How Meta achieves 120kW a rack in 20kW air-cooled data centers

Meta has detailed how it can introduce higher-density liquid-cooled GPUs into air-cooled data centers designed for much lower rack densities.

As noted by semiconductor research firm Semianalysis and WCCTech this week, the company outlined a six-rack design featuring two liquid-to-air cooling side pods to one rack of high-density compute.

Meta first debuted a new liquid-cooled rack designed to host Nvidia GB200 Blackwell chips last year, known as Catalina, that was able to support up to 140kW.

At Hot Chips this week, Meta showed off its NVL36x2 rack configuration Catalina pod, adapted from Nvidia’s NVL72 offering equipped with GB200, that can be used in 20kW air-cooled data centers.

For two 120kW racks of compute – each rack featuring 18 compute trays (72 Grace CPUs and 144 Blackwell GPUs) and nine NV switches, Meta utilizes four racks of cooling racks (two on each side). The air-assisted liquid cooling sidebar racks convert the cool air into cooled liquid.

Meta paused development of around a dozen data centers in late 2022 as part of a "rescoping" of its designs to better cater to GPUs and liquid cooling. It has since resumed its build-out with the updated design. The company recently said that its first data centers with AI-optimized designs are slated to come online in 2026, and will “blend high-performance and flexibility with a mix of custom hardware solutions.”

Liquid-to-air systems take cool air from the data floor, and run it through a local heat exchanger, which is used to cool a local closed-loop liquid cooling systems.

Singapore gov't launches data center efficiency standard

The Singaporean government has launched a new standard to support data center operators.

Announced last week, the standard - SS 715:2025: Energy Efficiency of Data Centre IT Equipment - aims to save energy consumption of IT equipment in data centers by at least 30 percent.

The standard will also aid data center users in choosing IT equipment that meets international energy efficiency baselines and adopt best practices in IT energy management, such as workload consolidation and virtualization, to increase IT equipment utilization. The aim is to increase compute workloads with the same or less energy.

The standard will also aid data center users in choosing IT equipment that meets international energy efficiency baselines and adopt best practices in IT energy management, such as workload consolidation and virtualization, to increase IT equipment utilization. The aim is to increase compute workloads with the same or less energy.

It additionally specifies that IT equipment should be able to operate safely at temperatures up to 35°C (95°F). The government said that operators who also adopt Singapore’s Tropical Data Centre standard (SS697:2023) to operate at higher temperatures can potentially benefit from a further 2-5 percent energy saving on the cooling systems with every 1°C (1.8°F) increase in operating temperature.

The government said it was one of the first in the world to introduce data center standards for IT energy efficiency in the tropics.

Data center end-users can tap on IMDA’s Energy Efficiency Grant for the data center sector to support the upgrade of their IT equipment to meet the energy efficiency baselines defined in the new standard. The grant co-funds data center end-users’ purchase of pre-approved energy-efficient IT equipment.

Trane launches data center CRAH unit

HVAC firm Trane Technologies has launched a new data center air cooling unit.

The company recently announced the expansion of its thermal management system portfolio for data centers with a new Computer Room Air Handler (CRAH) offering.

The cooling unit helps maintain optimal air circulation and temperature levels for servers and other electronic equipment. It can support 50kW to 300kW to support varied density zones.

Equipped with the Symbio controller, Trane’s CRAH solution offers a broad capacity range and customizable options to help meet the specific needs of data centers.

Trane previously invested in liquid cooling provider LiquidStack in March 2023. It previously acquired Italian chiller manufacturer MTA in 2023.

Trane launched a 1MW coolant distribution unit earlier this year. It also offers a fan wall for data centers as well as chillers.

Computer Room Air Conditioner (CRAC) units use direct expansion cooling with refrigerant to remove heat from data centers, while CRAH units use chilled water from an external chiller.

Crusoe Cloud adds Nvidia GB200 NVL72 to platform

Crusoe Cloud is now offering access to the Nvidia GB200 NVL72 system via its platform.

The company announced in a post on LinkedIn that it had deployed the system at an atNorth data center in Iceland, marking its first liquid-cooled deployment at the facility.

