Best Practices for Implementing Efficient Cooling in AI-Ready Data Centres

With rapid technological advancements in the digital space, AI data centres are key to facilitating activities ranging from entertainment and digital banking to machine learning applications. Data centre services, like ours at STT GDC India, enable the smooth functioning of these activities. With the rise in demand, one of the biggest challenges we face is ensuring efficient data centre cooling that balances sustainability along with performance.

Why Cooling Matters More in AI-Ready Data Centres?

With advancements in AI, the workloads associated with training new models and conducting GPU heavy activities produce and consume an exorbitant amount of power. New generation AI servers are more powerful compared to legacy servers; thus, cooling in data centres has become a critical concern. Without proper data centre cooling, the excessive heat generated, could lead to catastrophic hardware failures, performance depreciation and a steep rise in costs.

Best Practices for Efficient Cooling

•   Airflow Containment and Optimisation

Efficient data centre cooling systems depend on careful airflow management. By preventing the mixing of hot exhaust air with cold intake air, energy is used more effectively. This, combined with broader thermal management techniques, reduces waste and stabilises performance.

•   Modularity and Scalability

With each passing day, contemporary AI data centres in India are choosing modular cooling in data centres. Depending on the demand, scaling up can prevent over-provisioning and lower the overall upfront cost.

•   Sustainability Integration

Sustainability and efficient data centre cooling go hand-in-hand. It’s best to put them to work when it comes to practices such as sourcing of renewable energy for chillers, recycling of water, use of sustainable materials and in achieving certifications like LEED or IGBC.

High-Density Liquid Cooling Solutions

SWith AI workloads increasing in India, it is imperative for data centre services to employ efficient as well as scalable liquid cooling for data centres solutions. Recognising the limitations of traditional approaches, we have turned to advanced solutions such as direct-to-chip cooling and immersion cooling, even at high rack densities.

Intelligent Layout & Airflow Management

From strategic rack placement and containment systems to sealing and blanking panels and integrating advanced AI infrastructure cooling across our data centres in India, we utilise intelligent layout and airflow management across our campuses to deliver sustainability and efficient data centre cooling at scale.

Adaptive/Advanced Cooling Technologies

We employ a number of adaptive cooling technologies to meet our data centre cooling needs. These include the following:

• Direct-to-Chip Cooling - For AI racks at very high-power densities, direct-to-chip liquid cooling becomes a great option as a data centre cooling solution. This system sends coolant directly to either GPU and CPU, expelling heat more efficiently for a faster, more stable system while decreasing noise and energy and water consumption.


• Direct-to-Chip Cooling - For AI racks at very high-power densities, direct-to-chip liquid cooling becomes a great option as a data centre cooling solution. This system sends coolant directly to either GPU and CPU, expelling heat more efficiently for a faster, more stable system while decreasing noise and energy and water consumption.


• Rear Door Heat Exchanger - Also known as RDHX, these units are installed at the back of the server racks and prevent the heat from entering the data centre’s main airflow. These units can be operated in active and passive modes and are equipped with fans that deal with higher heat loads with great flexibility.


• In-Row Cooling - When using in-row cooling as a solution, dedicated cooling units are placed directly in the server rack row or between them to pull out hot exhaust air, before it dissipates into the server room, and pushes cool air to the racks, thereby controlling the temperature.

Sustainability and Energy Efficiency

We are among the first operators of data centres in India to adopt sustainable and efficient liquid cooling systems. Pioneering the use of immersion cooling technologies, we are exploring sustainable upgrades in the form of direct-to-chip solutions while harnessing the advantages of a hybrid approach by utilising energy-efficient infrastructure, smart AI-powered cooling controls, green and sustainable cooling practices, and a scalable, AI-ready design.

New and upcoming AI-ready campuses designed with modular cooling, leveraging AI and machine learning to monitor and cool continuously, using renewable sources of energy, and tailored phased modular designs depending on demand are a few of the ways that we reinforce our commitment to being a green data centre.

Our Pune Innovation Lab plays a key role in testing and validating new data centre cooling systems before they are deployed at scale. This ensures that every investment in data centre services not only supports present workloads but also builds a foundation for sustainable, AI-ready growth.

The Role of Partnerships and Future Innovation

Pivotal to our approach towards data centre thermal management, we collaborate with tech providers, research institutes and experts in sustainability and efficiency for innovation and cutting-edge solutions for AI infrastructure cooling requirements. With the growth of AI and high-performance computing imminent, future innovation on scalability, sustainability and efficiency through collaboration remains a priority for us.

Cooling has always been at the heart of reliable operations, but for AI data centres it is now mission critical. India’s climate adds urgency to the challenge, making the adoption of advanced data centre cooling systems and liquid cooling for data centres more important than ever.

At STT GDC India, this transition is already under way. From deploying immersion cooling technologies to refining airflow management, we are focused on building sustainable, efficient, and scalable solutions. Our Pune Innovation Lab continues to guide innovation, while our partnerships ensure that we remain ahead of emerging requirements.

Looking ahead, broader adoption of advanced thermal management and liquid cooling data centre solutions will shape the future of the industry. For us, the goal is clear: to strengthen our data centre services while contributing to a greener, more resilient digital ecosystem.