Data center startup Ultrascale Digital Infrastructure (UDI) is partnering with Cargill around the latter’s immersion cooling fluid.

US food company Cargill has developed a plant-based immersion cooling fluid known as NatureCool 2000.

Currently in stealth mode, UDI is developing immersion-cooled data centers. No details about any planned data centers from UDI have been announced.

“At Ultrascale, we’ve proven that liquid immersion cooling is the most high-performing, cost-efficient, and sustainable solution for data center operations, but incorporating Cargill’s NatureCool 2000 immersion cooling liquid with Ultrascale’s patent-pending cooling technology will transcend the industry to a higher level,” said Arnold Magcale, founder and CEO of UDI.

“Our team is excited to work with Cargill’s diverse group of dedicated scientists and we’re proud to partner with a trailblazing company that continues to innovate - as it builds on a nearly 160-year history of pioneering international success."

Announced in 2022, NatureCool 2000 is a dielectric liquid designed for immersion cooling systems such as those in data centers and crypto mining facilities, as well as other industrial applications. It's made from at least 90 percent vegetable oil, and designed to replace fluids derived from petroleum.

“Cargill has a unique position to supply the world with value-added, nature-derived chemistries, but it is through partnerships like the one with Ultrascale, as an expert in this industry, that we truly bring solutions to life,” added Javi McGuiggan, global power systems director for Cargill's Bioindustrial business.

“Ultrascale has shown an extraordinary commitment to improving energy efficiency in data centers by adapting their technology as they incorporate our unique, new-to-market, plant-based fluid. We are eager to showcase the results from this alliance to the data center industry and prove that bio-based solutions are key in their path to success.”

Founded last year, UDI is led by Arnold Magcale, who was a director of data centers at colo pioneer Exodus Communications in the late 1990s. He also founded Nautilus and was its CTO until he left for UDI.

Using a mix of “proven” tech “patent-pending” designs, UDI says its data centers will use vertical immersion cooling within a standard rack footprint and rack-door heat exchanger (RDHx) technologies. This will help it achieve densities of 150kW per rack – able to cope with chips with 1,000-watt TDPs or higher – and a PUE of 1.03, UDI claims.

The announcement with Cargill says UDI’s waterless 52U rack design is capable of cooling more than 300kW per rack.

According to CrunchBase data, the company has raised $1.6 million in seed funding to date.

UDI has previously announced partnerships with Legrand’s USystems and Lonestar Data Holdings.