US power management and equipment manufacturer Eaton has launched what it says is an “industry first” solution for detecting sudden spikes in energy demand from artificial intelligence (AI) computing infrastructure, known as AI power bursts.

The company claims that through a firmware update for the Eaton Power Xpert (PXQ) quality event analysis system, operators can now identify subsynchronous oscillations (SSO) in data centers. SSOs are fluctuations in energy demand that occur below the system's rated frequency and can cause overheating, equipment damage, and costly outages in both the data centers and the grid.

SSOs are becoming an increasing occurrence for data center operators, especially in locations where there are weak grid conditions. SSOs are expected to become more frequent, especially as AI and high-performance computing workloads increase.

Eaton has said that its Edge-based analytics system could allow operators to effectively dictate these instances and mitigate their impact proactively.

“The energy demands of AI workloads surpass anything data centers and the grid have encountered before, with load fluctuations that can exceed the limits of existing infrastructure,” said JP Buzzell, vice president and chief data center architect at Eaton. “By enabling customers to harness their existing PXQ technology in new ways, we’re delivering a market-first capability to effectively respond to AI power bursts. Our SSO detection solution marks a major milestone in our grid-to-chip strategy.”

Eaton’s PXQ is a power quality meter for switchboards and power distribution units (PDUs) that integrates Edge analytics to streamline the identification and resolution of power quality events such as sags, swells, transients, and harmonics.

The solution is part of the company’s broader grid-to-chip strategy, which combines intelligent power distribution, backup power, and digital technologies to optimize AI data center performance.

Eaton has made several announcements focused on the data center sector in 2025 so far.

In May, the company launched a new uninterruptible power supply (UPS) system for data centers. The new UPS supports 5-11kW and takes up 4U of space. It is the second generation of Eaton's existing data center UPS.

Following this, in June, the company partnered with Siemens Energy to develop an on-site modular gas-powered solution for the data center sector. The companies intend to offer data centers with a modular plant with a standard configuration of 500MW of power capacity.