Moving AI Data Center Development Literally Offshore?

A Japanese consortium is preparing to demonstrate an offshore data center facility aimed at the next generation of AI. By offshore, they mean literally floating in the water. The project is expected to kick off in the fall of this year.

The consortium consists of the bulk shipping company NYK Line, NTT Facilities, Eurus Energy Holdings, MUFG Bank, and the city of Yokohama. And the demonstration facility will use a 25×80 meter mini-float moored at a pier in Yokohama. With that as a base, they will construct a containerized data center powered by solar energy and battery storage facilities.

They will also look at using nearby offshore wind power, keeping things as renewable as they can while in theory putting the compute next to the energy production. If they want to be independent of the local power grids, as they state, they’d certainly need something like that to scale up. Solar power at the facility itself can only scale to the surface area the sun shines on, which won’t grow at the same rate as volume for bigger facilities.

It’s not the first time we’ve heard about a floating data center project. They crop up now and then, especially in markets where real estate is hard to come by. But does the idea really have legs, or perhaps flippers? That’s going to come down to economics, and the benefits have to outweigh the costs of additional complexity, maintenance, and natural hazards that come with floating on a liquid.

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Categories: Datacenter · Energy