The Future Is Fanless: 100% Heat Capture for Liquid-Cooled AI Servers
IEEE Spectrum, Tuesday, September 22nd, 2026
As AI racks exceed 250kW, near-total liquid heat capture is turning fanless server cooling from niche to standard.
As AI server racks exceed 250 kW of power density, hybrid liquid-air cooling becomes impractical because the remaining 30% air-cooled load still equals 75 kW, forcing costly parallel cooling systems. CoolIT's approach captures nearly all heat in liquid, cutting air cooling below 1% of the load so servers can run fanless. The challenge extends beyond processors to memory, networking, storage and power components, each neding tailored thermal handling, unified through a modular coldplate design proven across six generations.
As rack densities climb toward 1 MW, the piece argues near-total liquid heat capture will move from a premium option to the industry standard for flagship systems through 2028.