Surging compute demand forces shift to liquid cooling

Rising compute power is overwhelming traditional air-cooled infrastructure.

As artificial intelligence accelerates across Asia, the region’s data centres are confronting an unprecedented surge in power density that is rendering traditional air-based cooling increasingly ineffective. Industry experts say the shift toward liquid cooling is no longer optional, but an inevitable response to AI’s escalating thermal and energy demands.

Gaurav Gupta, VP Analyst at Gartner, said the jump in compute requirements is pushing cooling systems past their limits. “With increasing compute demand, the new chips and the server racks have higher power requirements. As a result of that, the current air cooling is no longer effective at taking the heat away,” he said.

According to Gupta, liquid’s higher specific heat capacity and thermal conductivity enables it to remove heat far more efficiently than air, while also improving cost, PUE, and compute density.

Peter Huang, Global President of Thermal Management & Data Centre at Castrol, stressed that thermal performance is the primary driver behind the industry’s pivot. “It’s able to remove the heat more compared to traditional air cooling… liquid cooling is proven to remove up to 80% of the energy used for cooling the data center.”

AI’s rapid expansion is further intensifying the shift. Huang noted that chip power density is already reaching extreme levels, adding that liquid cooling is becoming “a necessity” for AI deployments in Asia.

As liquid cooling becomes mainstream, data centre design is set for a major transformation. Gupta said operators will “no longer require the race floors,” and will introduce new plumbing, closed-loop systems, and reconfigured IT infrastructure to support next-generation cooling. These facilities will have “a much better PUE” and lower electricity use.

Huang outlined three major design shifts: space optimisation, improved energy efficiency, and long-term cost benefits. “Liquid cooling requires less space and requires a more compact design,” he said, adding that liquid cooling delivers “lower TCO… throughout the life cycle of data centres.”