In digital infrastructure, cooling has evolved from a facility concern into a strategic business decision. AI, higher rack densities and increasingly stringent sustainability requirements are forcing operators to rethink their cooling strategies.
This blog provides key takeaways from a panel discussion at Level X featuring Alok Dave (Legrand), James Thornton (TSL), Johan Vergaelen (STULZ BELGIUM), and panel host Andrew van der Haar (Dutch Data Center Association).
No longer merely a technical necessity, cooling has become a strategic factor that influences sustainability, operational efficiency, regulatory compliance and future scalability. AI workloads are driving much higher rack densities, fundamentally changing infrastructure requirements. As a result, cooling decisions will increasingly determine the competitiveness of data centres.
Sustainability as a design principle
Sustainability and ESG considerations are reshaping data centre cooling and infrastructure design. In fact, they have become prerequisites for obtaining permits to build and operate facilities. At the same time, operators must balance energy efficiency with water consumption, meaning cooling cannot be optimised for a single metric. Improving PUE (Power Usage Effectiveness), for example, may increase WUE (Water Usage Effectiveness), and vice versa.
Rather than being treated as an afterthought, sustainability is now a core design principle from the earliest stages of a project. Five years ago, the debate centred on whether air cooling, liquid cooling or immersion cooling would become the dominant technology. Today, the focus has shifted towards sustainability, flexibility and preparing infrastructure for AI.
Consequently, operators increasingly look beyond individual cooling technologies and evaluate the overall resilience and adaptability of their data centres.
Hybrid and immersion cooling
Against this backdrop, hybrid cooling is emerging as the preferred approach. Most operators combine air cooling with liquid cooling instead of committing to a single technology. This provides flexibility to support current workloads while allowing future upgrades as chip power continues to increase.
For AI applications, direct-to-chip liquid cooling has become the dominant technology. Industry estimates suggest that approximately 80% of AI cooling deployments rely on direct-to-chip liquid cooling, while traditional air cooling accounts for the remaining 20%. Air cooling also remains essential for supporting infrastructure such as UPS systems and other equipment.
Immersion cooling is a promising technology, but it has yet to become mainstream. It introduces additional challenges related to deployment, maintenance, servicing and day-to-day operations. Moreover, it does not eliminate the need for conventional cooling elsewhere in the facility. While immersion cooling is likely to gain wider adoption over time, direct-to-chip cooling is expected to remain the dominant solution in the foreseeable future.
Looking ahead
Future developments will largely be driven by AI, which is dramatically increasing rack power densities. Resulting challenges extend far beyond cooling alone and encompass power delivery, electrical infrastructure and overall data centre design.
Consequently, cooling manufacturers closely monitor chip manufacturers’ roadmaps to anticipate future thermal requirements. This enables them to adapt their products and cooling capacity before new generations of processors enter the market. At the same time, flexibility has become essential, as chip technology is evolving much faster than data centre infrastructure.
One thing is clear: there is no single cooling technology that will solve every challenge. As AI drives unprecedented computing densities and sustainability requirements continue to evolve, success will depend on designing flexible, integrated infrastructures that can evolve alongside both technology and regulation. The future of data centre cooling therefore lies in creating adaptable systems that balance performance, efficiency and sustainability.
Do you want to learn more? Click here to watch the full panel discussion at Level X.
