Intel's Deep Cultivation of Cooling Technology Helps Sustainable Development of Data Centers
At Intel Labs in Hillsboro, Oregon, there are 24 servers equipped with Intel Xeon processors, placed in a tank filled with synthetic and non-conductive oil, and kept on. Immersion liquid cooling is a more effective cooling method for processors than traditional air cooling. Intel is collaborating with industry partners to develop diversified solutions for current and future data centers.
Over the past decade, Intel has saved approximately 1000 megawatt hours of power by optimizing its processors. The achievement of these achievements also benefits from multiple cooling technologies, including system fans, indoor cooling equipment in data centers, and chip level cooling, which can better manage the heat generated by processors, reduce energy consumption, and reduce carbon emissions. However, the implementation of these cooling functions itself requires up to 40% of data center energy consumption. Therefore, Intel hopes to optimize and improve performance in a more energy-efficient manner in the future, and air cooling may not be the best solution.
According to a study by the International Energy Agency in 2022, the electricity consumption of global data centers in 2021 was 220 to 320 megawatt hours, or approximately 0.9% to 1.3% of global electricity demand. The increasing energy consumption of data centers and world-class supercomputers has gradually made liquid cooling a mainstream technology, from imagination to edge technology. Intel has been supporting immersive liquid cooling for over a decade, as the path to sustainable data centers and ultra large supercomputers urgently requires a revolution in cooling to adapt to more powerful processors.
In 2021, Intel announced a partnership with industry leader Submer in the field of immersed liquid cooling to jointly develop Intel Xeon scalable processors that use Submer cooling technology in data centers. In January 2022, Intel announced an agreement with Green Revolution Cooling to design and deploy customized cutting-edge immersion liquid cooling technology in the future data center and edge computing. In the same year, Intel provided the industry's first immersive liquid cooling warranty service for its Xeon scalable processors.
Immersion liquid cooling is an important component of Intel's commitment to achieving net zero emissions. Up to 99% of the heat generated by IT equipment can be released through water or other forms of liquid coolant. Heat does not need to be dissipated through a fan, but rather enters the liquid and is then dissipated through circulation. Moreover, these heat can even be collected and reused.
Disruptive solutions require innovation, but at the same time, they also require market readiness and both executable and testable capabilities. Intel will collaborate with startups and academic experts to conduct in-depth research on this technology, with the aim of creating open solutions within the next five years to help Intel and global data centers reduce their energy footprint.
