The "Cool" Engine of the Computing Power Revolution: The Evolution and Transformation of Future Li
2025-12-22
When the power consumption of a single training session of a GPT-4 large model is equivalent to the annual electricity consumption of 3,000 households, and when the heat generated by the NVIDIA H200 chip under high load increases by 30% compared to its predecessor, the explosive growth in computing power is pushing traditional cooling technologies to their limits. Driven by large AI models, supercomputing centers, and the digital economy, liquid cooling technology is rapidly upgrading from an "optional solution" to an "inevitable choice," not only reshaping the energy efficiency landscape of data centers but also becoming a core infrastructure supporting future technological development. In the future, liquid cooling technology will achieve comprehensive breakthroughs in technological iteration, scenario expansion, and industrial collaboration, ushering in a new era of efficient, green, and intelligent heat dissipation.
Continuous technological iteration unlocks heat dissipation potential. The core advantage of liquid cooling technology stems from the much higher thermal conductivity of liquids than air—water's thermal conductivity is more than 25 times that of air. This physical property allows it to easily handle the heat dissipation needs of kilowatt-level chips. In the future, liquid cooling technology will evolve along the lines of "high efficiency, precision, and greenness," forming a pattern of parallel development of multiple technological paths. Cold plate liquid cooling, currently the mainstream technology, will achieve a performance leap through microchannel structure optimization and the application of new materials. For example, cold plates using a 0.2mm microchannel design improve heat dissipation efficiency by 50% compared to traditional solutions, and can meet the power consumption requirements of single chips exceeding 2500W. Immersion liquid cooling is undergoing a deep upgrade towards phase change technology, achieving efficient heat absorption through precise control of the working fluid's boiling point. Microsoft Azure's two-phase immersion liquid cooling system has reduced the data center's PUE to 1.02, and this value is expected to approach the theoretical limit of 1.0 in the future. Even more disruptive chip-level direct cooling technology is currently in the research and development stage. By eliminating the traditional packaging layer and allowing the chip to directly contact the cooling medium, heat transfer efficiency will be improved by more than 10 times, providing a solution for future 4000W-level ultra-high power chips.
Application scenarios are expanding comprehensively, breaking industry boundaries. The application of liquid cooling technology will penetrate from core data centers to diversified scenarios, forming a radiating pattern of "computing core + diversified scenarios". In the fields of AI and supercomputing, the large-scale deployment of kilo-card-level GPU clusters will drive the widespread adoption of liquid cooling technology. It is projected that by 2026, the penetration rate of liquid cooling in AI chips will reach 47%. Real-world testing data from tech giants like Meta shows that liquid-cooled server racks are 25% more energy-efficient than air-cooled racks, offering five times the heat dissipation capacity and significantly reducing the interruption rate during large model training. In the new energy sector, the stringent requirements for temperature difference control (temperature difference <5℃) in energy storage systems make liquid cooling a standard feature. CATL's energy storage systems integrating liquid cooling technology have achieved a cycle life extended to 15,000 cycles and a 20% reduction in cost per kilowatt-hour. Edge computing scenarios are giving rise to miniaturized liquid cooling solutions. Huawei's Atlas 500 edge server adopts a compact cold plate design, reducing its size by 40% and adapting to extreme environments ranging from -40℃ to 55℃. In the future, liquid cooling technology will also enter fields such as new energy vehicles and industrial equipment, becoming a key support for the green transformation of the entire industry.
The industrial ecosystem is rapidly taking shape, driven by both policy and market forces. The global liquid cooling market is experiencing explosive growth. Data from the China Academy of Information and Communications Technology (CAICT) shows that the market size of liquid cooling for intelligent computing centers in my country reached 18.4 billion yuan in 2024 and is projected to exceed 130 billion yuan by 2029. Strict energy efficiency standards from the policy side are a major driving force. The national requirement is that the average PUE of data centers be reduced to below 1.5 by 2025, and Shanghai, Shenzhen, and other regions have explicitly stipulated that the PUE of newly built intelligent computing centers must be below 1.25, with liquid-cooled cabinets accounting for over 50%. This policy pressure has accelerated the implementation of the technology. The industry has formed a complete chain from core components to overall solutions, with domestic companies performing exceptionally well. Sugon Digital Technology's liquid cooling temperature control equipment has maintained the number one market share in China for four consecutive years, Gaolan Technology's technology has been incorporated into NVIDIA's hardware design specifications, and Huawei's thermal management controller achieves zero cooling interruptions. With the advancement of standardization, the "Data Center Liquid Cooling Technology Standard" released by CAICT will promote the unification of interfaces and parameters, further lowering the application threshold.
The green value is being deeply released, and the cost advantage is gradually becoming more prominent. The core value of liquid cooling technology lies not only in efficient heat dissipation but also in its support for green and low-carbon goals. Liquid cooling systems can stably control the PUE of data centers below 1.1, with some solutions even reaching 1.05, saving over 30% of total energy consumption compared to traditional air cooling. A computing center with 100,000 servers using liquid cooling technology can save over 100 million yuan in electricity costs annually. Even more promising is waste heat recovery and utilization; high-temperature coolant can be directly used for district heating or domestic hot water. Microsoft's Swedish data center already provides hot water to 10,000 households, improving overall energy efficiency by 40%. Although the initial investment for liquid cooling is 2-3 times that of air cooling, its long-term operating cost advantage is significant. A 10MW-class data center can save over $2 million in electricity costs annually, and its total cost of ownership (TCO) can surpass that of air cooling within 5 years. With the popularization of domestically produced coolants and modular design technologies, the cost of liquid cooling will continue to decline, further enhancing its competitiveness.
In the future, liquid cooling technology will achieve even greater breakthroughs in material innovation, intelligent control, and ecological collaboration: nanofluid materials will further increase thermal conductivity by 30%, AI-driven intelligent temperature control systems can achieve dynamic adjustment of flow rate accuracy within ±5%, and cross-industry technological integration will spur more innovative applications. Against the backdrop of ever-increasing computing power demands and the rigid constraints of low-carbon goals, liquid cooling technology is no longer just a simple heat dissipation solution, but a "cool" engine that unlocks higher computing power density and supports the sustainable development of the digital economy. As the technology matures and becomes more widespread, liquid cooling will reshape our understanding of energy utilization and computing power development, providing stable and reliable temperature protection for future technological advancements.
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