Although each generation offers significantly more computing power for each watt, full liquid-cooled AI compute infrastructure enables data centers to dramatically reduce cooling energy consumption — making a meaningful difference to overall data center energy use at hyperscale.

“The NVIDIA DSX reference design for AI factories has zero water consumption — we have eliminated massive amounts of power usage and pretty much all water usage,” said Ali Heydari, director of data center cooling and infrastructure at NVIDIA. “With dry-cooler-based designs, it’s a closed-loop system with no evaporative water cooling — outside of maybe 1% of the year when we might need chillers in some climates.”

Historically, cooling alone has accounted for up to 40% of a data center’s electricity consumption, making it one of the most significant areas where efficiency improvements can drive down both operational expenses and energy demands.

Industry estimates suggest that raising chiller plant temperatures by just one degree can cut cooling energy costs by about 4%. At scale, those savings add up quickly. A 50-megawatt hyperscale facility can save over $4 million annually in cooling-related energy and water costs by moving to liquid-cooled infrastructure.