SK Enmove, UK’s Iceotope to develop coolant for SK Telecom’s data center

South Korea’s lube oil maker SK Enmove Co. has partnered with UK-based precision liquid cooling system specialist Iceotope Technologies Ltd. to advance their coolant technologies and expand their presence in the fast-growing liquid cooling market.

SK Enmove, a unit of Korea’s top oil refiner SK Innovation Co., said on Wednesday that it has agreed with its UK partner to cooperate in developing customized thermal fluids for PLC systems.

For the project, SK Enmove, its affiliate SK Telecom Co. and Iceotope signed an initial agreement during Mobile World Congress 2024 in Barcelona, Spain.

The signing ceremony was attended by Seo Sang-hyuk, chief of SK Enmove’s e-Fluids B2B Business Management Office, SK Telecom Vice President and head of Future R&D Lee Jong-min and Iceotope Chief Executive David Craig.

“The importance of establishing a sustainable environment is increasing. Through this cooperation we aim to contribute to the vitalization of the immersion cooling market and solidify our position as an energy-saving company,” said SK Enmove’s Seo.

Under the memorandum of understanding, the three companies will work to load SK Enmove’s thermal fluids onto Iceotope’s PLC system and apply them to SK Telecom’s artificial intelligence data center testbed.

“We are thrilled to be collaborating with SK Telecom and SK Enmove on AI data center innovation,” said Iceotope CEO Craig.

Iceotope specializes in precision liquid cooling systems that remove nearly 100% of the heat generated by the electronic components of a server through precise delivery of dielectric fluid.

This reduces energy use by up to 40% and water consumption by up to 96%, according to the UK firm.

This allows for greater flexibility in designing information technology solutions as there are no hotspots to slow down performance, no wasted physical space on unnecessary cooling infrastructure, and minimal need for water consumption, it said.

MORE EFFICIENT THAN AIR COOLING

Liquid immersion cooling is a more efficient heat management technology that cools data servers by directly immersing them in a cooling liquid, compared to air cooling.

Liquid cooling also significantly lowers data center power usage by eliminating most of the energy used for cooling and reducing carbon emissions.

According to market researcher Future Market Insights, the global thermal fluid heat management system market is expected to grow at an annual average rate of 21.5% from $330 million in 2022 to $2.1 billion by 2032.

“By combining core technologies and capabilities of SK Telecom, Iceotope and SK Enmove, we expect to develop innovative energy efficiency solutions for AI data centers,” said SK Telecom’s Lee.

SK Enmove, formerly SK Lubricants Co., is the first Korean company to develop thermal fluids in 2022 and is already engaged in the tank-type liquid immersion cooling system business.

In March 2022, the company invested $25 million in Green Revolution Cooling Inc. (GRC) as part of its push to make the immersion cooling system business one of its new growth drivers.

Last year, it partnered with US computer maker Dell Technologies Inc. to commercialize its liquid cooling technology.

Write to Sang Hoon Sung at uphoon@hankyung.com

In-Soo Nam edited this article.