Liquid Cooling Strategy
Technology stack, CapEx efficiency vs. air cooling, and thermal management.
Target PUE
< 1.15
Max Density
100+ kW
Technology Stack & Feasibility
Cooling Technology Comparison
Air Cooled (Chillers)
Water Cooled (Evaporative)
Liquid Cooling (Direct-to-Chip/DLC)
RECOMMENDEDRack Density Requirements
Power per Rack (kW) - AI workloads demand 4-6x higher rack density than legacy infrastructure
CapEx Premium Analysis
Construction Cost per MW ($M)
Density Support
Direct Liquid Cooling (DLC) supports 100+ kW per rack, which is mandatory for modern AI architectures. AI Training workloads require 50-100kW per rack, while AI Inference requires 20-40kW/rack. DLC captures 70-80% of the heat generated.
Thermal Management
Heat rejection utilizes evaporative cooling towers fed by SAWS Recycled Water. For a "Zero-Water" design, DLC is paired with Air-Cooled Chillers, though this raises PUE to approximately 1.35.
Efficiency Metric (PUE)
Target Power Usage Effectiveness (PUE) for the liquid-cooled facility is <1.15. AI tenants will demand a PUE Cap of <1.25 in the lease structure. The "Zero-Water" air-cooled option raises PUE to 1.35.
CapEx Premium
Construction Cost (Hyperscale/AI Capacity): $9.3MM–$11.7MM per MW. The "AI-Ready" CapEx target is $13MM per MW. The mechanical/cooling infrastructure component (CDUs, Piping, Towers) accounts for approximately $4.0MM per MW, representing a CapEx premium of $1.5MM/MW (15-20%) over traditional air-cooled facilities (~$9MM–$11MM/MW).
Payback & ROI
The CapEx premium for liquid cooling has a Payback Period of <3 years, based on the annual rental premium of $540,000 per MW. The premium for liquid cooling readiness commands a 15-20% rental premium ($160-$185+ per kW/month base rent). A specific comparison: $212/kW for Liquid Cooled vs. $130/kW for Legacy Air-Cooled.