South Korea's refining industry has launched a bid to secure the immersion cooling oil market for artificial intelligence (AI) data centers. Beyond product development, companies are actively preparing for commercialization by conducting demonstrations in AI servers and data centers.
According to related industry sources on the 18th, all four major domestic refiners—SK Innovation, GS Caltex, S-OIL, and HD Hyundai Oilbank—are accelerating immersion cooling oil demonstration projects for AI data centers. As large-scale data centers continue to emerge primarily in North America, efficiently dissipating heat generated by servers has become a key challenge, sparking competition among refiners to commercialize immersion cooling oil solutions.
According to global market research firm Fortune Business Insights, the worldwide immersion cooling oil market size was approximately $361.37 million last year and is projected to reach $447.99 million this year, expanding further to $2.49888 billion by 2034. The compound annual growth rate (CAGR) from this year through 2034 is expected to reach approximately 24%.
Immersion cooling involves submerging heat-generating equipment such as servers and batteries in cooling oil to dissipate heat. Compared to the conventional air-cooling method, it offers higher cooling efficiency and reduced power consumption, thereby lowering spatial and cost burdens. The domestic refining industry has been expanding its business scope into immersion cooling based on technologies accumulated in base oil and lubricant operations.
SK Enmove, a lubricant subsidiary of SK Innovation—the first domestic refiner to enter the immersion cooling business—has partnered with LG Electronics and U.S.-based immersion cooling company GRC. The three companies are conducting demonstrations of an integrated immersion cooling solution for data centers and energy storage systems (ESS) by combining LG Electronics' coolant distribution units (CDUs) and chillers, SK Enmove's immersion cooling fluid, and GRC's immersion cooling tanks. This demonstration is taking place at the AI data center testbed within SK Innovation's Chiller Business Site in Pyeongtaek, Gyeonggi Province.
GS Caltex, which is pursuing entry into the data center business under the GS Group umbrella, plans to lead immersion cooling for data centers. It has signed a memorandum of understanding with GS E&C and SDT to develop technologies linking immersion cooling-type data center design with cooling equipment and is also supplying immersion cooling oil to a demonstration room at LG Uplus' Gyeonggi Puchon 2 Center.
S-OIL recently decided to strengthen collaboration and joint demonstrations of AI data center immersion cooling technology with KTNF, a domestic server development specialist, and Global Standard Technology (GST), an immersion cooling equipment specialist. S-OIL will supply its immersion cooling oil "S-OIL e-Cooling Solution" and take charge of performance analysis and technical consulting. The S-OIL e-Cooling Solution is an immersion cooling oil developed by S-OIL in 2024, designed as a thermal management solution applicable to high-heat environments.
HD Hyundai Oilbank is supplying its dedicated immersion cooling product "Xtier E-Cooling Fluid" to Naver Cloud. Demonstrations are underway at Seoul National University and the Korea Ceramic Technology Institute to verify technical capabilities and stability.
Data center cooling functions are known to directly impact overall facility stability and operational efficiency. This explains why each company is seeking to achieve results through demonstrations and proactively secure customer trust. Development of customized immersion cooling oils for data centers, ESS (energy storage systems), electric vehicles, and other applications continues. An industry executive stated, "Immersion cooling is a new business with expected rapid growth," adding, "We are continuously verifying product stability and compatibility through demonstrations across diverse environments and systems."
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