AirTrunk Partners with Emergence Quantum to Explore Cryogenic Cooling in Data Centers

AirTrunk has announced a partnership and memorandum of understanding with deep tech company Emergence Quantum to explore the deployment of cryogenic cooling and quantum computing capabilities within data centers, in a move that could reshape how the industry approaches thermal management and next-generation compute infrastructure.

The collaboration is part of AirTrunk's broader ambition to build data center infrastructure that is quantum-ready and capable of embedding cryogenic cooling into overall campus designs. The two companies noted that cryo-cooling can significantly improve the speed and energy efficiency of today's silicon computer chips and is foundational to future computing systems, including quantum.

The partnership aims to combine deep expertise in cryogenic computing, thermal engineering, quantum technologies, data center architecture, and real-world techno-economic models that can validate the performance opportunities for cryo-data centers. By bringing together these disciplines, the companies intend to demonstrate that operating chips at extremely low temperatures is not only technically feasible but commercially viable at data center scale.

Jose Castaneda, Vice President for Innovation and Intelligence at AirTrunk, said: "We are continuously redefining data centers with cutting-edge technologies that improve performance, efficiency, and sustainability. This partnership with EQ challenges the status quo and is a great example of how data centers can act as broader enablers of innovation in our communities."

Founded in 2018, AirTrunk operates and is developing data center campuses in Sydney and Melbourne in Australia, as well as in Singapore, Hong Kong, Johor in Malaysia, and Tokyo and Osaka in Japan.

Professor David Reilly, Co-founder and CEO of Emergence Quantum, added: "It's been understood for decades that computers run significantly faster and more efficiently in the cold, but there are challenges and costs to cooling that have so far limited this approach to niche applications. The scale of data centers and the tiny size of transistors today change all that — the cryo-computing epoch has arrived."

Emergence Quantum was founded last year as a research and development company by University of Sydney academics and is focused on integrated cryogenic electronics and quantum computing. Professor Thomas Ohki, Co-founder and CTO of Emergence Quantum, added: "For us, cryogenic data centers are an inevitable reality — this cooling technology is needed for high-speed efficient silicon chips, superconducting logic, and ultimately quantum computing. All flavors of qubits need cryogenics one way or another."

The partnership reflects a growing trend of quantum computing hardware being deployed in colocation and commercial data center environments. To date, most quantum computers have been hosted in labs, enterprise sites, or facilities operated by quantum companies. However, a growing number are starting to be deployed in colocation spaces. UK quantum computing company Oxford Quantum Circuits has previously installed a quantum computer at an Equinix facility in Tokyo, and in Centersquare's LHR3 facility in Reading, UK. Orca, another UK quantum firm, has deployed its hardware in Digital Realty's new liquid cooling lab in London. Australian quantum startup Diraq has partnered with Equinix to deploy a quantum computer at a data center in Sydney.

Beyond quantum computing, research is also being conducted into using cryogenic cooling for non-quantum hardware. Studies running CMOS chips at very low temperatures using liquid nitrogen cooling have shown the potential for increased performance and power efficiency, suggesting that cryogenic techniques could eventually benefit conventional silicon-based workloads as well.