Who's new in the next-gen cooling zoo?
In the evolving landscape of data center technology, the demand for efficient and sustainable cooling solutions continues to grow. With the emergence of GenAI infrastructure and its increased computational demands and heat generation, the need for innovative cooling techniques has become more pronounced.
With looming regulation, both on data center sustainability and AI in general, I wanted to give an early 2024 summary of all the movement in the advanced cooling technology space.
By way of refresher, a quick recap...
Addressing the Heat Challenge of GenAI Infrastructure
Data centers play a crucial role in modern computing, powering a wide array of services, including cloud computing and artificial intelligence applications. However, the rising complexity and scale of computational workloads have led to significant challenges in managing heat within these facilities.
Traditional cooling methods, such as air conditioning, are proving inadequate for addressing the heat generated by GenAI infrastructure. Consequently, the industry is exploring next-generation cooling solutions to improve efficiency, reduce energy consumption, and enhance environmental sustainability.
Next-Gen Cooling Techniques
Next-gen cooling techniques represent a shift towards more efficient and effective cooling methods. These approaches leverage advanced technologies to improve heat dissipation and thermal management within data center environments.
Immersion Cooling: Immersion cooling involves submerging servers in dielectric fluids to dissipate heat more effectively than traditional air-cooling methods. This technique offers potential energy savings and environmental benefits by eliminating the need for conventional air conditioning systems.
Direct Liquid Cooling: Direct liquid cooling systems circulate coolant directly through server components to regulate temperatures and improve cooling efficiency. By minimizing thermal resistance and optimizing heat transfer, these systems enable higher computing densities without compromising reliability.
Is 2024 the year next-gen becomes this-gen?
Like I opined in previous articles;
Jan 9, 2024 - Beyond 2023 | LinkedIn
Nov 30, 2023 - OCP 2023 Wrap (2 of 2) | LinkedIn
this year (2024) is the year liquid cooling goes mainstream, and boy are we seeing that play out, and...it's only the second week of February.
Even NVIDIA themselves have a liquid cooled reference design for their new GH200 superchip that pulled 1kW (1000W) - One Giant Superchip for LLMs, Recommenders, and GNNs: Introducing NVIDIA GH200 NVL32 | NVIDIA Technical Blog
Data Center Operators
Involta is changing their business model from selling rack space (as a service) to power - Involta offers new colo payment model charging by kW instead of rackspace - DCD (datacenterdynamics.com)
Aligned's DeltaFlow~ solution covers direct to chip, rear door heat exchangers (RDHX), and immersion cooling - New tech from Aligned reduces the need to build AI data centres | Capacity Media
Stack is doing RDHX, direct to chip, and exploring immersion cooling - Stack Infrastructure to support AI workloads requiring up to 300kW-per-rack - DCD (datacenterdynamics.com)
Equinix starting with direct to chip cooling to augment their initial RDHX toe-dipping - Equinix to support Enterprise AI Workloads with liquid cooling deployments | Capacity Media
CryusOne is using immersion cooling and "other techniques" - CyrusOne offers 300kW-per-rack AI data center design - DCD (datacenterdynamics.com)
SonicEdge is using Submer's tanks in the UK - Sonic Edge & Submer deploy immersion cooling data center module to Castrol's Berkshire research site - DCD (datacenterdynamics.com)
Capital Markets
Octopus Energy invests £200 million with Deep Green to recycle heat for up to 150 public swimming pools in the UK - Octopus makes £200m investment in Deep Green | Capacity Media
Modine purchased TMGCore's IP to augment their existing chiller business - Modine buys TMGcore for immersion cooling assets - DCD (datacenterdynamics.com)
Cloud Service Providers
Microsoft came out at Ignite in November 2023 with their own custom AI silicon, with a sidekick rack for liquid cooling - MS Ignite 2023 (Silicon edition) | LinkedIn
Meta is building a $800 million data center in Indiana including liquid-cooled hardware - Meta To Build $800M AI-Focused Data Center in Indiana | Data Center Knowledge | News and analysis for the data center industry
OEMs
Dell has many liquid cooled SKUs to choose from - Dell PowerEdge XE9640 Liquid-Cooled GPU Server Deep Dive - StorageReview.com
Supermicro gets their universal 8U GPU system down to 4U by using liquid cooling - Supermicro 4U Universal GPU System for Liquid Cooled NVIDIA HGX H100 and HGX H200 (servethehome.com)
Iceotope validated cooling a 1000W (1kW) using their liquid cooling design, great for those 1kW #nvidia GH200's - Iceotope achieves chip cooling industry milestone at 1000W | Digital Infra Network
As organizations consider adopting next-gen cooling solutions, they must carefully evaluate factors such as cost, scalability, and environmental sustainability. With many Fortune 1000 companies committed to reducing their carbon footprint, many are at major risk, and going in the opposite direction as they buy, rent and use GenAI services, given they are cooled by air, and significant energy is wasted.
Wrapping Up
The evolution of data center cooling represents a significant opportunity to enhance the efficiency and sustainability of computing infrastructure. By embracing next-gen cooling solutions, organizations can improve performance, reduce operating costs, and minimize environmental impact.
As we navigate the complexities of modern computing, the adoption of innovative cooling techniques will play a crucial role in shaping the future of data centers. By leveraging technology and sustainability principles, we can build resilient and efficient infrastructure to support the transformative potential of GenAI applications.
I'll likely update this article as new deployments and developments take place in the industry, hot off the presses (in more ways than one).
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