BP-owned lubricant brand Castrol recently partnered with Itochu Techno-Solutions with the aim of promoting liquid cooling to Japanese data centres.
The joint-venture was approved by the IT service’s parent company, the Itochu Corporation, a major trading company in Japan. Now, all three organisations have added official signatures to a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) that details the structure of the collaboration.
The new agreement centres on liquid cooling for sites that run artificial intelligence (AI) and other computing processes involving intensive workloads.
As per the MOU, Castrol will provide coolant alongside technical services while Itochu will manage commercial structures, market development and offer its energy-focused knowledge and understanding. Itochu Techno-Solutions will serve as systems integrator for the endeavour and supply initial design and deployment, while handling operations.
The three companies aim to target data centres that face increasing heat output and power use. Many of the facilities focused on support high performance and generative AI computing systems.
Currently, data centres across the globe face higher heat density and greater electricity demands as operators continue to implement more advanced computing processes and AI. This recent trend is prominent in Japan and to answer requirements, local operators are beginning to leave air-only cooling systems behind to manager higher heat densities.
Liquid cooling employs electrical insulating lubricants that act as a heat transfer fluid (HTF) and extract excess heat via sealed systems. This method effectively removes heat near server components and chips as an alternative to traditional air-based cooling techniques.
