UK's Durham University deploys immersion cooling pod

The UK’s Durham University has deployed an immersion cooling pod.

Vesper Technologies (Vespertec) this week announced the deployment of a 50U XCI immersion cooling solution from Midas Immersion Cooling at Durham University.

Part of Durham’s Immersion Cooling and Heat Storage (ICHS) Living Lab – a research initiative exploring how immersion cooling can be paired with seasonal heat storage – the deployment will support graduates running some of the university’s most compute-intensive workloads.

Scott Constable, alliance director at Vespertec, said: “This partnership is a great example of how academia and industry can come together to tackle both computational and environmental challenges. Together with Durham University, we were able to demonstrate the potential of Midas’ immersion technology in a research environment and establish a concrete reference point for others exploring new ways to cut CO2 impact and advance data centre innovation. Our goal is to take these learnings to the wider market, and Durham’s collaborative approach makes them a great partner for what’s to come!”

The pod is equipped with servers from Gigabyte and utilizes cooling fluids from Valvoline Global. The next deployment of the project will incorporate heat recapture.

Nvidia launches Rubin CPX GPU for large-scale inferencing

Nvidia has announced a new GPU designed for large-scale inferencing tasks.

The company this week announced the Rubin CPX, a new class of GPU purpose-built for massive-context processing. The chip designer said the new GPU enables AI systems to handle million-token software coding and generative video faster and more efficiently.

The Rubin CPX delivers up to 30 petaflops of AI compute (NVFP4), and features 128GB of GDDR7 memory. The new chip is expected to be available at the end of 2026.

Available in multiple configurations, the Rubin CPX is set to be deployed alongside Vera CPUs and Rubin GPUs inside the new Nvidia Vera Rubin NVL144 CPX rack-scale platform.

The liquid-cooled integrated Nvidia MGX system offers eight exaflops of AI compute (NVFP4), which the company says will provide 7.5x more AI performance than GB300 NVL72 systems, as well as 100TB of fast memory and 1.7 petabytes per second of memory bandwidth in a single rack.

A dual-rack solution, comprising the NVL144 CPX rack and a ‘regular’ Vera Rubin NVL 144 rack, is also set to be available.

The company claims that for every $100 million invested, Vera Rubin NVL144 CPX can offer returns of $5 billion in token revenue.

Early adopters include coding tool Cursor, generative AI firm Runway, and AI firm Magic.

Microsoft acquires 50 hectares for data center expansion in the Netherlands

Microsoft has acquired 50 hectares of land for a data center expansion in the Netherlands.

“We have 300,000 customers who want to store their data close by in a sovereign country,” said CEO of Microsoft Netherlands Joris Schoonis to Dutch news outlet NH Nieuws.

The parcel is located next to Microsoft’s AMS13/14 campus in the municipality of Hollands Kroon, Middenmeer, which is north of Amsterdam.

This existing data center received construction permission in April 2023 after a protracted permitting process amid local opposition from farmers who expressed concern about the facility’s impact on local water consumption.

Schoonis added that companies and organizations were concerned about rising tensions with Russia and wanted to store their data security in the Netherlands.

Microsoft Netherlands’ director of data centers, Nick Hengelman, added: “We want to be extra transparent and collaborate more with our neighbors. We have learned our lesson.”

According to Hengelman, Microsoft is planning a publicly accessible area around the data center that will enable it to collect rainwater for cooling purposes.

Helen seeking data center partners to connect to Helsinki district heating system

Helen, one of Finland's largest energy companies, has announced its intent to partner with data center operators interested in locating their operations in Helsinki, Finland.

The company stated that it is open to supporting data center operators in joining its “comprehensive energy system” in Helsinki, where facilities can be connected to the city’s advanced district heating and cooling network.

"The synergy benefits of data centers for the energy system are obvious. Helen can deliver the heat generated by the data center's operations for the use of city residents, while the data center gets cost-effective cooling. Helen also offers an electricity connection and clean electricity deliveries to the data center. We are a full-service energy partner for data center operators," says Helen's chief operating officer, Tuukka Toivonen.

