As AI pushes rack power densities higher, Castrol and Airsys have agreed a formal partnership to accelerate liquid cooling uptake, with the two firms also agreeing to work together to co-develop products.
While the two firms have collaborated closely for the last two years, they are now formalising their partnership. With that, Castrol’s Immersion Cooling Fluid DC 20 has achieved full certification for use with Airsys equipment and will be deployed within the company’s LiquidRack systems.
The tie-up lands amid a rapid rise in compute density driven by AI workloads. According to research cited by the companies, average rack power densities have more than doubled in two years to 17 kW, while those used for training large language models can easily exceed 80 kW per rack. That’s only set to get worse as the latest GPU platforms could push densities towards 120 kW.
All that increasing power density means that air cooling is struggling to keep pace, with overheating risking downtime and hardware damage. Castrol’s recent industry research found that 74% of sector leaders now view liquid cooling as the only viable way to meet current demand – which we also found in our recent Trend Report on the subject.
“Liquid cooling is no longer just an emerging trend – it’s a strategic priority for the future of thermal management. At Airsys, we’ve built a legacy in air cooling over decades, supporting critical infrastructure with reliable, high-performance systems. This foundation has enabled us to evolve and lead in liquid cooling innovation,” said Matthew Thompson, Managing Director at Airsys United Kingdom.
“Our collaboration with Castrol combines our engineering depth with their expertise in advanced thermal fluids, enabling us to deliver next-generation solutions that meet the demands of high-density, high-efficiency environments.”
The two companies say their focus spans product integration, joint innovation and industry education to hasten the transition from air to liquid-based systems in next-generation facilities.
“Castrol has been working closely with Airsys for two years and we’re excited to continue working together as we look to accelerate the adoption of liquid cooling technology and to help the industry support the AI boom,” added Peter Huang, Global President – Data Centre and Thermal Management at Castrol.
“We have been co-engineering solutions with OEMs for decades and the partnership with Airsys is another example of how Castrol leans into technical problems and supports its customers and partners in delivering optimal solutions,” added Peter Huang.
