SK Enmove Officially Enters Precision Liquid Cooling Market

SKT Signs MOU with UK Isotop

SK Enmove, SK Telecom, and the UK's Isotop signed a business agreement for collaboration in next-generation cooling and solutions at the MWC event held in Barcelona, Spain. From the left in the photo are David Craig, CEO of Isotop; Jongmin Lee, Head of Future R&D at SKT; and Sanghyuk Seo, Head of e-Fluid B2B Business at SK Enmove, posing next to a server using liquid cooling technology at the SKT exhibition hall. Photo by SK Telecom

SK Enmove is expanding its 'Thermal Fluids' product line and is set to actively target the data center liquid cooling market.

On the 28th, SK Enmove announced that it signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) for collaboration in next-generation cooling and solutions with SK Telecom and Iceotope, a UK-based liquid cooling solutions specialist. The signing ceremony took place at the Mobile World Congress (MWC) in Barcelona, Spain, attended by Seosanghyuk, Head of SK Enmove e-Fluid B2B Business Division, Lee Jongmin, Head of SK Telecom Future R&D, and David Craig, CEO of Iceotope.

Under the agreement, the three companies will cooperate on data center liquid cooling technology. They plan to integrate SK Enmove’s thermal fluids into Iceotope’s liquid cooling solutions and apply them to SK Telecom’s AI data center testbed. Fluids refer to substances that encompass both liquids and gases, characterized by their ability to flow without a fixed shape.

Additionally, each party will analyze the effectiveness of liquid cooling technology tailored to actual AI server operating environments and collaborate on the development of the integrated Coolant Distribution Unit (CDU), a core liquid cooling system currently being developed by SK Telecom.

Liquid cooling uses special thermal fluids that do not conduct electricity to cool servers inside data centers. Compared to air cooling, which dissipates heat through air, liquid cooling can reduce power consumption and operational costs, making it a promising new thermal management method. Representative methods include immersion cooling in tanks and Precision Liquid Cooling (PLC).

SK Enmove plans to develop optimized thermal fluids suitable for various liquid cooling solutions, following its existing fluids for immersion cooling tanks and now targeting fluids compatible with Iceotope’s precision liquid cooling solutions.

According to global market research firm Future Market Insights, the worldwide thermal management market directly utilizing thermal fluids is expected to grow from approximately $330 million (about 440 billion KRW) in 2022 to about $2.1 billion (about 2.8 trillion KRW) by 2032, with a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 21.5%.

SK Enmove entered the thermal fluid development market in Korea for the first time in 2022 and made equity investments in GRC, a US-based immersion cooling tank solution specialist. Last year, it also signed an MOU with Dell Technologies, a US PC manufacturer and IT company, to commercialize immersion cooling technology, accelerating its efforts to lead the data center liquid cooling market.

Seosanghyuk, Head of SK Enmove e-Fluid B2B Business Division, said, "As a leader in thermal fluids, SK Enmove will be able to develop products optimized for data center energy efficiency through this collaboration. Based on this, we will contribute to the activation of the liquid cooling market and solidify SK Enmove’s position as an energy efficiency company."

Lee Jongmin, Head of SK Telecom Future R&D, stated, "In the AI era, data centers will become spaces where various innovative technologies converge. Going forward, we will combine the capabilities of not only SK Telecom but also SK affiliates and various global partners to package and develop them into global AI solutions."

David Craig, CEO of Iceotope, said, "We are pleased to join SK Telecom and SK Enmove in innovating AI data centers. Through this collaboration, we will strengthen Iceotope’s precision liquid cooling solutions and contribute to improving energy efficiency in AI data centers."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.