An exciting new material called LK-99 is positioned to transform the economics of operating data centers. Recently a team of researchers reported developing the first-ever superconductor that works at room temperature and normal atmospheric pressure. Previous room temperature superconductors required impractical conditions like extremely high pressures. LK-99’s unique structure allows it to exhibit superconductivity at readily achievable temperatures and pressures.
This breakthrough could soon allow data centers to employ superconducting components and dramatically improve their energy efficiency. Superconductors can transmit electricity without any losses or heat generation. Installing superconducting cables, interconnects, computing components, and cooling systems could potentially slash data center energy consumption and cooling needs. Some experts theorize even “room temperature” superconducting processors and server racks may eventually be possible, eliminating cooling requirements entirely.
For data center operators, these innovations would translate into significantly lower electricity and cooling expenses. One of the biggest costs of running a data center is powering and cooling the thousands of servers, storage arrays, networking switches and other equipment needed to host customer workloads. Superconductors could minimize waste heat production in this equipment, reducing the huge costs associated with keeping data centers chilled.
Customers who rent colocation space stand to benefit too. With reduced overhead costs, data center providers could offer lower pricing for colocation services. The savings realized from superconductors may also enable data centers to pass on lower power costs directly to customers, especially those running high-performance computing clusters or bitcoin mining rigs.
While further research is still needed, room temperature superconducting materials like LK-99 offer tremendous potential for making data centers far more energy efficient and cost effective. If these technologies can be commercialized, they could truly revolutionize the economics and environmental footprint of the world’s information infrastructure. Data center operators, colocation customers, and the planet will be watching anxiously to see how this technology develops.
