Looking Beyond the CDU for Data Center Liquid Cooling

The recent rise in high-power AI processors has largely been made possible through advances in cooling technology, with liquid solutions leading the way. Despite the extraordinary heat dissipation potential that liquid cooling provides to microprocessors, the global demand for compute performance has already surpassed the capabilities of entry-level liquid cooling technologies due to the compounding challenge of higher heat flux coinciding with lower allowable processor temperatures. One response has been a growing effort to decrease facility water temperatures using less efficient methods such as mechanical chillers. As processor thermal resistance targets plummet, the coolant distribution unit (CDU) is becoming a significant contributor to the temperature drop between the processor and facility water. In this session we will examine the cost-benefit analysis of the CDU along with the opportunities and challenges of removing it from the full data center heat transfer path.

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