In the past month, a slew of lubricants, specialty chemicals and IT infrastructure companies have launched or announced upcoming development partnerships of data center coolants. These developments reflect a broader industry trend toward sustainable, high-performance cooling solutions. As AI workloads intensify, integrated thermal management approaches are becoming essential to balance performance, reliability and environmental responsibility in digital infrastructure.
Data centers must be able to meet ever-increasing energy demand driven by artificial intelligence and high-performance computing luring companies across the thermal management and fluid engineering sectors into collaborations to develop cooling fluids.
Giga Computing and Castrol signed a memorandum of understanding to jointly develop advanced liquid cooling technologies, according to Giga Computing. The partnership will involve developing cold plates, optimizing coolants and deploying immersion cooling infrastructure, starting in the UK.
Shell introduced DLC Fluid S3, a propylene glycol-based coolant for direct liquid cooling in data centers. The fluid is also compatible with Open Compute Project standards, making it suitable for modern digital infrastructure.
At the end of May, Chemours agreed to supply DataVolt with fluids from its two-phase Opteon product line. DataVolt is a … Chemours also announced a manufacturing partnership with India’s Navin Fluorine International to produce Opteon immersion cooling fluids. The facility, planned in Gujarat with a $14 million investment, will begin operations by fiscal 2027.
This move supports Chemours’ Liquid Cooling Venture, which aims to expand sustainable cooling solutions for AI and semiconductor applications. Navin Fluorine brings fluorochemical manufacturing expertise, contributing to local production and a reduced carbon footprint.
Thailand-based PSP Specialties signed an MoU with China’s Eco Atlas and Germany’s Evonik to co-develop immersion cooling fluis with high thermal stability and environmental safety Eco Atlas provides engineering for immersion cooling, while Evonik contributes advanced chemical formulations to meet evolving industry needs.
Engineered Fluids is working with Iceotope and Juniper Networks on immersion cooling solutions tailored for AI data centres. Their approach focuses on single-phase immersion cooling to reduce energy usage, operational costs and carbon footprint. The collaboration integrates Engineered Fluids’ Decoolant, Iceotope’s precision cooling systems, and Juniper’s efficient networking gear. Together, they aim to offer a scalable, sustainable platform for next-generation IT environments.
Belgium-based Arteco has launched its Zirtec EC product line, marking its entry into data centre cooling. Drawing from automotive expertise, Arteco offers direct-to-chip coolants made from mono propylene glycol and mono ethylene glycol. These fluids reduce overheating, corrosion, and system failure. The company plans to release a bio-based version to align with sustainability goals, offering low-maintenance solutions that lower total cost of ownership.