CoolIT Breaks 15 kW Single-Phase Liquid Cooling Barrier for AI Processors
CoolIT Systems showcased a 15 kW single-phase direct liquid cooling (DLC) cold plate design at Computex 2026, aiming to meet the thermal demands of future AI accelerators through 2030. This technology challenges the industry consensus that two-phase cooling would soon become mandatory for high-TDP chips like Nvidia's 2.3 kW Vera Rubin platform. CoolIT's innovation suggests extended viability for single-phase DLC in data centers supporting AI infrastructure.
Key Takeaways
- CoolIT's new cold plate delivers 15 kW single-phase DLC, exceeding previous 2.0 kW upper limits.
- The innovation demonstrates single-phase DLC can meet the thermal demands of future AI accelerators through 2030.
- Nvidia's Vera Rubin platform, at 2.3 kW per GPU, already surpasses prior single-phase cooling thresholds.
- CoolIT expects these 15 kW cold plates to offer 10 times the performance of current models.
- Nvidia's roadmap highlights single-phase DLC with 45°C supply temperature for next-gen AI platforms.
Why It Matters
This advancement directly impacts data center design and operational costs for AI infrastructure, by extending the practical life of single-phase liquid cooling. It postpones the need for more complex, costly, and difficult-to-deploy two-phase cooling solutions within the current planning horizons. For streaming services, this means potentially lower CapEx for scaling AI-driven content recommendations, encoding, and processing units. Expect continued investment in single-phase DLC solutions, with deployment ease and cost efficiency remaining key drivers, while watching for major data center operators to publicly commit to single-phase for their next-generation AI builds beyond 2027.
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