Overview
As rack densities driven by AI loads increase, the need for effective cooling solutions has never been greater. From hyperscale facilities to cryptocurrency mining farms, data centres (DCs) are experiencing rapid growth in hardware density, leading to unprecedented energy consumption for cooling. Goldman Sachs estimates a 160% increase in DC power consumption between 2023 and 2030, mainly driven by AI workloads.
With cooling accounting for over 40% of the total energy consumption, liquid cooling, including immersive cooling, has emerged as a long-term solution to reduce energy and water consumption while enabling higher-performance computing.
The growing case for immersion cooling
Introduction
The liquid cooling market is expected to reach USD23-27bn by 2030, growing at an explosive ~39% CAGR, driven by the surge in high-density computing demand. Direct-to-chip (DtC) and Immersion cooling (IC) have emerged as the two most promising alternatives to traditional aircooling systems. Yet, limited testing at scale and vendor ecosystem (chip manufacturers’ adoption), regulation limiting broad expansion (use of flammable liquids), and cost and maintenance issues could limit short-term adoption.
While still a niche solution in the data centre space, immersion cooling is gaining traction in applications requiring high-power densities, such as cryptocurrencies and edge computing, and expanding in key locations such as the Middle East HPC market.
As the technology matures and costs decrease, it could extend beyond high-performance environments into more mainstream data centre operations, mainly from hyperscalers in key regions such as the US, Europe and Asia, within the next 5- 10 years.
This analysis explores immersion cooling as one of today’s fast-developing liquid cooling solutions. It compares it against other liquid and traditional cooling systems and presents our view on why hybrid technologies could gain the top spot in the new era of data centre cooling.
Innovative cooling solutions for data centres: the shift towards liquid cooling
Data centres use various cooling techniques to manage the heat their IT infrastructure generates. Air cooling remains the most popular system, using airflow to transfer heat away from servers. It is less expensive than other solutions and easy to implement, making it the dominant choice. However, air cooling struggles with high-powerdensity racks, it is energy-intensive and relies heavily on water usage in many cases.
That is why liquid cooling has recently been risingin popularity as a more efficient alternative, especially in +20MW facilities. Liquid cooling systems include direct-to-chip liquid cooling, where coolants flow directly over components like CPUs and GPUs, and immersion cooling, where entire servers are submerged in dielectric fluids. As seen in Figure 1, both liquid cooling methods reduce energy consumption and maintenance requirements compared to traditional air cooling while providing a significantly higher heat absorption rate.
The global liquid cooling market is expected to range between USD23-27bn by 2030, growing at a ~39% CAGR. This growth is driven by AI and HPC workloads, pushing the adoption of high-density racks, where traditional air-cooled systems turn suboptimal. A recent survey from the Uptime Institute (see Figure 2) shows an upward trend in both current usage and interest in liquid cooling technologies, with 22% of DC owners/operators using some liquid cooling system in its facilities.
Furthermore,~60% of DC owners/operators are considering implementing some liquid cooling solution in the future, which shows the increasing recognition of liquid cooling’s superior efficiency in handling high-performance workloads.
Figure 2: Awareness trends for DtC and IC liquid cooling in data centres (2021-2024).
Why immersion cooling is revolutionising DCs: a deep dive into its rising adoption
Immersion cooling involves submerging entire servers in non-conductive, dielectric fluids that efficiently transfer heat away from the hardware, allowing higher thermal performance and energy efficiency. IC enables more compact server configurations, reduces water use to near zero, and eliminates the need for fans or airconditioning units, making it an appealing solution for high-performance data centres. There are currently two types of IC solutions, single-phase and dual-phase, with single-phase taking a slight edge in adoption based on lower deployment complexity and higher sustainability – it does not release toxic chemicals to the atmosphere – although the tech race is not settled.
IC has the highest heat dissipation capacity among all liquid cooling methods, especially in high-density server environments. IC can dissipate 100kW+ per rack, far surpassing the heat removal capabilities of traditional air and DtC cooling solutions. This efficiency in heat management makes IC particularly advantageous in environments where maximising computational density is critical, such as AI training DCs and blockchain mining operations.
The advantages of immersion cooling in data centres go beyond higher heat management, PUE (Power Usage Effectiveness) optimisation and water consumption improvement. By eliminating the need for server fans, IC systems free up valuable space that can be dedicated to adding more IT capacity, leading to better total cost of ownership (TCO) and overall efficiency. Moreover, liquid-cooled hardware is maintained at far more stable temperatures, dramatically reducing the failure rate and extending the IT equipment lifespan – especially critical in AI workload environments.
