LG Electronics CEO Lyu Jae-cheol says that more efficient cooling could help AI data centers devote more of their limited electricity supply to computing, as the company expands its cooling infrastructure business.
In a Forbes article published Monday, Lyu said increasingly powerful AI chips were putting pressure on data centers' electricity, water and space resources, making conventional measures of energy efficiency insufficient.
One widely used measure, power usage effectiveness, compares a data center's total electricity consumption with that of its computing equipment. But Lyu said operators must also consider how well cooling systems adapt to new hardware and local resource constraints.
"Cooling can make a meaningful difference, not only by reducing its own energy consumption, but also by making more power available for AI computing," Lyu wrote on LinkedIn Tuesday.
For LG, this presents a business opportunity as demand grows for equipment capable of cooling increasingly powerful AI servers.
The company is developing integrated systems that coordinate chillers, coolant distribution units and other equipment. Its Data Center Cooling Manager, which uses digital twin technology to optimize operations, delivered energy savings of up to 40 percent in company testing, according to Lyu.
Earlier this month, LG signed a long-term agreement with US-based AIR Control Concepts to supply chillers for North American AI data centers with more than 5 gigawatts of capacity. The contract's value was not disclosed.
LG also plans to invest 150 billion won ($113.3 million) in cooling equipment production in the US and South Korea, including a new Virginia factory expected to begin production in the first half of 2027.
The expansion comes as LG seeks to grow its business-to-business operations beyond consumer electronics. On Oct. 7, the company reported preliminary third-quarter operating profit of 781.8 billion won, up 13.5 percent from a year earlier, on revenue of 23.83 trillion won, up 8.9 percent.
LG has yet to disclose how much its AI data center cooling business contributes to earnings. The company is set to release detailed third-quarter results on Oct. 28.
mjh@heraldcorp.com