Intel announced two investments in its efforts to create more sustainable data center technology solutions.
First, Intel unveiled plans to invest more than $700 million for a 200,000-square-foot research and development mega lab focused on data center technologies and addressing areas such as heating, cooling and water usage.
Intel introduced the technology industry’s first open intellectual property (open IP) immersion liquid cooling solution and reference design. With the initial design proof of concept initiated in Taiwan, Intel aims to simplify and accelerate the implementation of immersion liquid cooling solutions throughout the ecosystem globally.
“The future of the data center and data center design is based on innovative technologies and practices,” said Sandra L. Rivera, Intel executive vice president and general manager of the Datacenter and AI Group.
The lab will focus on areas such as immersion cooling, water usage effectiveness and heat recapture and reuse. Construction on the lab will begin this year at the Jones Farm campus in Hillsboro, Oregon, with opening expected in late 2023.
The lab will qualify, test and enable Intel’s portfolio of data center products including Intel Xeon, Intel Optane, network interfaces and switch gear, Intel Agilex FPGAs, Xe architecture, Habana accelerators and future products under development.
The lab will also host an advanced technology showcase for customers and partners to observe and test Intel products in a variety of data center environments in the lab, in an effort to accelerate adoption of these new technologies throughout the ecosystem.
Data centers represent approximately 1 percent of the global electricity demand and account for about 0.3 percent of global carbon emissions. Investing in standardizing cooling technologies and R&D for innovations strengthens Intel’s commitment to more sustainable technology solutions.
Research shows that immersion cooling with energy reuse could reduce carbon emissions by 45 percent compared to traditional data center usage.
