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The three companies signed an MOU in Seoul to build and test standardized immersion-cooled data center designs. LG adds tanks to a lineup that already runs from chillers to coolant distribution units.
3 min read
LG Electronics chillers for AI data centers, from the company's newsroom. Generic cooling-hardware image; it does not show immersion tanks or the GS E&C and GRC project.
Image: LG Electronics
Source · Press image from the LG Electronics newsroom, used for news reporting.
Seoul, Oct. 13 — LG Electronics, builder GS Engineering & Construction and US immersion specialist Green Revolution Cooling (GRC) signed a memorandum of understanding to develop immersion cooling systems and standardized data center designs for AI, The Korea Herald reports. The partners will test whether the technology is reliable enough for commercial high-performance sites.
Immersion cooling submerges GPUs, CPUs and other hot parts in a non-conductive fluid. Unlike air or cold-plate cooling, it changes the building itself: floor loads, piping, electrical runs and maintenance space all have to be planned around the tanks. The three companies say shared designs are how they intend to solve that.
The roles follow the supply chain. LG brings its air, liquid and immersion cooling technology plus operational data. GS E&C prepares the standardized architectural designs and runs a proof-of-concept testbed covering equipment placement, structural loads, piping and power connections. GRC supplies the tanks and control systems and uses installation and maintenance data to tune performance.
LG already sells high-efficiency chillers and fan wall units for air-cooled halls, and coolant distribution units (CDUs) and cold plates for liquid cooling. Immersion would complete that range. This is LG's second deal with GRC in a year: in October 2025 it signed an MOU with GRC and SK Enmove, which supplies immersion fluids.
Roles under the LG, GS E&C and GRC memorandum. Source: LG Electronics.
Illustration (AI-generated)
No capacity, timeline or customer was announced. Oh Se-gi, head of LG's ES Research Lab, said the company wants an early lead in the AI data center cooling market.
Our read: the useful part of this deal is the builder. Immersion has struggled less on thermal performance than on fitting into buildings designed for air. A construction firm writing standard designs and checking them on a testbed goes at that problem directly.
The market is moving to liquid either way. Recent launches such as Cooler Master's 2.5 MW in-row CDU and Trane and LiquidStack's 2 x 2.5 MW CDU show how much heat direct-to-chip systems now carry. Immersion is competing with those designs for the densest racks.
The weak point is detail. An MOU with no capacity, timeline or customer is a statement of intent, and the first testbed results will be the real news.
GS E&C's testbed is the next step. The partners have not said when it will run or when the first standardized design will be offered to customers.
Source: The Korea Herald, Refindustry.
