A Watershed Moment for Data Centre Technology
Shell’s immersion cooling fluids have secured a landmark achievement as the first to receive official certification from Intel, a major chip manufacturer. This development represents a significant advancement for sustainable data centre technology and sets a new benchmark for cooling solutions across the industry.
The formal certification follows a two-year collaborative effort between the companies, during which Intel conducted exhaustive testing to confirm that its Xeon processors perform reliably when submerged in Shell’s electrically non-conductive cooling fluids. This validation allows data centre operators worldwide to implement Shell’s innovative cooling solution with full confidence, providing a substantially more energy-efficient alternative to conventional air-cooling systems.
Dramatic efficiency improvements
The advantages offered by Shell’s immersion cooling technology extend far beyond standard incremental improvements typical in the data centre sector. According to Jason Wong, Global Executive Vice President at Shell Lubricants, “Upgrading existing air-cooling methods with immersion fluids can reduce data centre energy use by up to 48%, as well as help reduce capital and operating expenditure by up to 33%.”
These figures highlight the transformative potential of the technology at a time when data centres face mounting pressure to reduce their environmental impact whilst managing escalating operational costs. The solution addresses both challenges simultaneously, offering a compelling business case for adoption.
Perhaps most striking among the benefits is the dramatic reduction in physical space requirements. The technology can decrease the floor space needed for a data centre by approximately 80%, creating opportunities for facilities in locations where space commands a premium or where expansion would otherwise be constrained.
Technical principles and operational benefits
The fundamental principle behind immersion cooling differs substantially from traditional approaches to thermal management in data centres. Rather than relying on air as the primary cooling medium, the technology utilises specialised liquids that possess superior thermal properties.
These electrically non-conductive fluids make direct contact with computing components, absorbing and dissipating heat far more efficiently than air-based systems. This direct contact eliminates the need for numerous components that occupy space and consume energy in conventional cooling setups, including fans, chillers and bulky air handling infrastructure.
The elimination of these intermediary cooling systems contributes significantly to the technology’s efficiency advantages. Each component removed from the cooling chain represents one fewer point of energy consumption and potential failure, simplifying the overall system architecture while improving reliability.
Beyond the immediate energy and space savings, the solution offers additional operational benefits including reduced noise levels, decreased maintenance requirements, and potentially extended hardware lifespans due to more consistent operating temperatures and reduced thermal cycling.
Meeting future computational demands
The certification arrives at a critical juncture for the data centre industry. Global demand for data centre energy is projected to more than double by 2030, driven by artificial intelligence applications, cloud computing growth, and the expanding digital economy.
Karin Eibschitz Segal, corporate vice president at Intel, emphasised this timeliness: “We’re pleased to be partnering with Shell in accelerating the adoption of more sustainable and energy-efficient solutions for data centres. Through these advancements we’re paving the way for the next generation of high-performance, environmentally conscious computing.”
Shell’s certified immersion cooling fluids offer a scalable solution particularly suitable for retrofitting existing data centres, allowing facilities to accommodate growing computational demands without corresponding increases in energy consumption or physical expansion.
With data centres now accounting for approximately 1-2% of global electricity consumption—a figure anticipated to rise significantly—technologies that can decouple computational growth from energy demand will play an increasingly vital role in sustainable digital infrastructure development.