Crusoe added that the company is offering access to the hardware through a fully virtualized platform, which will simplify moving workloads.

Crusoe leases capacity in atNorth's ICE02 data center in Iceland, which is powered by clean energy. The company first signed on at the data center in December 2023, totaling 33MW of capacity at ICE02.

The company expanded its capacity at the site by 24MW in late August, partly for the Nvidia GB200 NVL72 deployment and for additional Blackwell and Hopper GPUs.

The company operates four cloud regions across the US and Europe: us-northcentral1-a, us-east1-a, us-southcentral1-a, and eu-iceland1-a. The company has partnered with Digital Realty and Equinix in the US and atNorth in Iceland. This year also saw it announce plans to lease a data center from Polar in Norway.

SK Group and AWS break ground for data center in Ulsan, Korea

SK Group and Amazon Web Services (AWS) have broken ground on a data center in Ulsan, Korea.

On August 29, the South Korean conglomerate’s telco business, SK Telecom, and its construction business, SK Ecoplant, held a groundbreaking ceremony with AWS and the Ulsan Metropolitan City in attendance.

The facility will be located at the Mipo National Industrial Complex and is set to house 60,000 GPUs. According to Chosun Biz, the data center will offer 103MW of capacity at completion and will be established by acquiring a site formerly operated by the SK Group’s chemicals subsidiary, SK Chemicals.

According to SK Telecom’s press release, the facility will use a hybrid cooling system, with each rack using between 20 to 40kW. SK Gas will provide liquified natural gas to SK Multi-Utility, which will produce energy for the data center.

The construction agreement for the facility was signed in June, and Korea’s Ministry of Science confirmed in the same month that the project would see 7 trillion won ($5.11bn) invested in the region.

SK Telecom has also signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the Ulsan Metropolitan City to potentially expand the facility into a gigawatt-scale data center.

Ulsan is located at the southeastern tip of the Korean peninsula, north of Busan. Most of South Korea’s data centers are concentrated in the area around Seoul, the capital.

Ascenty inaugurates third data center in Chile

Brazilian company Ascenty inaugurated its third data center in Chile this week.

The Santiago facility launches after an investment of $114 million, as reported by Diario Estrategia.

Digital Realty, which partly owns Ascenty, announced the launch of the facility on LinkedIn.

The SCL03 complex (CHL03 on Digital Realty's site) is located in the municipality of Quilicura and totals 8,000 square meters (86,110 sq ft). It has a capacity for 1,000 racks across five data rooms and an installed power of 16MW. The facility is targeted for large-scale customers such as public cloud providers, digital platforms, and telecommunications companies.

SCL03 operates under international sustainability and security certifications such as ISO 27001, ISO 14001, and ISO 50001, among others, and is Tier III certified, according to the Pisapapeles portal.

The data center's power needs are offset by 100 percent renewable energy. The site uses a closed-loop cooling system to reduce its water consumption to almost zero, relevant in Chile as it is the Latin American country most affected by water scarcity.

The new data center is part of Ascenty's Campus 01 in Santiago, which already has more than 42MW of installed capacity across more than 51,000 sqm (548,960 sq ft).

Ascenty is also planning the construction of two further facilities, SCL04 and SCL05, with a combined investment of more than $1 billion. The new data centers are expected to be operational between 2027 and 2028.

IREN secures Nvidia B300 and GB300 GPUs for AI cloud businesses

Data center and cryptomine firm IREN has secured more GPUs, taking its tally of chips to almost 11,000.

The company (also known as Iris Energy) this week announced it had secured a further 1,200 air-cooled Nvidia B300s and 1,200 liquid-cooled GB300s for approximately $168 million.

The latest acquisition takes IREN’s GPU fleet to 10,900. The newly acquired GPUs will be installed in the coming months at the company’s Prince George campus in British Columbia, Canada, where construction is underway on a 10MW (IT load) liquid-cooled installation capable of supporting more than 4,500 GB300s.

