Market Trends of United States Data Center Cooling Industry
The IT and Telecommunication Segment Holds the Majority Share
- The need for high-performance computing in technologies like cloud computing has led to the development of scalable, efficient, and flexible business operations, prompting many mid-sized companies to establish effective data centers like web hosting clouds and colocation centers. As a result, the increasing use of data centers has sparked a growing interest in cloud and mega data centers, which creates massive demand for data center cooling solutions, thus creating a high demand for Air and Liquid cooling components.
- With the ongoing expansion and enhancement of 5G networks, the stage is set for the rise of emerging edge edge applications. These applications demand swift, high-capacity data transfers and, in turn, produce substantial heat. In response, major service providers are pivoting toward advanced data center cooling solutions to bolster their automation capabilities.
- The segment is expected to witness a surge in demand during the forecast period, driven by the rapid growth and construction of IT infrastructure. The number of IoT devices utilizing network connections from telecommunication providers is likely to generate huge amounts of data. For instance, connected consumer device unit shipments in the United States reached more than 800 million in 2023. By 2025, IoT connections in the United States are projected to grow to more than 4 billion. The average monthly mobile data speed in the United States is projected to reach 534 Mbps by 2029 through 5G service. Such instances in the market are expected to create more need for data centers, boosting the demand for data center cooling infrastructure manufacturers in the coming years.
Understand The Key Trends Shaping This Market
Download PDF
Liquid-based Cooling is Expected to Be the Fastest Growing Segment
- In US data centers, key operators are increasing their IT load capacities to meet the growing demand for data storage. This generates more heat from the servers, requiring efficient cooling solutions with increased capacity benefits. For instance, in August 2024, T5 Data Centers secured a 91-acre plot in Palmetto, outside Atlanta, Georgia, for its upcoming data center campus. The site, already zoned for data center operations, has the potential to scale up to a power capacity of 300 MW. Utility power will be supplied through an on-site electrical substation, slated to become operational in 2026.
- In data centers, liquid cooling offers many benefits and is an attractive option for cooling computing environments with high performance. The use of liquid cooling is more energy efficient compared to conventional air conditioning. It reduces the need for overcooling and improves the energy efficiency of data centers by providing precise temperature control.
- Cryptocurrency and blockchain technology drive innovation in the US data center market. It pushes the computing limits of traditional data centers. Innovations include new cooling methods, clean energy initiatives, and advances in data center architecture. Cryptocurrency mining operations are designed to be extremely dense and always run at maximum capacity. This approach gives operators the greatest chance of profitability (i.e., the value of the collected cryptocurrencies is greater than the energy consumed). However, this strategy also comes with the challenge of consuming huge amounts of energy and dissipating significant heat loads that are not typical of traditional data center operations. To contain the heat dissipation from the data center, cooling solutions are extensively used, and with all the benefits of cooling, this cooling technology is one of the major growing markets in the data center industry.
- The United States has been at the forefront of developments in liquid cooling technologies for data centers and other applications. Direct-to-chip cooling is expected to hold the major share, and immersion cooling is expected to be the fastest-growing segment in the United States, particularly in high-performance computing (HPC) and cryptocurrency mining operations.
- Innovative liquid cooling solutions have been introduced to the market by several companies, and they are an efficient solution for data centers in terms of maximizing heat efficiency and reducing energy consumption. For instance, in May 2023, Nvidia was awarded USD 5 million from the United States Department of Energy (DOE) to develop a data center cooling system that combines two-phase direct-to-chip and immersion cooling techniques using low-global warming potential (GWP) refrigerants and per- and polyfluorinated alkyl substances (PFAs) that comply with environmental regulations. Nvidia’s funding is part of the DOE’s Cooling Operations Optimized for Leaps in Energy, Carbon Hyperefficiency and Reliability for Information Processing Systems program, which has also awarded funds to projects at HP, Flexnode, Intel Federal, universities, and research centers.
- Moreover, companies are in the process of installing new cooling systems to cater to the growing data center construction in the region. For instance, Microsoft announced the installation of a new liquid immersion cooling infrastructure at a data center in Washington, which saves water and lowers energy costs. This shift to two-phase liquid immersion cooling provides increased flexibility for the proper management of cloud resources.
