Indian IT services company Infosys has adopted immersion cooling fluid from Shell New Energies UK.
The company plans to create an integrated green data center product, based around Infosys' Topaz AI platforms, cooled by Shell Immersion Cooling Fluid, a single-phase synthetic immersion coolant.
Infosys' announcement points out that data centers use an estimated 1.5 percent of global electricity production, and produce possibly one percent of CO2 emissions. Generative AI is expected to massively increase this, and Infosys claims liquid cooling can help because it will shave some energy use off that growth.
The company reckons that immersion cooling could reduce the energy that would be used in future AI systems, although the overall impact of more AI systems will still be an increase in energy. Specifically, the company claims liquid cooling can reduce energy use by 48 percent, although such a high estimate will be based on comparison with old-fashioned air cooling setups which are not feasible on the AI systems currently envisaged.
The two companies will test Shell's fluid at Shell’s and Infosys' data centers, and plan to offer the combined package to customers globally.
Infosys, says it went carbon neutral in 2020, 30 years ahead of the 2050 deadline set by the Paris Agreement.
Despite the huge emissions of its fossil fuel operations, Shell says it "aims to become a net-zero emissions energy business" by 2050.
"This collaboration will leverage AI-based digital solutions that will create environmentally responsible data centers that can manage high computing loads with optimized hardware," said Ashiss Kumar Dash, EVP & global head – sustainability, services, utilities, resources, and energy, Infosys.
"Based on Shell’s proprietary gas-to-liquids (GTL) technology, Shell Immersion Cooling Fluids can help cut costs, boost performance, and reduce the environmental footprint of data center operations as part of an integrated solution," said Aysun Akik, VP new business development and global key accounts downstream & renewables, Shell Lubricants.
Shell has been working on immersion cooling fluids for three years or more, and already has partnerships with Asperitas, GRC, and Alibaba Cloud in China.