IREN has secured approximately $96m in financing to support the purchase of the GB300s. The financing is structured as a 24-month lease and represents 100 percent of the purchase price, with lease payments calculated utilizing a high single-digit interest rate. The B300 GPUs are funded from existing cash, with further financing workstreams underway.

It is the second GPU purchase announcement IREN has made this month. The company recently announced the purchase of 4,200 Blackwell B200 GPUs, again to be installed at the Prince George site.

The B300 and GB300 NVL72 Systems add to IREN’s fleet of GPUs, which now consists of 800 H100s, 1,100 H200s, 5,400 B200s, 2,400 B300s, and 1,200 GB300s.

Crusoe adds 24MW of capacity in at North data center in Iceland

AI cloud and data center firm Crusoe is expanding its capacity within atNorth’s facility in Iceland.

The companies this week announced a “significant expansion” of Crusoe Cloud’s capacity within atNorth’s ICE02 data center in Keflavik.

This strategic expansion is designed to meet the surging demand for Crusoe Cloud services from customers of all sizes across Europe and North America.

The 13,750 sqm (148,000 sqft), 80MW ICE02 facility is located close to Keflavik International Airport and 50km southwest of capital city Reykjavík. Set on 9 hectares, the site can reportedly offer 83MW at full build-out. Able to support 40kW air-cooled and 100kW via direct-to-chip liquid-cooling, the site uses chilled water systems in combination with dry coolers plus natural free cooling.

Crusoe and atNorth’s original partnership was announced in December 2023, totaling 33MW of capacity at ICE02. The new deal involves a 24MW expansion agreement for the campus.

The ICE02 upgrade also includes the installation of Nvidia GB200 NVL72 infrastructure, as well as Blackwell and Hopper GPU.

Crusoe’s cloud operates four cloud regions across the US and Europe: us-northcentral1-a, us-east1-a, us-southcentral1-a, and eu-iceland1-a. The company has partnered with Digital Realty and Equinix in the US and atNorth in Iceland. This year also saw it announce plans to lease a data center from Polar in Norway.

Vertiv buys automation platform WayLay.io

Data center power and cooling firm Vertiv has acquired an AI-powered automation software firm.

The company this week announced it has acquired Waylay NV, a Belgium-based company offering hyperautomation and generative AI software platforms. Terms were not shared.

Vertiv said the deal was part of its “continued investment in AI-driven monitoring and control technologies” for its power and cooling systems.

“Vertiv expects this investment to strengthen its ability to enable customers around the world to increase uptime, optimize energy usage, and enhance operational intelligence across their critical digital infrastructure,” the company said.

Waylay’s capabilities reportedly include data analytics and orchestration scenarios. The software can analyze real-time machine data, identify operational trends, and propose predictive actions that minimize downtime and improve system performance.

According to CrunchBase data, WayLay had raised €1.4 million ($1.6m) across four funding rounds prior to this week’s acquisition. Previous investors include Imec, Ark Angels Activator Fund, PMV, and Yokogawa Electric Corp.

Zenith obtains planning approval for 1.24GW data center project in Roswell, New Mexico

US energy infrastructure developer Zenith Volts has obtained approval for a data center project in Roswell, New Mexico.

The company was granted approval from the Chaves County Commission for a 300-acre data center project designed to support 1.24GW or more of power capacity. The plot has expandable land resources and will focus on delivering reliable infrastructure for AI, cloud computing, and high-performance workloads.

The entire site will span 8,500 acres and integrate advanced power solutions, including on-site solar, natural gas generators for backup, modular solar-thermal hybrid systems, a 250-acre battery energy storage system, and geothermal cooling. The exact capacity of each power solution has not been disclosed.

The company has said that the project will be fully operational by November 2027. It is currently in the process of engaging with technology companies, cloud service providers, and AI innovators to join as anchor partners.

While not explicitly stated, it seems like the project will be powered off-grid via a diversified set of power and storage solutions.

The project follows a trend of new companies seeking to develop off-grid solutions for the data center sector. Last week, Pacifico Energy revealed plans for an 8,000-acre+, 5GW off-grid power project purpose-built to support hyperscale data center operators and artificial intelligence applications.