LG Electronics qualified its 2.6-megawatt coolant distribution unit as Nvidia DSX Ready on 22 September, following infrastructure qualification of its 600-kilowatt and 1-megawatt models, the company said. The larger unit meets additional requirements for cooling equipment used in Nvidia’s AI factory infrastructure.
Key points
- LG puts the DSX Ready unit’s capacity at 2.6 MW; Aju Press reports 2.5 MW.
- Nvidia’s DSX Ready category covers CDUs rated at least 2.3 MW, Aju Press reported.
- LG’s smaller 600-kW and 1-MW units previously received infrastructure qualification.
- LG says TrendForce projects liquid cooling’s share of AI chips to grow from 14 percent in 2024 to about 60 percent by 2027.
LG’s 2.6-MW unit meets DSX requirements
The qualification places LG’s larger unit on the Nvidia DSX AI Factory Marketplace. LG says the unit meets Nvidia’s applicable reference design requirements and functional requirements for the platform, which spans computing, networking, power, cooling, facilities and software. The 600-kW and 1-MW models had completed infrastructure qualification; LG identifies additional DSX Ready requirements for the 2.6-MW model.
Aju Press reported that Nvidia approved LG’s 600-kW unit in July and its 1-MW unit in September. The publication put the newly qualified unit’s capacity at 2.5 MW, rather than the 2.6 MW stated in LG’s release. It reported that Nvidia’s DSX Ready designation for coolant distribution units applies to systems rated at least 2.3 MW for AI factory deployments.
A coolant distribution unit moves liquid through cold plates that draw heat from CPUs and GPUs, then transfers that heat to a data centre’s cooling infrastructure. LG says its larger unit is designed to handle the heat produced by clusters of high-density AI servers. The company describes a move towards centralised, megawatt-class units as server rack power density reaches hundreds of kilowatts.
Aju Press gave an example of about 20 Nvidia GB200 NVL72 racks, each rated at roughly 120 kW, creating cooling demand of around 2.4 to 2.5 MW. It reported that LG’s larger CDU is intended to cool groups of racks rather than individual racks.
LG builds out Chip-to-Chiller cooling
LG’s Chip-to-Chiller range covers equipment at different stages of the cooling process. The company lists chillers, computer room air handlers and liquid cooling products for removing heat from AI servers and rejecting it from the data centre facility. Its CDUs sit between the cold plates at the processors and the wider cooling infrastructure.
The company says, citing TrendForce, that liquid cooling penetration for AI chips is expected to increase from 14 percent in 2024 to approximately 60 percent by 2027. James Lee, president of the LG Eco Solution Company, described the Nvidia qualification as reinforcing LG’s position as a “first mover” in next-generation liquid cooling.
The cooling qualification sits alongside other LG Group work on AI infrastructure. AI Affairs previously reported LG Electronics’ partnership with Microsoft across data centres, enterprise tools and physical AI. Separately, LG Energy Solution’s battery energy storage system received Nvidia DSX Ready qualification. Aju Press also reported the battery approval alongside the CDU qualification.
