A JLL analysis finds that liquid cooling has moved from an experimental option to a mainstream deployment strategy in data centers, driven by the heat output of modern AI accelerators. The report highlights direct liquid cooling and immersion systems as the formats seeing the fastest adoption. Facility operators are now expected to specify liquid cooling capacity at the design stage rather than as a retrofit option.
Mainstream adoption of liquid cooling changes capital planning assumptions for new builds and retrofits, affecting facility design, water sourcing, and operational costs at scale. Colocation providers that do not offer liquid cooling infrastructure risk losing contracts as hyperscalers standardize on high-density AI compute.
Named firm (JLL), specific technology categories (direct liquid cooling, immersion), and the Cooling category triggered selection. Note: this article's news hook is JLL's operational assessment rather than a findings restatement from the tracked JLL North America Data Center Report or JLL Global Data Center Outlook series, so the currency check does not apply.