LG Electronics has obtained official certification from NVIDIA for its high-capacity CDU (Coolant Distribution Unit), a core facility in artificial intelligence data center (hereinafter AI DC) cooling solutions. By completing a full product range covering liquid cooling to dissipate heat from AI semiconductors and thermal management across entire data centers, LG Electronics is positioning itself to lead the cooling solutions market.
On the 22nd, LG Electronics announced that its 2.5MW (megawatt)-class CDU has received certification under NVIDIA’s AI Factory Infrastructure Certification Program as a 'DSX Ready CDU.' An AI factory is a data center designed to manage and create value across the entire lifecycle of AI models, including training and inference.
NVIDIA is building the 'DSX AI Factory Platform,' which integrates computing, networking, power, cooling, facilities, and software for unified design and operation. The DSX Ready program verifies products that meet design criteria to help AI DC operators select appropriate infrastructure. For CDUs, the target includes high-capacity units of 2.3MW or more required for building AI factories.
The initial certification targets include CDU and BESS (Battery Energy Storage System). LG Electronics joined early certified companies in the CDU sector alongside LiquidStack and Vertiv. LG Energy Solution also secured certification in the BESS category. Thus, two subsidiaries of the LG Group have simultaneously received official validation from NVIDIA in the core infrastructure areas of AI DC cooling and power.
Previously, LG Electronics obtained NVIDIA’s specification approval for its 600kW (kilowatt)-class and 1MW-class CDU products in July and this month, respectively. With the additional acquisition of DSX Ready certification for the 2.5MW-class CDU, it has now completed a full lineup of liquid cooling products capable of addressing AI DCs of various scales.
With rapid advancements in AI semiconductor performance driven by recent adoption of NVIDIA’s Blackwell architecture-based AI accelerators, power density per server rack is rising to several hundred kilowatts. In response, the 'In-Row' method, which groups multiple server racks into rows and cools them simultaneously using high-capacity CDUs, is gaining attention over the previous low-capacity 'In-Rack' approach that installed CDUs individually per rack.
LG Electronics’ 2.5MW-class CDU, which has received NVIDIA’s specification approval, is a product well-suited to implement In-Row cooling for high-density, high-heat AI DCs. The capacity of the latest AI server racks is approximately 120kW; grouping them into cooling units of about 20 racks results in a total capacity of around 2.4–2.5MW. Thus, the 2.5MW class has become the standard for high-capacity CDUs.
Through NVIDIA’s specification approval for its 2.5MW-class high-capacity CDU, LG Electronics has completed its full lineup of cooling solutions responsible for thermal management in AI DCs.
LG Electronics now secures a complete product range from traditional HVAC facilities such as high-efficiency chillers that produce large volumes of cold water and computer room air handlers (CRAH), to the core component of liquid cooling, CDU, covering small-capacity 600kW, medium-capacity 1MW, and high-capacity 2.5MW models. Additionally, it has established a total 'Chip to Chiller' solution that includes cold plates for directly cooling chips, which are key components in AI DC thermal management.
Based on this, LG Electronics plans to expand its market penetration by providing customized total solutions optimized for the diverse requirements of AI DC operators. Market research firm TrendForce projected that the adoption rate of liquid cooling solutions in AI DCs will rise rapidly from 14% in 2024 to approximately 60% by 2027.
Lee Jae-seong, President and Head of LG Electronics’ ES Business Division, emphasized: “With this NVIDIA DSX specification approval, we will begin actively supplying more reliable and efficient cooling solutions to global big tech companies and secure leadership in the next-generation liquid cooling market.”
in INDUSTRY
