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Potentially—but the evidence so far is a company-reported test of a single nickel-zinc (NiZn) cell, not a complete UPS or AI rack. In a 2025 paper, ZincFive says its 1.8 Ah cell completed more than 10 million high-power pulse cycles under a specific one-second test pattern, and reports a 25-microsecond response at 60 W per cell. The results suggest NiZn could support both backup and rapid power buffering, but system-level development remains future work.
What did ZincFive test?
The tested device was a cylindrical Z5 1.7-2 H X SC nickel-zinc SubC cell rated at 1.8 Ah and 3 Wh, measuring 2.2 cm in diameter by 4.2 cm long. The work was reported by ZincFive employees in a two-page 2025 paper, New Battery Capability for Dual-Use UPS and AI Factory Dynamic Power Management.
The protocol repeatedly applied a high-power pulse for 50 milliseconds, then allowed 950 milliseconds of float recharge. The first 4.5 million cycles used a resistive load targeting more than 60 W per cell. From 4.5 million to more than 10 million cycles, a standard Arbin LBT cycler applied a constant-power load of at least 60 W per cell. This is a demanding, repeated cell-level test; it is not a test of an installed UPS, a battery string, or a working AI rack.
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What were the reported results?
At 10 million cycles, the paper reports approximately 73% state of charge, 87% recoverable state of health, and more than 2,777 capacity turnovers. During the cycling, average discharge voltage declined and current rose to maintain constant power; temperature also increased with cycle count. These measurements describe the cell under the paper’s protocol, not a guaranteed service life in a data center.
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The paper also reports current-ramp measurements conducted at the University of Texas at Arlington: 2 A/µs, corresponding in the authors’ account to 60 W per cell in 25 µs. The university laboratory’s support for high-frequency testing and its current-ramp measurements do not constitute independent validation of the full paper or a commercial system.
How could a battery help with AI rack power spikes?
Electrical infrastructure must handle both a rack’s sustained power demand and short changes in demand. ZincFive’s authors characterize GPU-related transients as 50% or more above average continuous rack load, typically lasting up to 50 milliseconds per second. Those are the paper authors’ contextual figures, not a universal measurement for every AI workload; workloads affect whether spikes occur and how often.
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A battery or other fast energy source near the load could supply some of a brief increase locally, reducing the amount of rapid power change that upstream equipment must handle. That is different from providing outage backup: a system intended to bridge a short transient must deliver power quickly, while a backup system must supply enough energy for its required runtime. One design might serve both roles, but doing so depends on cells, power electronics, controls, voltage architecture, protection, and integration—not just the cell’s cycle count.
Can the same battery serve as UPS backup and transient buffer?
The paper’s central claim is that NiZn shows the potential for dual use. Its authors conclude that the chemistry demonstrated the required capability in their test, while also identifying further work on power, response time, cycle life, dual-use battery backup units, and integration with power electronics. The reported pulse test supports a promising cell-level result; it does not establish that a deployed battery installation can meet a particular facility’s backup-runtime or power-quality requirements.
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There is no basis in this paper for converting 10 million pulses into a number of years of service. That would require a validated life model and information about the real workload, operating temperature, system design, maintenance, and operating limits. The paper’s comparisons with lithium batteries and supercapacitors are part of the authors’ motivation, not independently established proof that those alternatives cannot support dual-use functions.
Where could transient buffering be installed?
The paper discusses three possible approaches. It does not provide a head-to-head cost or performance comparison, and the system configurations below should be understood as options under consideration rather than demonstrated deployments.
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| Approach | What it involves | Key design question | Status in the paper |
|---|---|---|---|
| Extend central UPS infrastructure | Use or adapt centralized power infrastructure to address changing rack demand. | How would the UPS and associated power electronics respond to fast, localized transients while meeting backup requirements? | Discussed as an option; no complete system result or comparison is reported. |
| In-rack battery backup units | Place battery backup closer to the rack, potentially combining outage backup with transient support. | Can the unit’s power, runtime, controls, and electrical interfaces meet both jobs? | Dual-use units are identified as ongoing development work. |
| Sidecar cabinets | Use a separate cabinet near the data-center rack for energy storage and power conversion. | Which voltage architecture and power-electronics arrangement can integrate with the facility and rack? | The paper considers ±400 V and 800 V sidecar cabinets; these are not reported as validated deployments. |
What does ZincFive offer now?
ZincFive’s current NiZn In-Rack Power Solutions page describes AI Dynamic Power Modules for transient management and Battery Backup Units for minute-level rack backup, as well as a possible combined deployment. The vendor lists 48 V and emerging 400 V/800 V architectures for dynamic modules, and 12 V, 48 V, 400 V, and 800 V for backup units. These are product descriptions from the manufacturer, not independent performance evaluations; any project would need to confirm compatibility, ratings, integration requirements, and availability with the vendor and its system partners.
The cell used in the paper is not an ordinary drop-in battery for a data-center UPS. A facility needs a designed and qualified system, including appropriate power conversion, controls, protection, and electrical interfaces.
What does the OCP award establish?
The Open Compute Project says ZincFive received Best AI/HPC Paper at the 2025 Future Technologies Symposium for this work. The award recognizes the paper; it is not independent replication or certification of the cell’s test results. The OCP’s 2025 summit report confirms the award, but does not add validation of the battery performance.
Quick Recap
What should data-center teams take from the result?
- For infrastructure architects: treat the paper as evidence that a tested NiZn cell sustained an unusually large number of specified high-power pulses, not as a facility design specification.
- For electrical engineers: evaluate transient power, backup runtime, voltage, conversion, thermal behavior, controls, and protection as a complete system.
- For procurement teams: request system-level test conditions and results for the exact configuration under consideration; do not infer rack or UPS performance from a single-cell test.
- For operators: assess the site’s actual workload and power profile before deciding whether transient buffering is needed or whether backup and transient duties should share equipment.
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