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Liquid Cooling: The Invisible Force Behind AI

Artificial Intelligence is no longer just a trend. It's a structural revolution that's transforming the core of our digital infrastructure. From self-driving cars and voice assistants to medical diagnostics, AI applications are growing at a staggering pace. But behind all this innovation lies a massive need for computing power. That’s where liquid cooling becomes essential.

AI workloads are heavy. Large language models, neural networks and deep learning require servers with multiple GPUs, each generating hundreds of watts of heat. That creates extreme heat in very small areas. Traditional air cooling systems can’t keep up, because they were never designed for such high power densities.

Liquid cooling, especially direct-to-chip solutions, offers the precision needed to deal with these challenges. It works by circulating fluid through cold plates placed directly on the CPU or GPU, allowing heat to be removed much more efficiently. As a result, AI systems can keep running at full performance without being slowed down by overheating. This helps prevent thermal throttling, where processors automatically reduce their speed when temperatures rise too high.
 

Performance Without Compromise

The success of AI depends on consistent, high-speed performance. If the hardware is forced to slow down due to thermal limits, the training process of AI models takes longer and becomes less efficient. Liquid cooling keeps systems stable even during workloads that run for days or weeks at a time.

It also helps distribute heat more evenly across components, reducing wear and tear. That extends the life of expensive infrastructure and lowers the risk of unexpected downtime.

AI doesn’t just require raw computing power. It also uses a lot of energy. Especially now, with high electricity prices and strict sustainability regulations, reducing energy use is more important than ever. Liquid cooling can lower the energy consumption of cooling systems by up to 40 percent.

Data centers that use liquid cooling for their AI clusters gain a real advantage. They can deliver more computing power per square meter, and get more value out of every kilowatt.


Scalable and Future-Ready

Another major benefit is scalability. AI is evolving fast, and data centers need to be able to grow along with it. Liquid-cooled racks and modular coolant distribution units (CDUs) make it easier to expand gradually, without major disruptions to existing systems.

In new builds, AI readiness can be included right from the design phase. In existing data centers, upgrades can happen step by step. That spreads out investments and keeps operations running smoothly.

AI brings huge opportunities, but also big demands. Without effective cooling, those demands can’t be met. Liquid cooling isn’t a luxury. It’s a foundation for running AI at scale. By investing in it today, companies are preparing their infrastructure for tomorrow—efficient, flexible, and sustainable.

Hans van Goor

Head of Engineering at STULZ Groep B.V.

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