Acronym · Standards & Organisations
OCP (Open Compute Project)
The community that open-sources hyperscale data centre hardware designs, covering racks, servers, storage, networking and accelerator modules. Its specifications shape the mechanical, thermal and power envelopes that data centre silicon must fit.
- Also known as
- Open Compute Project Foundation
- Type
- Acronym
- Domain
- Standards & Organisations, Consortia & alliances
Notes
Started by Facebook in 2011; its OAM accelerator module and Open Rack standards are now common reference points for AI system design.
Overview
OCP, the Open Compute Project, is a global community, governed by the Open Compute Project Foundation, that develops and publishes open designs and specifications for data centre and IT infrastructure, covering servers, racks, power, cooling, networking, storage and security. Facebook (now Meta) started it in 2011 to share the hardware designs behind its own data centres. For chip companies, OCP specifications increasingly define the boards, power envelopes and security features that data centre silicon has to fit.
How it works
Work is organised into projects with subprojects and workstreams, strategic initiatives that cut across projects, such as co-design for AI infrastructure, incubation initiatives for emerging areas, a Future Technologies Initiative and regional community groups. Members contribute designs, and each contribution must meet three of five tenets: efficiency, impact, openness, scalability and sustainability. A marketplace lists products built to the specifications.
The Open Rack shows the approach. Introduced in 2013 as an alternative to the conventional 19-inch rack, it has a 21-inch equipment bay and a taller 48 mm rack unit, the OpenU, and servers plug into busbars at the back fed by shared power shelves instead of each carrying its own power supply. The Rack and Power project now covers Open Rack V3, 48 V power supplies, battery backup units and power shelves rated at 72 kW and more, and the Server project lists accelerator baseboard specifications among its contributions.
OCP work reaches down into the chip itself. In 2022, AMD, Google, Microsoft and NVIDIA defined Caliptra within OCP, a reusable root of trust block for data centre SoCs, with its design released as open source through the CHIPS Alliance. Chiplets are another featured area. Adoption of any OCP specification is voluntary and depends on large operators and their suppliers choosing to build to it.
Examples
- The Open Rack design, with a 21-inch equipment bay, a 48 mm OpenU and rear busbars fed by shared power shelves.
- Open Rack V3 power shelves, battery backup units and 48 V power supplies specified by the Rack and Power project.
- Caliptra, a root of trust block defined in OCP by AMD, Google, Microsoft and NVIDIA for integration into data centre SoCs.
- Open Accelerator Infrastructure baseboard specifications listed among the Server project's contributions.
Why it matters
Many large data centre operators build or buy hardware to OCP specifications, so server board designers, rack power architects, accelerator card designers, board management engineers and silicon security teams that supply them follow OCP closely. A part that fits the expected form factor, power and management features is easier to sell into those deployments.
In the chip lifecycle, OCP specifications feed architecture and requirements such as power, form factor, management and security, shape package and board design, and set what must be demonstrated in validation and interoperability testing before a part is accepted into large data centre deployments.
It matters most to: AI Accelerator Card Design Engineer, BMC and Board Management Engineer, Datacenter Rack Power-Delivery Architect, Server Board Hardware Engineer, Strategic Account Technical Lead, Hyperscaler
Common confusions
- Not the same as over-current protection
- In power electronics, OCP more often means over-current protection, a regulator or power supply feature that limits current when a fault occurs.
- Not the same as a formal standards body
- OCP publishes open specifications contributed by its members, but it is a community foundation rather than a body such as JEDEC or IEEE, and following its specifications is voluntary.
Sources
- About the Open Compute Project (opens in a new tab), Open Compute Project, 2026-10-22
- Rack and Power (opens in a new tab), Open Compute Project, 2026-10-22
- Introducing the Open Rack (7 August 2013) (opens in a new tab), Open Compute Project, 2026-10-22
- Cloud Security: Integrating Trust into Every Chip (17 October 2022) (opens in a new tab), Open Compute Project, 2026-10-22
- Server (opens in a new tab), Open Compute Project, 2026-10-22
Related terms
Part of the Standards & Organisations glossary, with every term in the topic and the lifecycles, tools and standards that use them.
Where it appears on the Hub
Used on 18 pages of the Hub. In each group, the pages that mention it most come first.
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Standards
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