The Korea Research Institute of Chemical Technology will develop next-generation cooling materials with SK Innovation's Institute of Environmental Science and Technology, in a research partnership aimed at curbing the surging electricity use of artificial intelligence data centers.
The two institutions signed a memorandum of understanding on research cooperation in energy solution materials and technologies at the institute's headquarters in Daejeon on the 15th, the chemical research institute said on the 16th.
Under the agreement, they will jointly pursue national research and development projects in AI data centers and electrification, develop materials for thermal management, cooling and heat dissipation, create high-efficiency and eco-friendly material technologies for power infrastructure, and exchange researchers and technical information.
In particular, the two sides are planning research that combines AI with chemical materials technology to identify two-phase refrigerants. Machine learning will be used to predict the thermal and physical properties of candidate refrigerants and screen promising substances, which will then be synthesized and purified for evaluation of key properties such as thermal conductivity and latent heat.
The partners are targeting a phased R&D program that ultimately demonstrates cooling performance, power usage effectiveness (PUE) and long-term operational reliability in a 500-kilowatt-class AI data center environment. Starting with the AI-based discovery of new two-phase refrigerants, the work will move on to optimizing refrigerant synthesis and purification processes and verifying performance at the server and rack level.
"By combining our research capabilities in refrigerants and thermal management materials with SK Innovation's R&D experience in the energy field, we will secure core original materials technology that can transform the power efficiency of AI data centers," said Shin Seok-min, president of the chemical research institute. Kim Pil-seok, head of SK Innovation's Institute of Environmental Science and Technology, said: "Responding to the rapid growth of AI data centers requires integrated technological innovation spanning refrigerants, materials and cooling systems. Through cooperation with government-funded research institutes including KRICT, we will move preemptively to secure next-generation energy solution technologies and work to apply them at actual industrial sites."
