As artificial intelligence explodes in scope and demand for cloud services surges, data centers face one of their most pressing challenges yet: how to keep millions of servers cool and efficient under massive computing loads.
According to a Science journal study, data centers worldwide consume around 205 terawatt-hours (TWh) of electricity annually—over 1% of global energy use. In many cases, up to half of that energy goes solely to cooling infrastructure. With the rapid rise of AI and high-performance computing (HPC), traditional air cooling methods are starting to hit their limits.
A Radical Shift: Submerging Servers in Liquid
To solve this, an increasing number of operators are turning to liquid immersion cooling, a technique where electronic components like CPUs, GPUs, and memory are fully submerged in a specially engineered non-conductive dielectric fluid. This fluid absorbs and dissipates heat more effectively than air or traditional water-based systems.
There are two main approaches: single-phase immersion, where the fluid remains in a liquid state and is cooled via heat exchangers, and two-phase immersion, where the fluid vaporizes and then re-condenses for reuse. Both eliminate the need for fans, reduce noise and vibration, and allow for much higher rack power densities—sometimes over 100 kW per rack.
Why It’s Gaining Ground
Several key drivers are pushing this technology forward:
- Higher Power Density: The latest AI and HPC chips generate extreme amounts of heat, beyond what air cooling can handle.
- Energy Efficiency: Immersion systems can cut cooling-related power consumption by up to 99%, resulting in ultra-low Power Usage Effectiveness (PUE) ratios—often below 1.05.
- Water Conservation: Unlike evaporative cooling towers, immersion cooling can be waterless, a major benefit in water-scarce regions.
- Heat Reuse: Liquid systems maintain more stable and higher outlet temperatures, enabling better heat reuse for district heating or industrial processes.
Not Just a Tech Upgrade — A Full Infrastructure Rethink
David Carrero Fernández-Baillo, co-founder of Stackscale (Grupo Aire), a European cloud and bare-metal infrastructure provider and part of Grupo Aire, explains:
“Immersion cooling holds huge potential, but it also demands a fundamental redesign of how data centers are built. We’re talking about moving beyond the classic 42U rack, air-cooled aisles, and raised flooring. It’s an architectural shift.”
Carrero points out that the shift to immersion raises practical challenges in staffing, maintenance workflows, safety protocols, and compatibility with existing hardware. While some manufacturers are beginning to certify components for immersion use, widespread adoption will require stronger industry coordination.
A Global Trend Taking Hold
Tech giants like Microsoft, Meta, and various hyperscalers across Asia and the Middle East have already launched pilot projects or full deployments of immersion cooling systems. At the same time, European innovation programs—like Horizon Europe—are funding research to accelerate broader implementation.
Forecasts from the Uptime Institute and Green Grid suggest that without aggressive energy efficiency improvements, global data center energy consumption could double by 2030. Immersion cooling offers a path to scale while reducing environmental impact.
Powering the AI Era—Under the Surface
As artificial intelligence models become more sophisticated and require increasingly powerful compute infrastructure, efficient thermal management becomes a limiting factor.
Training large-scale LLMs like GPT, Gemini, or Claude requires massive server clusters, each loaded with GPUs or AI accelerators drawing hundreds of watts apiece. Cooling these systems sustainably is no longer optional—it’s mission-critical.
Carrero emphasizes:
“Immersion cooling isn’t just a nice-to-have—it’s becoming essential. But we’ll need data center builders, hardware OEMs, and operators to work together. It’s not only about cooling better—it’s about building differently.”
The immersion approach could also unlock new frontiers in data center design, such as modular and containerized facilities, or edge data centers located in regions previously deemed unsuitable due to thermal or water constraints.
As more data center operators explore the benefits of immersion cooling, one thing is clear: the future of high-performance computing may not be air-cooled at all—it might just be underwater.
Source: Noticias cloud. Image via AI Free images.
