KDDI Develops Immersion-Cooled Small Data Centers with GIGABYTE

Japanese telecommunications firm KDDI Corporation has developed a new type of data center that is both mobile and environmentally friendly. The "container-type immersion cooling small data centers" utilize single-phase immersion cooling, reducing power consumption by 43% and achieving a Power Usage Effectiveness (PUE) below 1.07.

GIGABYTE Technology supplied KDDI with its R282-Z93 and R182-Z91 rack servers, which serve as management and GPU computing nodes. These servers feature 3rd Gen AMD EPYC™ CPUs and NVIDIA® GPUs, chosen for their performance and compatibility with liquid-based cooling solutions. This collaboration aligns with GIGABYTE's focus on sustainable technology development.

KDDI, a major Japanese telecom provider, began development on these modular, containerized micro data centers in July 2020. The goal is to create solutions that significantly reduce the carbon footprint and installation lead time associated with traditional data centers, addressing growing demands for edge computing.

The mobility of these units allows for rapid deployment in response to localized demand spikes or emergency situations. Immersion cooling, which submerges servers directly in a dielectric fluid, is substantially more energy-efficient than air cooling. KDDI estimates this method can lower a data center's PUE to under 1.07, a stated 43% reduction in electricity usage compared to air-cooled facilities with average PUEs around 1.7.