opencompute/ Follow us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/OpenComputePrj Join our LinkedIn Group: https://www.linkedin.com/groups/4152886/ Follow our Linkedin Profile: https://www.linkedin.com/company/4284419/

Solving Data Center Demands: Australia's Macquarie and OCP

Rob Coyle sits down with David Hirst, CEO of Macquarie Data Centres, for a deep look at the rapid changes shaping data centers in the age of AI. David shares why Australia’s sovereign approach matters, how AI workloads are shifting design from “real estate” to “chip-out thinking,” and why early collaboration across hyperscalers, government, and the supply chain is becoming essential. They explore the unique nature of the Australian market, the rise of liquid cooling and megawatt-per-rack designs, what it takes to build IC3 Super West, and how culture, regulation, and geopolitics all influence where and how AI infrastructure gets built. A thoughtful conversation for anyone working in AI infrastructure, colocation, hyperscale strategy, or global data centre planning. Chapters 00:00 – Introduction 00:27 – Why Australia Is a Prime Data Centre Hub 01:52 – How AI Changed Everything 03:23 – Planning for Bursty, Unpredictable AI Workloads 04:28 – Liquid Cooling and Blurred Boundaries 06:17 – What Makes the Australian Market Different 08:35 – Building in Dense Cities and Working With Communities 10:12 – AI, Culture, and Data Sovereignty 11:22 – Local Requirements and Power Challenges 12:57 – Long-Term Operators vs Short-Term Developers 16:20 – Compliance as a Market Advantage 18:45 – The Critical Role of Data Centres in Modern Life 20:22 – Inside IC3 Super West 21:56 – Designing for a Fast-Changing Future 23:51 – Why AI Behaves Differently Than Cloud 26:43 – The Rise of CDU Innovation 28:09 – Building for 2030 and Beyond 33:27 – What Keeps David Optimistic

TI and the Future of AI Power: Smarter Systems from Grid to Gate

Texas Instruments is known for semiconductors, calculators, and decades of design expertise. In this episode, Chris Suchoski shows how TI is becoming a full grid-to-chip partner for the next wave of data center growth. Rob and Chris break down what it takes to power AI, how architectures are shifting, and why TI’s deep experience outside the four walls of the data center matters now more than ever.Chris outlines the pressure facing the industry. AI workloads are growing at a rate the traditional design cycle cannot match. Time-to-market has gone from years to months, yet the expectations for density, power, sustainability, and reliability continue to climb. TI’s response is to support the entire power path from the grid to the GPU. Their goal is to help customers move faster and build systems that can take on the new wave of compute demand.They discuss the shift from conventional rack design to high-voltage architectures like 800V, the rise of megawatt-class racks, and what happens when unpredictable AI workloads collide with an aging set of power assumptions. Chris explains why this shift impacts every part of the ecosystem, from AC distribution to cooling to storage systems. He also talks through how TI’s decades of work in automotive, industrial, and grid power translate directly into the needs of hyperscale and AI operators.The conversation also highlights how collaboration through OCP speeds progress. Standards development, shared learning, and early visibility into architectural trends help companies build aligned solutions. Chris explains why TI participates heavily in OCP working groups and why he sees it as one of the best ways for operators and engineers to keep up with rapid change.Chapters:00:00 Introduction01:00 Meet Chris Suchoski and TI’s data center focus03:00 Why timelines are shrinking04:00 AI workloads and unpredictable power demand06:00 TI’s role beyond the compute tray08:00 Grid-to-chip: TI’s end-to-end approach10:00 Lessons from automotive and grid power12:00 Why OCP collaboration matters14:00 The shift to 800V architectures17:00 What Gen4 power architectures may look like19:00 Cooling, reliability, and emerging risks21:00 TI’s latest hardware and reference designs24:00 Hidden bottlenecks and future challenges26:00 What operators and engineers should prepare for28:00 How to engage with TI and get involved in OCP