With the explosive growth of AI computing power and the continuous increase in power density of data centers, traditional air cooling technology can no longer meet the heat dissipation needs. Liquid cooling technology has become a must with its advantages of efficient heat dissipation, energy saving and consumption reduction. In liquid cooling technology, the competition between cold plate and immersion is particularly fierce. This article will analyze the advantages and disadvantages of the two from the perspectives of technical characteristics, application scenarios, cost-effectiveness and future trends, and explore their future dominant directions.

1- Comparison of technical characteristics: cold plate type has strong compatibility, and immersion type has higher heat dissipation efficiency

a. Cold plate liquid cooling: a "reformist" with smooth transition

Strong compatibility: No need to significantly modify the server structure, it is compatible with the infrastructure of the existing air-cooled data center, with low modification cost and short cycle.

High safety: The coolant does not come into direct contact with electronic components, the risk of leakage is low, and the risk can be further reduced through modular design (such as quick-change joints and redundant pipes).

High maturity: Cold plate technology has been widely used in scenarios such as Alibaba Cloud Qiandao Lake Data Center and Intel cooperation projects, accounting for 90% of the current liquid cooling market.

Limitations: The cold plate type can only cover some high-power components (such as CPU and GPU), and the rest of the heat still needs to rely on air cooling to assist heat dissipation. The PUE value is usually 1.1-1.2, slightly higher than the immersion type.

b. Immersion liquid cooling: an "innovator" with efficient heat dissipation

Immersion liquid cooling completely immerses the server in insulating coolant, and achieves full device heat dissipation through direct contact. Its core advantages include:

Extreme energy efficiency: The thermal conductivity of liquid is 20-30 times that of air, PUE can be as low as 1.05, and the heat dissipation efficiency is increased by more than 3 times.

Space saving: The volume of the cooling system is only 1/3 of that of air cooling, and the power density of a single cabinet can reach more than 50kW, which is suitable for high-density scenarios such as AI supercomputing.

Silent and environmentally friendly: No fans are required, noise is reduced by more than 90%, and there is no dust pollution, which extends the life of the equipment.

Challenges: Immersion requires customized servers, the cost of coolant accounts for up to 60% (such as fluorinated liquid), and the initial investment is high, and the ecological compatibility needs to be improved.

2-Differentiation of application scenarios: medium- and short-term cold plate type dominates, long-term immersion type potential is released

a. Cold plate type: "cost-effective choice" for stock transformation and new IDC construction

Renovation of old data centers: Cold plate type can quickly adapt to the existing air-cooled architecture, with a short transformation cycle and controllable costs. For example, the modular solution cooperated by Intel and Bih reduces the difficulty of deployment through standardized cold plate design.

Medium and high density computing power scenarios: Cold plate type already supports 130-250kW power per cabinet (such as NVIDIA B series GPU), meeting most AI training needs.

b. Immersion type: "ultimate solution" for supercomputing and green data centers

Ultra-high density computing power: The cabinet power of the next generation of chips (such as NVIDIA Rubin series) will exceed 1000kW, and immersion type will become the only feasible solution.

Green energy-saving needs: The PUE of immersion type is close to 1.05, and the waste heat recovery efficiency reaches 90% (such as Lenovo's solution), which is in line with the "dual carbon" target policy.

c. Current market situation

Cold plate type dominates the current market: In 2025, cold plate type accounts for 80%-90% of the liquid cooling market, and immersion type accounts for less than 10%. In addition, standardized interfaces have been formed (such as Intel's OCP cold plate design), and solutions from manufacturers such as Inspur and Sugon have strong compatibility. The domestic "East Data West Computing" project requires that the PUE of new data centers be ≤1.25, and cold plate type has become the first choice for transition.

Immersion type is ready to go: Sugon Digital C8000 phase change immersion solution achieves PUE 1.04, and Alibaba Cloud's "Kirin" data center verifies the feasibility of single-phase immersion.High-power chips such as NVIDIA B200 GPU (1000W+) force immersion type applications, and liquid cooling computing power density increases by 30%-50%.The EU plans to ban fluorinated liquids in 2028, and domestic hydrocarbon/silicone oil coolant research and development is accelerating (such as Sinopec's "Kunlun" series).

3-Authoritative opinion PK

Cold plate faction: Cold plate is the "icebreaker" of liquid cooling popularization, and will still bear 80% of the incremental liquid cooling market in the next five years. Immersion type needs to wait for the chip power consumption to break through the critical point.

Immersion faction: Phase change immersion is the ultimate form of liquid cooling, and cold plate is only a transitional solution. When the power consumption of a single chip exceeds 800W, immersion will become the only choice.

Neutral faction: The differentiation of technical routes reflects the stratification of computing power demand. Cold plate serves "Eastern Data" and immersion supports "Western Computing". Dual-track parallel development will be the main theme for the next ten years.

4-Industry opportunities and strategies

Cost and ecological game: Cold plate has a short-term advantage, and immersion type needs to reduce costs to break the deadlock.

Cold plate: Optimize materials (copper-aluminum composite), improve processing accuracy (leakage prevention process), and promote modular and standardized design.

Immersion: Develop cost-effective coolants (such as single-phase immersion liquid), compatible cabinets, and cooperate with chip manufacturers to customize cooling solutions.

Technical reserve: Explore two-phase flow cold plate and intelligent monitoring system (such as AI dynamic flow adjustment) to cope with future high power demand.

5-Conclusion

Short term (2025-2027): Cold plate type dominates general scenarios, and immersion penetration rate increases to 15%-20%; Long term (2030+): Phase change immersion type becomes mainstream in the field of high computing power, and cold plate type retreats to the medium and low density market.

Winning hand: Coolant cost, chip power consumption jump speed, international environmental protection policy.

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