An underwater data centre that harnesses the ocean鈥檚 natural cooling capability is taking shape near China鈥檚 Hainan Island in the South China Sea. Keeping computers cool can slash power usage and carbon emissions, and this project could pave the way for putting supercomputers and data farms underwater.
The first phase of construction is nearing completion with a 1300-tonne watertight cabin installed on the shallow seafloor, according to the Chinese state broadcaster . The report described the project by as 鈥渁 step toward the world鈥檚 first commercial data centre under the sea鈥� with 100 such cabins being planned for deployment.
鈥淏ig data centres are warehouses that have racks and racks of computers that all have to be cooled, and there are really expensive ways of cooling them using huge air conditioners,鈥� says 聽at the University of St. Thomas in Minnesota. 鈥淭he nice thing about seawater is that water is much better at transferring heat than air.鈥�
Advertisement
The combines traditional cooling systems for the computer servers within each cabin 鈥� which still use electricity 鈥� with a passive seawater cooling system located on top of each cabin. That design could be 40 to 60 times more energy efficient than typical land-based data centres, according to Highlander.
鈥淲ith AI and the number of graphics processing units that are being put in [data centres] and cloud-based storage, the demand for cooling is going to rise tremendously into the future,鈥� says聽Abraham. 鈥淭his could be a breakthrough technology that allows us to navigate the rollout of even bigger data farms.鈥�
However, water pressure is a concern for submerged data centres. Highlander鈥檚 approach to handling this is primarily suited to shallow-water deployments, says , founder of , a start-up focused on underwater data centres. But she described it as 鈥渟till effective鈥� and a 鈥渟ignificant step change鈥� toward sustainable data management.
By comparison, Subsea Cloud鈥檚 design relies entirely on passive cooling by immersing computer servers in a special liquid to passively transfer heat through the pod walls into the surrounding ocean. The startup has also tested pods designed to survive in the deep, reaching 3000 metres 鈥� Highlander鈥檚 near Hainan Island is installed at a depth of 35 metres.
Microsoft previously tested an underwater data centre prototype with its , but has not followed up with commercial deployments since that time. Subsea Cloud has established US partnerships and is giving potential clients a preview of its first European Union development that could be operational in 2024.
