In the wave of the digital age, the global intelligent computing market is booming at an unprecedented speed. Data centers, as the cornerstone of this transformation, are facing unprecedented challenges and opportunities. Especially in the high-density heat dissipation and energy-saving requirements of intelligent computing centers' computing clusters, traditional data center cooling technologies are being asked to meet higher standards. Against this backdrop, we have the honor to invite two experts from Vertiv—Simon Brady, a Vertiv Global Expert, and Ms. Wang Chao, Senior Manager of Vertiv's Thermal Management Solutions Department—to delve into the current state and future of cooling technologies in intelligent computing centers.

1. Development trends of the global and Chinese intelligent computing markets

Simon Brady pointed out in the interview that, globally, the development of the intelligent computing market shows several significant characteristics. First, the application scenarios of intelligent computing are becoming increasingly broad, no longer limited to the traditional internet industry, but gradually expanding to various sectors such as finance, healthcare, and education. For example, a bank in India has significantly improved service quality by deploying an intelligent computing center to study customer habits.

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Secondly, leading global internet companies such as Google and Amazon are actively deploying a large number of intelligent computing resources to train their own large models to cope with increasingly complex data processing demands.

Ms. Wang Chao also noted that the development of intelligent computing in China is equally rapid. Top domestic internet companies and tech enterprises are investing heavily in the construction of intelligent computing centers, model training, and driving industry innovation. It can be said that intelligent computing is expanding from top-tier customers to industry customers, helping more businesses optimize and enhance work efficiency.

2. New challenges and requirements for cooling technology in the AI era

In the AI era, intelligent computing centers face higher-level demands at the cooling level. If there is a problem with equipment heat dissipation, it can cause devastating damage to the data center. Future research and development of cooling technologies in intelligent computing centers are also being asked to meet increasingly high standards.

In response to the future needs of intelligent computing center construction, Simon Brady believes that in the AI era, the cooling requirements of intelligent computing centers have changed significantly. With the development of chip technology, especially the shift from CPUs to GPUs, the power density of individual chips has risen sharply, from the initial 300-400W to the current 700-800W, or even higher. This high power density poses higher demands on cooling technology, requiring more efficient and energy-saving heat dissipation solutions.

The cooling technology of future intelligent computing centers will develop towards liquid cooling. Liquid cooling technology can directly dissipate heat from the chips, greatly improving heat dissipation efficiency while reducing energy consumption. Both Simon Brady and Ms. Wang Chao agree that in the future, liquid cooling technology will gradually become the mainstream cooling solution for intelligent computing centers, especially in high-power-density application scenarios.

Ms. Wang Chao stated that Vertiv currently has two liquid cooling solutions: cold plate liquid cooling and immersion liquid cooling, which can significantly improve the cooling efficiency and energy utilization efficiency of data centers. With their high thermal conductivity characteristics, they can effectively meet the heat dissipation demands of high-power-density applications.In the field of liquid cooling, Ms. Wang Chao pointed out that Vertiv has been at the forefront of the industry, developing a variety of liquid cooling equipment, including cold plate liquid cooling, immersion liquid cooling, and backplane liquid cooling, among others. These devices can better match the thermal dissipation requirements of AI chips. Cold plate liquid cooling can directly introduce coolant into the micro-channel cold plates on the chip surface for heat dissipation; immersion liquid cooling immerses the entire server in coolant, achieving all-around cooling. These liquid cooling devices have achieved significant results in practical applications, greatly improving the thermal efficiency and energy efficiency ratio of intelligent computing centers.

She further explained that in addressing the challenges of high-density heat dissipation for computing clusters, Vertiv has a series of innovative solutions. In the field of air cooling, we have accumulated rich experience and technical reserves, and can provide customized air cooling solutions for different application scenarios. At the same time, we are continuously optimizing and upgrading air cooling technology to improve thermal efficiency and energy efficiency ratio.

3. How will air cooling and liquid cooling balance in the context of rapid AI development?

When discussing the integration of air cooling and liquid cooling technologies, Simon Brady stated that even in the era of liquid cooling, air cooling technology will still play an important role. The combination of air cooling and intelligent control is a key point, and good control is the premise for good energy saving. In terms of liquid cooling, the power of a single cabinet will continue to increase in the future, from the current 40kW, 100kW, to 200kW in the future, and even higher density, liquid cooling technology will continue to iterate.

