Seoul National University (SNU) in South Korea will test immersion cooling.

HD Hyundai Oilbank, SNU’s College of Engineering, and immersion cooling system operator Databean this month signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) for an AI infrastructure immersion cooling validation project.

Under the MoU, immersion cooling will be deployed at SNU’s AI research lab early next year for testing purposes.

The lab is facing “disruption to research activities caused by fan noise and high internal temperatures generated by air-cooled servers,” and so is looking to address the issue with immersion cooling.

SNU will offer the data center and GPUs, Databean will install its SmartBox immersion cooling system, and HD Hyundai Oilbank will supply the immersion cooling fluid and provide technical support and maintenance services.

“The project will demonstrate the viability of applying immersion cooling systems in small-scale server infrastructure such as an AI lab or smart factory,” an HD Hyundai Oilbank official said. “We will continue to expand our validation projects to lay the ground for our entry into the large-scale data center cooling market.”

Based on OCP specifications, Databean’s SmartBox can host from 21U to 42U of equipment and offer cooling capacities ranging from 50kW to 100kW. The company also offers a smaller variant, known as SmartBox Red, which offers 6U of space and 7kW of cooling.

Founded in 2016, Databean’s customers include Samsung, Korea Institute of Energy Research, and Gasoliq.

HD Hyundai Oilbank launched its immersion cooling fluid brand, X Teer E-Cooling Fluid, last year. Naver Cloud is a customer.