Technology

Underwater Data Centers: How the Ocean Cools AI

Underwater data centers are sealed, pressure-rated server pods submerged in the ocean, using surrounding seawater instead of air conditioners to remove server…

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THE IDEA IS BORN

An Internal Microsoft Proposal

A Microsoft researcher proposed that since nearly half the world's population lives within 200km of a coast, subsea deployment could cut cooling costs via stable seawate…

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PHASE 1 CONCLUDES

Project Natick's First Test, Off California

A shipping-container-sized vessel named "Leona Philpot" ran for 105 days off San Luis Obispo, California — validating that a sealed server pod could survive and operate…

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855 SERVERS GO DOWN

Project Natick Phase 2, Off Orkney

Microsoft deployed "Northern Isles" — a single pressure vessel packing 12 racks and 855 servers — about 117 feet down off Scotland, filled with dry nitrogen and designed…

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THE RELIABILITY DATA LANDS

Natick's Pod Is Retrieved

After two years submerged with zero human intervention, only six of 855 servers failed — roughly one-eighth the failure rate Microsoft modeled for an equivalent populati…

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STANDARDS FORMALIZE

Open Compute Project Codifies Immersion Cooling

OCP published formal Immersion Requirements covering single-phase and two-phase immersion cooling, standardizing dielectric fluid, tank, and IT-equipment specifications…

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AI REWRITES THE MATH

The Generative-AI Boom Hits Data Center Hardware

GPU and AI-accelerator racks became the fastest-growing category of data-center hardware — a modern AI rack can draw well over 100 kW, density that mandates liquid cooli…

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RESEARCH BECOMES REVENUE

China's Highlander Launches a Commercial Underwater Data Center

A 1,300-tonne sealed module was lowered about 35 meters into the sea off Hainan — the first underwater data center run as a paying commercial service, not a research pil…

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STANDARDS CONSOLIDATE

Liquid-Cooling Standards Go Industry-Wide

OCP's Cooling Environments project organized liquid cooling into five interoperable areas — cold plates, coolant distribution units, immersion, door heat exchangers, and…

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