Datacenters dip a toe back into waterborne computing despite obvious challenges

Siting datacenters either on the water or underwater is an idea that just won't sink, and there is increasing interest in it, despite the obvious fact that water and IT equipment are a potentially disastrous combination.

The attraction of having a data facility in or on the water is that it offers virtually limitless natural cooling, which is an increasingly vital consideration for operators deploying hot-running systems filled with GPUs for AI processing.

But set against that are potential issues with access for maintenance, in the case of underwater facilities, and gaining access to enough power to keep all that IT infrastructure chugging along.

The most recent announcement is that an underwater facility off the coast of China has now commenced operations, powered by a nearby offshore wind farm.

First disclosed last October, this project by Beijing-based Highlander Digital Technology has a capacity of 24 megawatts, about half the average size of a US datacenter, but is designed to run on more than 95 percent green electricity.

It is expected to serve clients such as China Telecom and a state-owned AI computing company, and is said to be part of a push by the Chinese government for operators to lower their carbon footprint.

But long before China got in on the act, there was Microsoft and its Project Natick. This involved a prototype lowered into the water off the coast of California in August 2015 to test out the concept, before Phase II of the trial saw a larger unit tested out near Scotland in 2018.

When this latter unit, fitted with 12 racks containing 864 servers, was hauled up from the seabed in 2020, Microsoft reported that the systems in it had experienced a failure rate one-eighth that of a land-based control cluster.

Yet despite declaring the experiment a success, Microsoft chose not to proceed any further with submerged server farms, and the company never fully explained why. It seems likely that the issues around accessing the IT kit for maintenance or upgrades, not to mention supplying power to an underwater enclosure, all add up to make land-based facilities just more convenient.

Despite this, some companies, such as Subsea Cloud, have persevered with the idea.

However, another approach that seems to be gaining more traction is the floating datacenter, typically on a barge tethered close to shore or even on board a ship.

Google toyed with the concept back in 2013 after patenting a design for a floating facility back in 2008, but changed its mind, reportedly after finding the time and cost of meeting federal maritime safety regulations too burdensome.

Another US company, Nautilus Data Technologies, made bit barges a reality with one facility in Marseille, France, and another in Stockton, California, before shifting to focus on the EcoCore line of AI infrastructure.

However, the Stockton facility is still operational, according to Nautilus, offering 6.5 MW of IT load capacity.

In Japan, shipping biz Mitsui OSK Lines (MOL) started exploring the possibility of fitting out a ship as a floating data hall last year. This year, the company signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Hitachi for the development of such a facility from a second-hand vessel, with a view to commence operations in 2027.

When first floated, MOL said it expected to use a 120-meter ship to support an IT capacity of 20 to 73 MW, but the plans with Hitachi could involve a larger vessel. The ship's onboard systems, including air conditioning, water intake, and power generation, would be used to service the IT infrastructure.

Korean behemoth Samsung is also looking to get in on this action, signing an MoU with Greece-based shipowner Capital Clean Energy Carriers and Lloyd's Register earlier this month to build floating server farms from scratch using existing shipbuilding methods.

Samsung said that such facilities can have advantages over existing datacenters because they can address land scarcity, lower cooling costs, and reduce carbon emissions.

But perhaps the wildest floating bit barn concept comes from Panthalassa, a startup based in Portland, Oregon, which is developing wave-powered floating structures designed to operate in the deep ocean.

The firm, backed by venture capitalist Peter Thiel, has designed the units to operate autonomously, connected to the outside world via SpaceX's Starlink satellite network, according to reports.

But as New Scientist magazine points out, saltwater and wave action are very effective at causing trouble for machinery, and Panthalassa didn't respond to its questions about what happens when something goes wrong in the middle of the ocean, or about relying on a satellite link to get data in and out.

Other floating datacenter projects aim to sidestep the permitting hurdles and power constraints faced by land-based facilities, but it seems that scale is likely to be the enemy of such waterborne projects.

The hyperscaler mob is looking to build massive multi-gigawatt facilities such as Meta's planned Hyperion facility, and stuffing servers onto barges or ships is unlikely to match facilities of this size or their economies of scale.

Where they will find a home is in places such as Singapore, which is severely land-constrained. Earlier this year, two firms even proposed floating hydrogen power plants to serve shore-based datacenters. ®