The company claims that Helsinki is an ideal and ready platform for data centers in terms of infrastructure, and while there are already several data centers connected to the system, there is room for “high value-adding actors.”

Helen has already partnered with several data center operators and connected them up to Helsinki’s district heating network. This includes Equinix, with whom Helen partnered last year to integrate its 1MW HE5 Viikinmäki data center in Helsinki into the network. The deal was built on an existing relationship, with two of Equinix’s data centers in the Finnish capital already connected up to the network. The companies were among the first to pilot the use of data center waste heat within larger district heating systems, from as early as 2010.

ComEd breaks ground on 260MW substation set to serve Stream data center in Elk Grove, Illinois

Commonwealth Edison, Illinois' largest electrical utility, has broken ground on a new substation, which is set to serve a Stream Data Centers facility in Elk Grove Village, located just outside Chicago, Illinois.

Engineering and design work on the substation began in 2023. The substation will support 260MW of load and is expected to be ready for service in 2027.

The substation will serve Stream’s third data center campus in Elk Grove. Stream currently owns two data centers in the Elk Grove area of Chicago. Chicago I, is a 126,689 sq ft (11,769 sqm) data center offering 15MW, which Stream acquired in December 2017. Chicago II offers 32MW across 226,000 sq ft (20,996 sqm). Both existing facilities are located around a mile south of the new proposed development.

The latest data center will span 1.2 million sq ft (111,483 sqm) across three buildings, with its first building expected to deliver 40MW of IT load. Dubbed ORDC, Stream claims the campus will offer configurable, high-efficiency hybrid cooling solutions, access to renewable energy options, and ample connectivity and security.

Stream was granted zoning approval for the project back in 2023, with full build-out expected to take up to ten years.

The project adds to Elk Grove’s large data center market. The Chicago suburb is home to data centers operated by prominent companies such as Prime, T5, EdgeConneX, Skybox, CloudHQ, Microsoft, Stream, and Digital Realty.

Immersion cooling firm Asperitas secures investment from Thailand’s Stecon Group and Invest-NL

Cooling firm Asperitas has secured new investment funding.

The Dutch firm this week announced the successful closing of its scale up investment round for an undisclosed amount.

The round was led by Thailand’s Stecon Group and Invest-NL, with support from existing shareholders Shell Ventures (the corporate venturing arm of oil giant Shell) and PDENH.

The company said the funding will accelerate Asperitas’ global scale-up and strengthen the continued development of its portfolio of passive natural convection and active direct forced convection immersion cooling solutions.

Asperitas develops immersion cooling pods and has partnered with Stulz to offer an immersion-based data center module.

Invest-NL is the National Promotional Institution of the Netherlands, financing and accelerating transitions in the fields of agrifood, bio-based & circular economy, tech, energy, and life sciences & health.

Stecon is a Thai construction firm founded in 1962. The company has previously delivered a number of large-scale infrastructure projects, including transit projects, highways, petrochemical and power plants, renewables, and refinery and wastewater management plants, and said it is now expanding into high-tech and smart infrastructure ventures.

LG to provide cooling equipment to Datavolt’s Neom data center campus

LG Electronics is to provide cooling equipment to Saudi data center firm DataVolt.

The company this week announced a strategic partnership to provide cooling solutions for an AI data center under development in Oxagon, the industrial hub of Saudi Arabia’s Neom City project.

LG CEO William Cho met with Abdulelah Abunayyan, chairman of local partner Shaker Group, and DataVolt CEO Rajit Nanda. The three signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) under which LG will supply advanced thermal management solutions for data centers being developed by DataVolt.

Riyadh-based DataVolt was founded in 2023 and is a wholly owned subsidiary of Vision Invest, a Saudi Arabian development and investment holding company focused on critical infrastructure.

