Rune raises 40 million dollars for solar powered compute modules

Rune, a hardware manufacturer for data centers, announced that it has closed a funding round worth 40 million dollars. Spark Capital led the investment. The company is registered under the name Liitto Technology. It launched its first product, named RELIC, which stands for Renewable Energy Linked Intelligent Compute. This is a processing module customized for artificial intelligence workloads. It is designed to be installed in the areas of solar farms. One of the main selling points of RELIC is its price. Building large artificial intelligence data centers requires companies to install not only servers but also a large amount of supporting infrastructure. Data from Rune indicates that RELIC helps reduce the cost of such infrastructure by up to 85 percent. The first way the system reduces hardware costs is by reducing the need for long distance power transmission lines. Such cables are a large expense for artificial intelligence companies. For example, OpenAI expects to spend 4.2 billion dollars on power system hardware related to building a data center in the state of Ohio. In contrast, RELIC modules do not need long distance cables because they operate close to the solar panels that power them.

The second way Rune reduces costs is by reducing the need for power transformers. These are machines that switch direct current to alternating current. Direct current is electron flow in one direction, while alternating current reverses direction many times per second. Solar farms produce direct current and send it to transformers to change it to alternating current. This conversion is necessary because it makes long distance transmission easier. When alternating current reaches an artificial intelligence data center, it is converted back to direct current to be distributed to servers. The fact that the RELIC system does not rely on long distance power transmission reduces the need for converting from direct to alternating current and back. Servers can use the direct current produced by solar panels directly. This means RELIC customers do not need to buy power transformers. Rune says its technology also offers other benefits. Utility companies often reduce the output of solar panels when supply exceeds demand, leaving some panel production unused. Rune data indicates that RELIC can use that unused production for artificial intelligence processing.

William Layden, co founder and chief executive officer of Rune, stated that every solar power plant is like a data center waiting to be developed. The energy is already there but is left idle while artificial intelligence labs wait years to connect to the power grid, which may never happen. Each RELIC module comes with up to 1,024 graphics cards, cooling equipment, and specialized power management components. Rune claims the system takes only about one hour to install. Customers can start using artificial intelligence workloads within a few weeks, which is much faster than the years required to build a standard data center. Rune stated that it has already installed RELIC in the area of a 200 megawatt solar power plant in the state of Texas. This funding will help the company expand its market presence. There are reports that the company plans to expand its focus beyond solar power plants to wind farms.