A server rack filled with powerful AI chips can generate far more heat than conventional equipment. Keeping those systems cool is becoming a job for companies better known for lubricants, oilfields and industrial water systems.
Castrol, SLB and Ecolab are expanding into liquid cooling. Their ambitions go beyond supplying specialist fluids as they position themselves across cooling equipment, system design and maintenance.
“An AI server rack can be a lot more power dense than a standard server rack and therefore produce a lot more heat,” Digiconomist founder Alex de Vries-Gao told Raconteur, explaining why this technology is gaining ground. “Liquid cooling can be a lot more effective and efficient than air cooling, which is becoming more of a technical necessity due to increasing rack density.”
Industrial giants enter the data centre
In September, Castrol introduced CORE, offering data-centre customers support from system design through maintenance. On 2 November, infrastructure investor Stonepeak completed its purchase of a 65% stake in the lubricants company.
Ecolab acquired cooling specialist CoolIT for about $4.75bn in July. Oilfield-services group SLB agreed in August to buy heat-exchanger maker Kelvion for about $4.1bn, including assumed debt. That deal remains subject to approvals.
De Vries-Gao believes these companies have something valuable to offer.
“Their existing expertise in fluid chemistry, thermal management and industrial infrastructure gives them a clear advantage,” he says. “However, success will depend on how cooling technologies evolve, integration with existing infrastructure and competition from established suppliers.”
Cooling comes with an environmental cost
While liquid cooling may be more effective at removing heat, that does not necessarily equate to data centres using fewer resources.
“Liquid cooling does not necessarily mean lower water consumption,” de Vries-Gao warns. “A closed-loop liquid-cooled server can still be connected to an evaporative heat-rejection system.”
He also raises the possibility that more effective cooling could encourage greater electricity use overall.
“From an environmental perspective, you could argue that liquid cooling is enabling higher compute densities and thereby facilitating larger absolute electricity consumption.”
Some immersion-cooling fluids raise separate environmental concerns.
“While direct-to-chip cooling typically uses water-based fluids, certain immersion cooling technologies rely on fluorinated chemicals, potentially including PFAS,” he explains. “These raise additional concerns regarding chemical persistence, leakage and disposal, which are not captured by conventional energy, water or carbon efficiency metrics.”
The European Commission is consulting on proposed minimum performance standards for data centres, alongside existing EU energy-reporting requirements.
Can the industrial advantage last?
The growing demand for liquid cooling offers established industrial companies a route into AI infrastructure. But it also exposes them to competition and the possibility that today’s specialist products may eventually become more commonplace.
De Vries-Gao identifies one potential problem.
“If standardized water-based cooling becomes dominant, opportunities to differentiate through specialized cooling fluids may be limited,” he says.
For Castrol, SLB and Ecolab, the more enduring opportunity may be in the engineering, installation and maintenance surrounding those fluids. Their industrial experience gives them a place in the AI boom, but the technology itself will help determine how valuable that position becomes.
A server rack filled with powerful AI chips can generate far more heat than conventional equipment. Keeping those systems cool is becoming a job for companies better known for lubricants, oilfields and industrial water systems.
Castrol, SLB and Ecolab are expanding into liquid cooling. Their ambitions go beyond supplying specialist fluids as they position themselves across cooling equipment, system design and maintenance.
“An AI server rack can be a lot more power dense than a standard server rack and therefore produce a lot more heat,” Digiconomist founder Alex de Vries-Gao told Raconteur, explaining why this technology is gaining ground. “Liquid cooling can be a lot more effective and efficient than air cooling, which is becoming more of a technical necessity due to increasing rack density.”
