Direct-to-chip liquid cooling dominates high-density AI data center architectures

Christopher Leonard (Schneider Electric) explains that direct-to-chip liquid cooling has become the dominant architecture for high-density AI data centers.

• Main announcement: The article argues that direct-to-chip liquid cooling paired with dense electrical power delivery is the de facto architecture for high-density AI workloads; it emphasizes integrated power-and-thermal platforms, references Coolant Distribution Units (CDUs), manifolds, and rear door heat exchangers (RDHx) as concrete system elements, and was published on January 29, 2026.
• Background and details: The piece is an explanatory/technical analysis that details closed-loop CDU operation, the need for pump redundancy, heat exchanger margin, and telemetry to correlate power draw with flow and ΔT; it recommends prioritizing economized (non-chiller) heat rejection, and discusses retrofit and design considerations for rack-level manifold and PDU routing.