New Ultra-High Power XNO® Cell launched by BAK for AI Data Centre market
Announcement from BAK Power, Shenzhen July 2026
BAK Power Develops New-Generation XNO® Ultra-High-Power, Long Life 2170 Cell Series for AI Data Center Battery Backup Units
BAK Power, a global tier-one manufacturer of lithium-ion cells today announced a new, ultra-high-power (UHP), long life 2170 series cylindrical cell, engineered for Battery Backup Unit (BBU) applications in AI data centers and other mission-critical power systems, developed in collaboration with Echion Technologies.
The cell is built on Echion Technologies’ XNO® anode technology and leverages BAK's proven tabless high-power cell architecture to enable symmetrical charge/discharge rates of 10C+, an order of magnitude higher cycle life vs. UHP cell benchmarks, low internal resistance and high thermal stability and safety. Sample availability for BBU trials is targeted from late 2026.
The new product is designed to close the performance gap left open by today's ultra-high-power 2170 cell series in next-generation, high power density, liquid-cooled BBU sidecar architectures, including ±400 V module designs. Key benefits include:
Symmetric design: While incumbent high-power 2170 cells for BBU applications deliver excellent discharge performance, their charge rate is limited, which forces the system to be overdesigned. Our new 10C+ product, with its continuous charge and discharge capability, effectively addresses this issue—reducing system oversizing and maximizing usable space within the rack.
Order of magnitude higher cycle life provides best-in-class levelized cost of storage (LCOS): engineered to sustain the frequent fast-charge / fast-discharge events characteristic of AI BBU operation across a significantly longer asset life vs. conventional NMC ultra-high-power 2170 cell series.
Safer by design: improved abuse-test results versus standard graphite ultra-high-power benchmarks, supported by intrinsic safety attributes of XNO® chemistry, addressing the safety expectations of server-adjacent BBU installations.
Built for the data center thermal environment: low internal resistance cell design, combined with XNO®’s thermal stability delivers full performance at the elevated ambient and rack-side temperatures typical of dense, AI-driven data center deployments, where existing ultra-high-power 2170 series chemistries derate or age prematurely.
We have observed that workloads are reshaping the power architecture within data centers, and the existing ultra-high-power cell chemistries are struggling to keep pace with this evolution. This is exactly the challenge that BAK's new tabless high-power cell, powered by Echion's XNO® anode technology, is designed to address—and the very reason we launched this development project. We are now opening this program to select BBU system integrators who wish to secure early access to evaluation samples, pursue joint certification, and establish long-term supply partnerships.
BAK invites BBU developers, hyperscalers, and rack OEMs to register their interest in this program.
Jean de la Verpilliere, CEO of Echion Technologies, said: “AI data centers need backup power that charges fast, stays safe and takes up as little space as possible, and until now that has meant compromise. BAK’s new cell removes it: symmetric fast charge and discharge, far longer cycle life, and the safety and thermal stability these mission-critical sites demand. BAK is one of the world’s foremost cell manufacturers, and its renowned tabless architecture is an outstanding platform for our XNO® anode technology. To see XNO® commercialised in a product of this calibre, for one of the fastest-growing applications in energy storage, is a landmark moment for Echion.”
See original press release here