Ms. Wang Chao introduced that Vertiv has cold plate liquid cooling, immersion liquid cooling, and DCD backplane products in the field of liquid cooling, which will combine power density and scenarios for comprehensive product planning. At present, the development of intelligent computing in China is still mainly air-cooled, and air cooling occupies 80% or more of the market space. The limit of air cooling technology lies in that if it is a remote cooling method, it can solve the heat dissipation requirements of a single cabinet of 20kW to 25kW. If the power density of a single cabinet is further increased, a near-end cooling solution is needed.

4. The development direction of cooling technology in 2025

When talking about the change of the proportion of air cooling and liquid cooling in 2025, Simon Brady pointed out that air cooling is still the mainstream at present, but with the development of intelligent computing, the proportion of liquid cooling will gradually increase. He emphasized that the changes in the entire industry are very fast, and liquid cooling has become a global industry hotspot. In traditional data centers, air cooling will still be the mainstream solution, and AI liquid cooling is the key solution. Therefore, the proportion of liquid cooling will not quickly reach such a proportion as 50%.

Simon Brady also mentioned that from a technical perspective, whether deploying liquid cooling overseas or domestically, the technology is similar. The biggest difference lies in the supply dimension. Overseas, there are conditions to cooperate with the world's top chip manufacturers, while the advantage in China lies in the supply chain. Understanding chip specifications and understanding detailed issues requires closer cooperation with chip manufacturers to ensure that equipment can better match chip heat dissipation requirements.

When discussing the trend of market share changes in China, Simon Brady said that the fastest development of AI is still internet companies, especially American internet companies such as Amazon, Google, etc. They have deployed a large number of chips to train their own models, so the development speed in the United States is very fast. Following closely behind is Europe, and the growth rate of China's intelligent computing development has also reached 35% or even higher. Although the growth rate of general computing and traditional computing is 5% to 8%, the growth rate of intelligent computing far exceeds general computing and traditional computing. From a business perspective, the growth rate of the US market is faster than that of Europe and the Chinese market, thanks to American internet companies being able to obtain chips first, thus developing faster in the field of intelligent computing.

Simon Brady shared the experience of Vertiv in promoting solutions globally. He pointed out that Vertiv cooperates with the world's top internet companies to provide a large number of risk solutions. Overseas, some customers have cold water cooling sources, and Vertiv will combine these conditions to help customers deploy air cooling and liquid cooling heat dissipation solutions. The implementation of liquid cooling solutions depends on the current infrastructure conditions of customers, and Vertiv will formulate the most suitable plan for users according to specific situations. Overseas, the deployment scale of Vertiv is very large, and the scale of some customers' single projects even reaches 30MW. Some customers will also build modularly at a scale of 3~5MW per module, and then form a larger scale by stacking modules.Ms. Wang Chao introduced that when the power density of a single cabinet reaches 100kW, a very small computing power micro-module can achieve a total power of 1MW. The data center deployment plan needs to be adjusted synchronously. In the future, the power density of single cabinets and single modules will be further improved. Vertiv technology will closely follow the development of intelligent computing, from chip cooling, to internal heat collection in the machine room, and then to outdoor cooling, to upgrade and iterate the product chain of data center thermal management.

Through this in-depth interview, we can see Vertiv's innovation and leadership in the field of intelligent computing center cooling technology and its profound technical exploration. The company's solutions not only meet the needs of high-density heat dissipation, but also achieve energy efficiency improvement and cost savings, providing strong support for the green development of data centers. With the continuous advancement of technology, Vertiv will continue to lead the innovation of intelligent computing center cooling technology and contribute to the global digital transformation.

About Vertiv Technology (Vertiv)

Vertiv Technology (Vertiv, NYSE: VRT, formerly Emerson Network Energy) is a global leader in digital infrastructure solutions. It has a development history of more than 50 years in the fields of communication networks, data centers, commercial & industrial, and new energy. Vertiv's products widely cover customer groups such as government, telecommunications, finance, the internet, science and education, manufacturing, medical care, transportation, and energy, providing customers with a combination of power, cooling, and IT infrastructure solutions and technical services covering key infrastructure in various fields.

Vertiv's customers are distributed worldwide. In China, it has 2 major R&D centers and 2 major production bases, covering more than 30 offices and user service centers nationwide, and more than 100 city business support centers. It provides customers with highly reliable and high-quality product solutions and professional and excellent technical services, and together builds a beautiful world where key technology is always humming.