AI data centers are scaling fast. Let's build them the right way.

The world is right to ask tough questions about how data centers are built. Water and energy are local. So is the impact. Communities want to know how this infrastructure is being built, operated and whether it can grow without putting more pressure on local resources. 

So, the answer is not to slow AI. It is to create data centers that use less, reuse more and deliver stronger performance.   

The old way doesn’t work anymore. The old model wasn’t built for AI density. As AI workloads become more powerful, heat density increases and traditional cooling approaches quickly reach their limits. Yesterday’s data centers were designed around a linear model: more water in, more energy in and more strain out. 

The good news is a better model already exists. 

The new way is different. Less water. Less energy. Less strain on communities. We’re moving from a linear system to what nature has done for millions of years: using water in a circular way.  

In fact, some next-generation data centers already use less water than a busy car wash. That is possible because technology is changing how these facilities are designed and operated.  

And it all starts with liquid cooling.  

When you use direct liquid cooling on chips, you get better performance and create the opportunity to use water differently. Combined with an optimized end-to-end cooling platform, it also reduces the energy needed for cooling. That’s the power of bringing CoolIT and Ecolab together. 

At Ecolab, for more than 100 years we’ve helped customers grow while protecting people and natural resources for generations to come.  

Today, that expertise positions us to help support AI growth across the full value chain.  

With Ovivo, we added ultra-pure water to produce the most advanced chips. With CoolIT, we now bring direct liquid cooling to power the most demanding AI data centers while moving toward a near-zero water footprint. Together, we support the full AI value chain: from chips, to power, to cooling.  

There is a better way to build the AI data centers of the future.  

Data centers built around circular systems that use less, reuse more and deliver stronger performance.  

Communities don't have to choose between growth and impact. They can benefit from AI investment while reducing the impact on people and nature. Done the right way, AI data centers don't strain communities, they strengthen them. 

AI is moving fast. Now it is up to all of us to make sure the infrastructure behind it evolves just as quickly.  

That’s why no one is better positioned that Ecolab—the world’s water company—to help unleash AI growth the right way.  

We’re just getting started. And the best is yet to come.