Seoul National University Partners with Databean and HD Hyundai Oilbank for AI Lab Immersion Cooling Pilot December 24, 2025 As the demand for high-performance computing in artificial intelligence research intensifies, traditional air-cooling methods are increasingly proving inadequate, leading universities and enterprises to explore more efficient thermal management solutions. This shift is critical for sustaining the intensive workloads of AI model training while managing energy consumption and operational disruptions. In a move to address these challenges, Seoul National University (SNU) has entered a strategic partnership with immersion cooling system provider Databean and energy company HD Hyundai Oilbank. The parties signed a memorandum of understanding this month for a validation project at SNU's AI research laboratory. The initiative, scheduled for deployment in early 2026, aims to mitigate persistent issues caused by the lab's existing air-cooled servers, specifically disruptive fan noise and excessively high internal temperatures that have hampered research activities. Under the agreement, SNU will provide the data center facility and GPU hardware. Databean will install its SmartBox immersion cooling system, a solution based on Open Compute Project (OCP) specifications. The SmartBox units offered can host between 21U and 42U of equipment, delivering cooling capacities from 50kW to 100kW. For smaller-scale needs, Databean also provides a 6U variant, the SmartBox Red, with a 7kW cooling capacity. HD Hyundai Oilbank will supply its proprietary dielectric fluid, branded X Teer E-Cooling Fluid, and offer technical support and maintenance services. An official from HD Hyundai Oilbank framed the project's broader significance, stating, "The project will demonstrate the viability of applying immersion cooling systems in small-scale server infrastructure such as an AI lab or smart factory." The official added, "We will continue to expand our validation projects to lay the ground for our entry into the large-scale data center cooling market." The collaboration signals a growing trend of academic institutions partnering with industry specialists to pilot next-generation cooling technologies. For HD Hyundai Oilbank, which launched its cooling fluid brand last year and counts Naver Cloud as a customer, the project is a strategic step into the competitive data center thermal management sector. For Databean, founded in 2016 with a client roster including Samsung and the Korea Institute of Energy Research, the partnership with a prestigious university serves as a significant validation of its technology in a demanding research environment. The pilot's success could influence cooling strategies for other university labs and small-to-medium edge computing deployments, promoting immersion cooling as a viable solution for noise-sensitive and heat-intensive environments beyond large-scale hyperscale data centers. Source: datacenterdynamics
Seoul National University Partners with Databean and HD Hyundai Oilbank for AI Lab Immersion Cooling Pilot
