(Credit: Aikido)
While some major AI companies have floated the idea of putting data centers in space to give them ready access to solar power, others are examining an ocean-based solution here on Earth.
Offshore infrastructure provider Aikido Technologies has introduced a "floating offshore wind platform designed to co-locate AI-grade compute with floating wind generation and integrated battery storage." Translation: data centers at sea.
(Credit: Aikido)Aikido plans to deploy a proof-of-concept unit in Norway later this year, while the first commercial project is targeted for the UK in 2028.
"Developers find it increasingly difficult to obtain energy, land, and water to build such mega-campuses, especially close to load centers," Aikido says. "Offshore, however, energy, cooling and space are abundant and the ocean acts as an infinite heat sink. Around the world, areas pre-designated for floating wind deployments can instead be immediately used for data centers."
Aikido will put its wind turbine substructure and the data center enclosure into a single steel unit. The structure "can be pre-fabricated in a factory and lifted into place during the final integration."
“Before we go off-world, we should go offshore,” says Sam Kanner, CEO of Aikido Technologies.
The big reason for the orbital data center push is near-infinite access to solar energy, and fewer environmental concerns (rocket launches notwithstanding). But they would be costly to launch, hard to cool without airflow, and difficult to upgrade or maintain over the long term.
With ocean-based data centers, meanwhile, wave damage, anchoring, and seawater corrosion will be among the concerns. Plus, they will use the surrounding water for cooling, which will, in turn, heat it up and possibly impact local wildlife populations.
That said, Microsoft tested the idea a few years ago with 12 racks of servers in a cylinder off Scotland's Orkney Islands, and found that it could fit in quite well with its undersea neighbors. Algae and barnacles covered most of the server's outer shell, suggesting it could become part of the marine environment and even serve as a safe harbor for fish and other undersea life.
Last year, China also completed phase one of an underwater data center in Shanghai.