IC has gained traction among military and government institutions, crypto mining companies, and HPC-focused DCs in selected regions. The Middle East, for example, has seen recent action with GRC and Iceotope reaching agreements with DCV Industries and Power & Cooling Middle East to accelerate the adoption of immersion-cooled DCs in the region. The US and the UK are also at the forefront of IC take-up, with recent agreements with some US public institutions and DC operators, such as Stellium Data Centres
Navigating the new era for data centres in the age of AI
Higher IC evolution has also been supported by the growing private capital influx in recent years. In 2024, Submer and LiquidStack have received USD55.5mn, and USD20mn of capital investment, respectively, to underpin the evolution of their single-phase and dual-phase IC systems. Both companies have mentioned the importance of this capital for scaling their global commercialisation efforts and accelerating their product innovation.
The case for air cooling
While liquid cooling technologies offer clear advantages for high-density racks, intensive workload settings and high-temperature environments, they are not without challenges.
The Uptime Institute survey also highlighted significant barriers to adoption, including maintenance concerns, limited vendor options, higher upfront costs and lack of standardisation across systems. Moreover, retrofitting liquid systems can be substantially difficult, requiring design and structural changes in the facilities, deriving in unattractive capex for traditional operators.
Figure 4 – Evolution of rack density over total number of racks (2019-2022)
These obstacles, in addition to traditional testing periods before mass adoption from hyperscalers and DC operators have slowed widespread implementation. 78% of surveyed operators do not use any liquid cooling solution, and of the 22% who do, nearly half apply it to fewer than 9% of their total IT racks, with water and dielectric-cooled cold plates being the most used solution.
Air cooling’s “entrenched” position in the industry is driven by several factors, including cost-effectiveness, widespread familiarity, ease of deployment, and supporting infrastructure, which ensures its continued relevance for a broad spectrum of DC operators.
Most DCs do not require extreme cooling capabilities yet, with average rack densities ranging between 9 and 12 kW (See figure 4) covering traditional colocation and cloud requirements. Additionally, ongoing improvements in efficiency in air-cooling technologies, such as indirect evaporative cooling (IDEC) and direct expansion systems, support an extended life of these systems.
Figure 5 – Racks evolution by density (2019-2022)
Navigating the new era for data centres in the age of AI
Short term (1-3 years)
Air cooling is poised to dominate the market in the short term, supported by its costeffectiveness, high familiarity, reliable track record, scalability and established infrastructure. Air cooling will continue to serve the majority of DCs, especially those operating with low and medium densities and in favourable weather locations. Furthermore, case studies, such as Microsoft’s IDEC solution, have demonstrated the ability to reduce power and water consumption compared to traditional air-cooling methods, creating a stronger case for its current relevance.
Medium term (5-7 years)
Hybrid cooling systems, like DtC and rear door cooling, offer a practical approach to managing high power densities while optimising energy efficiency as rack densities move towards 15kW-19kW in colocation facilities and +20kW in hyperscale DCs. A successful example is Microsoft’s implementation of indirect evaporative cooling with precision air systems, significantly reducing power and water usage in high-density halls.
Hybrid solutions also provide a pathway for DCs to scale incrementally, especially as flexibility becomes crucial when addressing the increasing demand from AI. AI servers, such as NVIDIA’s DGX systems, can consume between 6.5 kW and 14.3 kW per unit, making traditional air cooling increasingly difficult to manage.. This way, operators can merge both immediate operational needs and medium-term strategic goals.
Long term (7+years)
Nevertheless, the future of immersion cooling looks promising as the demand for high-efficiency cooling in data centres continues to grow.
While still a niche solution, IC is gaining traction in applications requiring high-power densities, such as blockchain, AI, and edge computing. As the technology matures and costs decrease, it could expand beyond high-performance environments into more mainstream data centre operations. The benefits of reduced energy consumption, improved cooling efficiency, and sustainability make IC a strong candidate for widespread adoption in the coming years.
Companies like Intel and Nvidia, as well as new market entrants like LG, are investing in liquid cooling technologies, creating new products and establishing standards for their widespread use. As liquid cooling moves from niche to necessity, hyperscalers, DC platforms and specialist AI-focused DC providers (Neoclouds), which are quick to adopt these solutions once fully proven, will capture a larger share of the growing AI and HPC markets.