Introduction
Anytime a prompt goes into ChatGPT or an AI overview pops up after a Google search, an AI data center heats up. Think of when you use a computer; after a while the computer starts to get hotter, potentially burning your lap or making a strong whirring noise. That noise is the computer’s cooling system, blowing air through vents to prevent overheating. With the dramatic increase in AI use, it’s as if millions of computers are all overheating at once within any given data center, and all need to be cooled. AI is developing rapidly, and the progression of innovation is not halted by AI capabilities, but rather keeping up with it.
Why cold is the new cool
AI computing works at a much faster and more intensive level than a typical computer. Adding that to the fact that society is slowly using AI for more demanding tasks creates a greater divide in AI needs relative to traditional computers. To properly manage and cool AI data centers engineers must look outside of computer’s needs and create specialized solutions for AI. The earliest developments, which involve strengthened air cooling systems, are really just super air conditioners (Armani, 2025). Everyone who uses these knows that at a certain point, air conditioning fails to sufficiently cool things down, especially if it is a larger space. The same goes for the cooling centers, which one would assume are larger and hotter than a standard home, and even the improved cooling doesn’t do enough.
The You factor
While you may not be looking into being an engineer or innovator, it is everyone’s responsibility to be aware of the impacts of constant AI use. As of October 2025, US AI data centers are about 4.4% of electricity use throughout the nation, predicted to be up to 12% by 2028. Many look towards the recent development of using water for liquid cooling and manufacturing, but roughly 66 billion liters of fresh water was used in just 2023 (Pusic, 2025).
AI meets sustainability
Outside of just the mechanical restrictions, developments in improving AI cooling spark the debate about sustainability. With AI being such a progressive industry, combined with the fact that it requires constant power to run and for cooling, whatever methods are applied need to be both eco-friendly and effective. Though as with any solution seeking to be eco-friendly, it typically comes at the cost of efficiency. As AI use evolves and increases, the race to find the perfect equilibrium is on.
Hot tech, cool solutions
AI and resulting tech centers are becoming ever more important in daily life for many industries, such as global communication, large scale research, and more. As these facilities grow in scale, so do their cooling needs, pushing traditional air cooling systems to their limits. This has pushed a series of technological advancements in the field, all aiming to raise the bar for processing power and efficiency. The first of these, direct-to-chip cooling and immersion, involves having a cooling liquid flow through cold plates attached to hot electronics. Because liquids can absorb and transfer heat far more efficiently than air, this method allows data centers to operate much denser electronics, further increasing processing power. Immersion cooling is a step further, completely submerging entire servers in a non conductive fluid. This pulls heat from absolutely every surface, enabling unprecedented efficiency. For immersion cooling, two main variants exist, those being single phase and two phase immersion. In single phase, the cooling liquid remains liquid throughout the entire process, and is run through heat exchangers before being recirculated. Two phase involved the fluid boiling and evaporating from the hot surfaces, before condensing once the heat is released. The effectiveness of immersion cooling relies heavily on dielectric fluids, which conduct heat but not electricity, enabling safe use with sensitive electronic components. Beyond the better heat transfer, these fluids also offer superior reliability and lifespan, by using fewer moving parts than an equivalent air system and by protecting the electronics from contamination by dust or moisture.
Looking to the future
There are several new cooling technologies that are just beginning to be implemented that have the potential to completely change the way we approach modern data centers. One emerging trend is the use of AI to manage and optimize these cooling systems. This development is particularly noteworthy because many of these facilities provide the processing power to make AI as we know it possible in the first place. By optimizing the cooling process, AI allows data centers to become more efficient and powerful, thereby making the AI itself more capable. AI can handle data faster than humans and allocate cooling where it’s needed most, saving power use by only cooling what is necessary. It is also far better at predicting and preventing overheating, which can be critical to keep the delicate and expensive electronic systems safe. All this leads to fewer mistakes and waste overall, a system that benefits all parties involved. For instance, Google saw a 40% reduction in power use after using DeepMind powered optimization for their data centers, proving that this is not a conceptual idea, and is already making technology more effective. Another new innovation that is already being put into practice is underwater data centers, such as Microsoft’s Project Natick. In this, Microsoft placed sealed data center pods on the seafloor, using the deep water to keep everything naturally cool, and powering them with renewable energy. On top of this, the sealed environment has no oxygen, humidity, or people, keeping failure rates at ⅛ the rates of conventional data centers. They can also have rapid deployment capabilities, with containers being dropped and operational within 90 days, allowing easy expansion of infrastructure as needed. While still a newer technology, it is already proving to be a fastly easier and more practical solution for the ever growing demand placed on data centers, making high capacity processing more powerful and accessible than ever before.
Conclusion
Data centers power the world as we know it today. From artificial intelligence systems to banking and cybersecurity, these critical pieces of infrastructure support almost every aspect of daily life. Cooling, while often underappreciated, is arguably the most critical factor for these data centers in determining how large, powerful, and efficient they can be. While progress was slow at first, we are currently in an age of rapid innovation and development, with these technologies becoming vastly more effective, efficient, and sustainable every single day.
Citations
Armani, Sydney. “The Challenges of Cooling Systems in AI Data Centers: Emerging Technologies.” AI World Journal, 13 Apr. 2025, aiworldjournal.com/the-challenges-of-cooling-systems-in-ai-data-centers/.
Carriero, Chris. “What Is Immersion Cooling for Data Centers? - How It Works.” Park Place Technologies, 10 Nov. 2025, www.parkplacetechnologies.com/blog/what-is-immersion-cooling-data-centers/.
Evans, Richard, and Jim Gao. “DeepMind AI Reduces Google Data Centre Cooling Bill by 40%.” Google DeepMind, 20 July 2016, deepmind.google/blog/deepmind-ai-reduces-google-data-centre-cooling-bill-by-40.
Pusic, Mara. “Ai’s Cooling Problem: How Data Centers Are Transforming Water Use.” AI’s Cooling Problem: How Data Centers Are Transforming Water Use | Environmental Law Institute, 23 Oct. 2025, www.eli.org/vibrant-environment-blog/ais-cooling-problem-how-data-centers-are-transforming-water-use.
Roach, John. “Microsoft Finds Underwater Datacenters Are Reliable, Practical and Use Energy Sustainably.” Source, 24 July 2023, news.microsoft.com/source/features/sustainability/project-natick-underwater-datacenter/.
Tian, Weixue. “Meeting Data Center Cooling Demands with Immersion Cooling Fluids: A Future-Ready Solution.” Data Center Frontier, 22 Jan. 2025, www.datacenterfrontier.com/sponsored/article/55261111/meeting-data-center-cooling-demands-with-immersion-cooling-fluids-a-future-ready-solution?utm.