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<\/p>\n[By Nir Kshetri]<\/p>\n
The artificial intelligence boom is driving unprecedented demand for data centers, raising concerns about their growing\u00a0energy consumption,\u00a0water use\u00a0and\u00a0carbon footprint. These challenges are making companies look beyond traditional land-based data centers.<\/p>\n
Some developers are now exploring the ocean as a new location for AI infrastructure in the hopes that underwater data centers could improve\u00a0energy use and cooling efficiency\u00a0while using less fresh water and land area\u00a0than onshore buildings.<\/p>\n
My\u00a0research\u00a0focuses on the societal, organizational and\u00a0environmental implications of emerging technologies, particularly\u00a0artificial intelligence\u00a0and the digital infrastructure \u2013 including\u00a0data centers\u00a0\u2013 that supports its development and deployment. I see underwater data centers as a promising new approach for supporting the growth of AI.<\/p>\n
But moving servers into the ocean does not make other underlying environmental challenges such as energy consumption and carbon emissions disappear. And it creates new concerns about harm to the marine environment, as well as questions about how these data centers can be regulated \u2013 and how companies can maintain and expand them if needed. Whether underwater data centers can become sustainable alternatives to traditional data centers depends on solving these economic, technical and environmental problems.<\/p>\n
The rise of ocean-based AI infrastructure<\/p>\n
In 2015, Microsoft launched a research project to explore the\u00a0feasibility, benefits and challenges\u00a0of underwater data centers. Part of that effort included setting up a\u00a0waterproof data center on the seafloor\u00a0near Scotland\u2019s Orkney Islands in 2018. It contained 864 servers and was connected to shore by an underwater cable.<\/p>\n
After two years, Microsoft reported that the servers in the underwater data center failed at about\u00a0one-eighth the rate of servers in comparable land-based data centers. The company is still studying the possible reasons but hypothesizes that in a sealed underwater environment the equipment is less exposed to oxygen, humidity and temperature fluctuations \u2013 as well as less jostling from people working to replace broken components.<\/p>\n
However, Microsoft\u00a0ended the project in 2024\u00a0and chose\u00a0not to build more underwater data centers. The company didn\u2019t say why, but others\u2019 analyses suggest the\u00a0reasons could include regulatory concerns, including the need for environmental permits, as well as a desire for faster upgrades and replacements for the computer equipment inside.<\/p>\n
Instead the company has focused on land-based data centers, which can be larger and easier to expand, and also\u00a0easier to access to repair or replace\u00a0equipment.<\/p>\n
Others have moved ahead, though. China built what may be the world\u2019s first wind-powered underwater data center in Shanghai. The facility launched in June 2025 and began full commercial operations in\u00a0May 2026.<\/p>\n
The\u00a0US$226 million\u00a0project uses\u00a0seawater as a coolant\u00a0rather than have to refrigerate fresh water, reducing the electricity required to cool the computers. It uses at least\u00a030% less\u00a0electricity than traditional data centers, and offshore wind turbines reduce reliance on fossil fuels and cut the data center\u2019s carbon emissions.<\/p>\n
Japan is testing a different approach: Data centers housed in containers on floating platforms at sea can use seawater for cooling, have unobstructed conditions for solar panels and wind turbines, and reduce demand for land. In 2025, a\u00a0data center in shipping containers\u00a0opened on a floating platform near Yokohama. Its power comes from\u00a0solar panels installed on the same floating platform, with batteries providing energy storage. The test will\u00a0continue through March 2027.<\/p>\n
Singapore is also moving toward commercial-scale floating data centers. In 2026, infrastructure company Keppel began building a\u00a0four-story floating data center, scheduled to open in 2028. The project will use seawater for cooling, reducing reliance on treated water and improving cooling efficiency. And the fact that it floats means it won\u2019t take up any of Singapore\u2019s limited land availability.<\/p>\n
In 2025, Ulsan, South Korea, began planning an underwater data center that could house\u00a0more than 100,000 servers\u00a0and use 30% less power than land-based centers by using seawater for cooling.<\/p>\n
In Maine, DeepGreen Western Passage has proposed a\u00a0submersible AI data center\u00a0in the Bay of Fundy, powered by tidal turbines designed to harness the area\u2019s strong tidal currents.<\/p>\n
Land-based data centers could also take advantage of seawater cooling. In Portugal, the SIN01 AI data center in Sines uses\u00a0seawater from the Atlantic to cool\u00a0its servers before returning it to the ocean.<\/p>\n
The promise of ocean-based data centers<\/p>\n
These various approaches offer ways to reduce\u00a0demand for grid-supplied electricity\u00a0for powering data centers\u2019 computers and\u00a0cooling equipment, as well as using\u00a0less fresh water.<\/p>\n
The distance from people\u2019s homes could also be an advantage for data centers in or on the ocean. A Gallup poll in March 2026 found that\u00a070% of Americans\u00a0oppose building AI data centers in their communities. However, more than half of the world\u2019s population lives\u00a0within 120 miles\u00a0of a coast. Underwater could be another way to keep data centers\u00a0physically close to users\u00a0for speedy service.<\/p>\n
Maintenance, though, is a major challenge. If a computer fails underwater, it\u00a0cannot be repaired or replaced on site. The entire sealed data center module may need to be brought to the surface, even if just one computer needs work.<\/p>\n
Can the ocean sustain AI?<\/p>\n
The\u00a0main environmental concern about ocean-based data centers\u00a0involves the seawater used for cooling. Discharging warm or hot water can potentially affect\u00a0oxygen levels, pH and marine life\u00a0in the surrounding waters.<\/p>\n
That heat is already apparent at the few seaborne data centers now operating. HiCloud, the engineering contractor for China\u2019s Hainan underwater data center, has reported a temperature increase of\u00a0less than 1 degree Celsius\u00a0(1.8 degrees Fahrenheit) in the seawater near the facility. SIN01 in Sines, Portugal, also returns seawater\u00a0about 1 C warmer.<\/p>\n
Many marine species depend on stable water temperatures for breeding, feeding and migration, raising concerns that heat released by multiple underwater data centers could create\u00a0localized thermal pollution and alter marine ecosystems. And the ocean is already under pressure. UNESCO, the United Nations agency for international cooperation, including in conservation, estimates that about\u00a060% of marine ecosystems\u00a0are already degraded or used unsustainably.<\/p>\n
The\u00a0ocean is already warming\u00a0along with the atmosphere, without additional waste heat from data centers. That additional heat is already\u00a0threatening coral reef and mangrove ecosystems, seagrasses and other aspects of the marine food web. As that\u00a0warming continues, ocean waters will be less useful for cooling electronic equipment in some regions.<\/p>\n
Underwater data centers could help AI grow while easing some of the pressure on land, energy and water. But the real test is whether the ocean can become AI\u2019s next computing frontier without becoming its next environmental problem.<\/p>\n
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Nir Kshetri is the Charles A. Hayes Distinguished Professor at the University of North Carolina-Greensboro and a research fellow at Kobe University, Japan.<\/p>\n
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