Liquid cooling is becoming a strategic requirement for many high-density AI and HPC deployments because the heat from tightly packed, heavily used processors can exceed what a conventional air-cooled design can manage. That does not make liquid cooling necessary for every data center: air remains suitable for many conventional workloads, and a hybrid system can often serve a high-density retrofit without replacing all existing air infrastructure.
Why AI changes the cooling decision
Cooling is a limit on how much computing a site can deploy in a given space. AI training and HPC clusters can concentrate high, synchronized thermal loads in racks; the challenge is not just removing heat, but designing power, cooling, buildings and operations to work together as the computing platform grows.
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ASHRAE’s AI Data Center Energy Performance Framework describes high-density AI racks as often requiring 30–100+ kW per rack. Its retrofit guidance says traditional facilities were typically designed around 5–10 kW per rack, while AI training can require 100 kW or more. These are contextual ranges, not a universal changeover threshold: the relevant question is whether the actual rack layout and workload exceed the capacity of the site’s cooling system.
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Air cooling can still handle many conventional CPU-based facilities. But where dense AI racks push beyond the practical capacity of room-level air systems, continuing with air alone can constrain deployment. ASHRAE advises against relying on air alone for high-density clusters such as those above 50 kW per rack.
What the cooling architectures do
| Approach | How it removes heat | Where it can fit | Important consideration |
|---|---|---|---|
| Air cooling | Room-level systems move heat from equipment into air and reject it from the facility. | Many conventional, lower-density workloads. | May be inadequate for high-density AI racks; capacity depends on the actual facility and rack distribution. |
| Direct-to-chip (DTC) liquid cooling | Cold plates bring coolant close to processors; piping, manifolds and a coolant distribution unit (CDU) carry heat to a heat-rejection system. | High processor heat loads, including AI and HPC deployments. | Requires coordinated IT and facility design, commissioning, monitoring and maintenance. |
| Hybrid cooling | DTC removes heat from the hottest components while air systems handle remaining heat. | High-density retrofits that can retain existing air infrastructure. | Air systems still need to manage residual heat from components such as memory, power supplies, storage and networking. |
| Immersion cooling | IT equipment is immersed in dielectric fluid. | A distinct architecture to assess against the workload and facility. | It has different maintenance, logistics and infrastructure implications; available guidance does not establish it as universally preferable to DTC. |
In ASHRAE’s described hybrid approach, residual heat handled by air is characterized as 10–30% of the load. That range belongs to the framework’s stated context, not a guaranteed share for every installation. Schneider Electric’s 2025 white paper identifies direct liquid cooling as a preferred method for extreme chip power densities while noting that it adds specification, installation and operational challenges; this is vendor guidance, not a universal selection rule.
Why liquid cooling is a system decision
A cold plate alone does not solve a facility’s heat problem. The complete path includes the IT-side cooling hardware, coolant loops and CDUs, the facility’s ability to distribute and manage heat, and the equipment that ultimately rejects that heat. Capacity, resilience and operating procedures have to work across the whole path.
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ITU-T Recommendation L.1327, published in August 2024, frames cooling selection as a match between complete systems and multi-dimensional application scenarios. For a project, that means evaluating the rack and facility together rather than selecting a cooling technology in isolation.
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- Rack density and IT platform: Map where high-density racks will sit and how much heat the target equipment produces. Average density can obscure a small number of racks that determine cooling needs.
- Existing infrastructure: Check whether facility water and existing air systems can support the proposed loops and residual heat load.
- Heat rejection and climate: Assess local conditions, available footprint, redundancy and the potential role of dry coolers, high-temperature chillers or hybrid arrangements.
- Deployment scale and schedule: Compare the scope and disruption of a retrofit with the time and scale of the planned rollout.
- Energy, water and heat reuse: Consider the whole cooling architecture and local operating conditions. Warm-water loops and dry coolers can reduce reliance on chillers and evaporative cooling in suitable settings, but they do not guarantee lower impact at every site.
- Resilience: Determine how much IT load depends on each CDU or shared loop, and what happens if that equipment fails.
- Operations: Plan coolant monitoring, leak safeguards, maintenance procedures, commissioning and staff training before equipment arrives.
- Building and electrical capacity: Verify structural support and power coordination alongside the cooling design.
Planning a retrofit without discarding air cooling
A retrofit need not mean removing working air infrastructure. ASHRAE recommends considering DTC for processor heat while retaining CRAC/CRAH air systems to remove residual heat from other components. This hybrid approach can make use of existing investment, but it still requires checking whether the air system can handle the remaining load and whether the new liquid loop fits the facility.
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- Map the workload and racks. Establish the density and placement of the proposed AI or HPC equipment, rather than planning around a site-wide average.
- Check the building and utilities. Assess structural capacity, electrical capacity, facility-water compatibility and the available route for heat rejection.
- Choose the cooling boundary. Decide which components will be cooled directly and what the retained air system must remove. Include the CDU, piping and heat-rejection equipment in the design.
- Plan resilience and operations. Define failure responses, leak safeguards, fluid monitoring, maintenance ownership and staff training.
- Commission the integrated system. Verify the liquid and air systems together under the expected operating conditions before depending on the cluster.
Structural checks deserve particular attention: ASHRAE notes that fully loaded liquid-cooled racks can exceed 1,800 kg (4,000 lb). Its retrofit guidance also highlights commissioning and workforce readiness because teams may be unfamiliar with liquid systems, synchronized AI load behavior and new failure modes.
CDU placement and heat rejection affect the trade-offs
Schneider Electric’s 2026 cooling-stack article describes liquid-to-air CDUs as a possible fit for smaller deployments seeking rapid rollout, and floor-mounted CDUs as a way to serve multiple racks at scale. The latter may improve cost per kW, according to that vendor guidance, but a shared unit can increase the common-cause impact of a failure. These are design considerations, not guaranteed outcomes; the right arrangement depends on the project’s capacity, resilience requirements and infrastructure.
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Heat rejection is also site-specific. ASHRAE’s retrofit guidance points to dry coolers, high-temperature chillers and hybrid arrangements as options to evaluate against the local climate. Warm-water loops and dry coolers may reduce reliance on chillers or evaporative cooling in suitable conditions, but footprint, redundancy and capital cost remain part of the decision. A cooling design should be assessed on its full energy and water consequences, not on the presence of liquid in the rack alone.
What adoption figures do—and do not—show
Schneider Electric’s article dated 21 August 2026 reports three findings attributed to AFCOM’s 2026 State of the Data Centre Report: average rack density rose from 16 kW to 27 kW in one year; 72% of operators expect AI workloads to increase data-center capacity requirements; and more than 60% of organizations already use liquid cooling or plan to adopt it within two years. These figures are secondary reporting of AFCOM findings, not independently verified here against the original report. They indicate reported industry momentum, but they do not establish that every operator needs liquid cooling or that a particular architecture will suit a given site.
How to decide whether liquid cooling is strategic for your site
Liquid cooling becomes strategic when the intended AI or HPC deployment cannot be supported reliably by the facility’s air-cooling capacity, or when air limits the density and growth the site needs. The decision is not simply liquid versus air: it is whether air, DTC, a hybrid design or another architecture can meet the target workload while fitting the site’s utilities, climate, resilience goals, schedule and operating capabilities. For many existing facilities, the practical answer may be targeted DTC plus retained air cooling; for lower-density conventional workloads, air can remain the appropriate choice.
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