Schneider Electric EVP: AI data centres can’t ‘operate on yesterday’s timelines’

For Manish Kumar, the new industrial revolution has already begun.

In a blog post this week, Manish Kumar shared how he had been appointed executive vice president of the secure power and data center division at Schneider Electric – during a time that he describes as “one of the most pivotal moments for our industry”.

He shared his thoughts via a blog post on how AI will continue to be pervasive.

Building the future of the data centre industry

Most essential industries will be impacted, he said, including hospitals, banks, factories, supply chains, energy systems, education, home and everyday life.

While some are further ahead than others, Kumar noted that the unprecedented scale of growth is certain to bring new momentum and new opportunities that the data centre industry can make the most of.

The critical foundation, he said, is infrastructure.

“Across businesses, geographies and everyday life, the transformational impact of AI is providing an unprecedented opportunity to solve complex problems for the good of humankind and our planet,” he added.

“And this is only the beginning.”

Having worked at Schneider Electric for 20 years, Kumar shared that the speed and scale of AI workloads is “faster than we’ve ever seen”. He shares this as the industry wrestles with rising capacity demands and new ways to operate with greater resiliency and efficiency.

“I believe we are going to see bigger jumps in the next several years than we’ve seen in the past fifteen,” he said. “Power systems will be pushed to new limits and must support unprecedented density through innovation. Thermal management and cooling will continue to undergo rapid reinvention as liquid cooling and advanced heat reuse strategies become essential.”

Kumar’s three key priorities for Schneider Electric

As he assumes his new role, Kumar shared three things that he expects to prioritise this year.

Serving Schneider Electric customers and partners

Kumar explained that Schneider Electric customers are moving at an incredible pace as they deploy new GPU clusters and expand AI training capacity. With Schneider Electric’s prowess for energy technology, Kumar explained the company must keep the same momentum to support the building and maintenance of future AI Factories.

“That means accelerating our collaboration with customers and partners in their design cycles, streamlining execution, reducing complexity and being proactive instead of reactive,” he said. “We can’t operate on yesterday’s timelines in a market that is reinventing itself every quarter.”

He added: “Building high-density, AI infrastructure is only the beginning. Our customers deserve complete confidence that their systems are designed correctly, executed properly, serviced consistently and supported by deep technical expertise.”

Inventing the future

In his blog, Kumar said Schneider Electric must “invent the future”, rather than just responding to it.

His comments come as the GPU landscape continues to evolve quickly, leading to higher densities and unprecedented power and cooling requirements. However, he also noted that AI must become more efficient and accessible.

“That requires breakthrough thinking,” he said. “We collectively have to innovate and build more cost-efficient architectures as we lead from the very edge of what’s possible.

“To shape the AI era, we must lead it, and luckily, it’s exactly what our decades of innovation and learning has prepared us for.”

Enabling Schneider Electric’s people to do the extraordinary

Kumar described the people of Schneider Electric as the company’s most important asset.

“We must equip our teams with the skills, tools and autonomy to lead,” he shared. “When our people are enabled, innovation accelerates and when innovation accelerates, our customers win. This is how we all move forward together, united with a single purpose: to lead in AI.”

What’s next?

Kumar’s new role commences amid a significant journey for the data centre industry. He explained how AI infrastructure will continue to change, but that Schneider Electric’s responsibility will be to shape that evolution.

Speaking on his appointment, he said: “This is a business shaped by strong leadership, a high-performance culture and a deep commitment to customers. The strength of this business – its results, its culture, and its talent – is a direct reflection of that legacy and one I am committed to carrying forward with pride.”

He added: “I’m looking forward to working with our teams, our customers and our partners across the secure power and data center division to move fast, deliver confidence and invent what’s ahead.”

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Datacloud Global Congress

Industry heavyweights from the data centre sector will convene at this year’s Datacloud Global Congress, where power and energy management will be a key focus. With AI workloads driving record electricity demand, the event will spotlight strategies for self-generated power, grid resilience, and sustainable energy integration. Attendees can expect in-depth discussions on how recent initiatives, such as the Ratepayer Protection Pledge, are reshaping the economics and operations of hyperscale and edge data centres worldwide. To register for the event, click here.