Data center and energy firm Tidal NRG wants to build a helium-based cooling system for AI racks.

It has signed a deal with Innov8 Gases, a gas specialist, which will see the two companies co-develop next-generation cooling technologies based on helium.

California-based Tidal has also entered into a long-term helium offtake agreement and will make a minority equity investment in Innov8 Gases.

According to the two companies, Helium's high thermal conductivity, low viscosity, and inert properties offer major performance advantages over water or air, delivering greater energy efficiency and long-term sustainability.

"This marks a major advancement in sustainable digital infrastructure," said Chad Swensen, CEO of Tidal NRG. "Helium allows us to improve cooling efficiency while eliminating environmental tradeoffs that threaten the scalability of AI computing."

Helium is not widely used as a coolant in data centers, though hard drive operators have been injecting it into their products, instead of air, for the last decade to help improve HDD storage capacity and efficiency.

Alan Gaines, executive chairman and co-founder of Innov8 Gases, added: "AI's exponential growth demands transformative solutions. This partnership positions us to lead a new era in data center thermal management."

Tidal NRG is a new venture aiming to build hyperscale data centers for AI and HPC workloads. Founded by Swensen, an entrepreneur with a background in fintech, in June it announced a partnership with another firm, Texas Energy Group, with the aim of co-developing data centers in Texas.

Details of when and where these data centers might be built, whether the company has any land, and who will foot the bill, have not been disclosed, but on its website, Tidal claims to have access to 1.5GW of power.