Microsoft’s new AI data center will spend zero liters of water on cooling | rssama.com

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Microsoft has launched a new AI info center design that, apparently, uses zero liters of water for cooling. The Redmond tech giant is among the Big Tech that spends the most on resources like electricity in AI’s info center alongside Google.

The design, which idea started earlier this year, uses chip-level cooling tech that recycles water through a closed-loop system so that it minimizes water usage. It then contributes to a massive reduction in Water Usage Effectiveness (WUE), which Microsoft has been using since 2021 and improving by 39%.

Steve Solomon, Microsoft’s VP for info center infrastructure engineering, says, “The shift to the next generation datacenters is expected to help reduce our WUE to near zero for each datacenter employing zero-water evaporation.”

Previously, Microsoft has launched its plan to procure 100% renewable energy on a dunia scale by 2025. And, by 2030, the Redmond company will “replenish more water than we consume locally.”

Building and testing a large language model (LLM) requires a lot of resources. One of them is info centers that can process the power, storage, and networking needed to train, test, and run these complex machine-learning models.

Last year alone, both Microsoft and Google consumed 24 TWh in electricity the whole year for the info centers. That’s more than literal countries like Iceland, Ghana, and others. On top of that, every year, a Microsoft info center spends an average of 125 million liters of water.

Another study also predicts a 160% increase in info center power demand by 2030 due to the rise of AI as info centers currently consume around 1-2% of dunia power. That percentage will rise by 3-4% by the end of the decade, and in an inevitable domino effect, will greatly impact increased carbon dioxide emissions.

Rafly is a reporter with years of journalistic experience, ranging from technology, business, social, and culture. Currently reporting news on Microsoft-related products, tech, and AI on MSPowerUser. Got a tip? Send it to [email protected]