As well as its Oxagon project and Riyadh facility in Saudi, Datavolt is developing data centers in Uzbekistan, Bangladesh, and other parts of Asia.

Neom is a city being built by Saudi Arabia in Tabuk Province. Oxagon is the floating industrial city under development in the southwest corner of the Neom development, on the Red Sea Coast. Several data center developments are coming to the area. Plans for the 1.5GW Oxagon data center were announced in February. The first 300MW phase of the site will reportedly go live in 2028.

Neom is a city being built by Saudi Arabia in Tabuk Province. Oxagon is the floating industrial city under development in the southwest corner of the Neom development, on the Red Sea Coast. Several data center developments are coming to the area. Plans for the 1.5GW Oxagon data center were announced in February. The first 300MW phase of the site will reportedly go live in 2028.

New firm announces plans for 20MW liquid-cooled data center in Chicago

A new liquid-cooled data center is being developed in downtown Chicago, Illinois.

HydraVault, a new data center developer, is behind the scheme, and says the facility will be “designed from the ground up” for AI and financial systems.

The 20MW two-story facility, located at 2538 South Wabash Avenue, will offer densities up to 200kW per rack, utilizing hybrid air and liquid cooling systems (including direct-to-chip and rear-door heat exchangers as well as hot/cold aisle containment). It will achieve a PUE of 1.19 and feature a closed-loop, waterless cooling system.

Construction will begin in Fall 2025, it is expected to be ready for clients in late 2026.

HydraVault is led by founder Scott Greenberg. He is also president of real estate firm ECD Company and Dreamweaver Hotels.

Chicago has a well-developed data center market, with the likes of Digital Realty, Centersquare, Iron Mountain, Stream, Stack, CyrusOne, NTT, Prime, CoreSite, DataBank, ColoCrossing, EdgeConneX, Cogent, Microsoft, ColoHouse, T5, Edged, AWS, Meta, Compass, Colovore, Lumen, and Equinix all having a live presence or developing in or around the city.

Nvidia developing gigawatt-scale data center reference design

Nvidia is developing a data center reference design and expanded digital twin optimized for its hardware.

At the AI Infrastructure Summit in Silicon Valley this week, the chip giant announced it was developing data center reference designs to be shared with partners and enterprises worldwide, known as the AI Factory Giga-Scale Reference Designs.

The GPU designer said it would be offering an Omniverse Blueprint digital twin for building high-performance, energy-efficient infrastructure optimized for AI hardware. The blueprint is set to be complete earlier this year.

This digital twin integrates the IT systems inside the data center with the operational technology for power and cooling systems inside and outside the data center. The new initiative expands the digital twin to integrate local power generation, energy storage systems, cooling technology, and AI agents for operations.

Collaborators in power and cooling include Schneider Electric, Siemens Energy, and Vertiv. Other companies involved include Cadence, emeraldai, E Tech Group, phaidra.ai, PTC, Schneider Electric with ETAP, Siemens, and Vertech.

Capstone Green partners with MG4AI to deliver modular AI-ready microgrid powered data centers

Capstone Green Energy has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with Microgrids 4 AI (MG4AI) to partner on the development of modular AI-ready microgrid-powered data centers.

Under the agreement, MG4AI will combine its containerized compute pods with Capstone’s microturbines and combined cooling and power systems.

The microturbines can be powered by several fuels, including natural gas, biogas, and LPG/propane. The company offers a range of microturbine options, ranging from 5kW to 1MW per unit. The units can be paralleled and scaled to a maximum of 30MW.

MG4AI designs modular, turnkey Edge data centers under 20MW, aimed at enterprises, sovereign customers, and organizations needing GPU-intensive compute environments. Its approach integrates grid-independent microgrids with liquid cooling to reduce reliance on utility connections, accelerate deployment, and improve resilience.

Through the partnership, the companies aim to integrate the two systems, which they claim will permit the rapid deployment of AI-ready infrastructure with reduced cooling and energy costs.