Nvidia claims near-zero water usage in AI data centers with hotter liquid cooling
Nvidia says its Rubin-generation reference design for fully liquid-cooled data centers can cut water consumption to near zero by running servers hotter and capturing heat at the chip.
Nvidia has announced that its Rubin-generation reference design, which relies entirely on liquid cooling and higher operating temperatures, can reduce water usage to "near zero." The company claims the design has "eliminated massive amounts of power usage and pretty much all water usage."
The efficiency gains come partly from running AI servers hotter — up to 113 degrees Fahrenheit (45 degrees Celsius). Amazon recently touted similar higher heat tolerances as part of making its mostly air-cooled data centers more efficient.
In Nvidia's system, heat is captured directly at the chip and transported through liquid loops operating at much higher temperatures, allowing outdoor dry coolers to reject heat efficiently for much of the year. This provides more flexibility regarding ambient air temperature.
Josh Parker, Nvidia's head of sustainability, said the reference design reduces water consumption from roughly 2.6 million gallons per megawatt per year for conventional cooling-tower-based systems to near zero — a reduction of up to 100 percent.
However, Nvidia did not address the construction costs of such a data center compared to less efficient air cooling. The company stated that "every cloud provider and data center operator building for [Rubin] is making the transition." Concerns about the environmental impact of AI data centers, including construction and power generation, remain unresolved.
