Castrol's ON PG25 and PG25T direct-to-chip cooling fluids have been validated to meet NVIDIA's requirements for AI factory and data centre infrastructure, Castrol said Aug. 18. The fluids sit in Castrol's direct-to-chip cooling portfolio, which circulates fluid through cold plates fitted to components such as CPUs and GPUs to manage heat that air cooling alone struggles with as AI and high-performance computing pack more processing power into data centres.
What NVIDIA reviewed
The validation followed a technical review of corrosion resistance, thermal stability, dilution-water quality, propylene glycol base-fluid purity and compatibility with the metals, plastics and seals that contact fluid inside a liquid-cooling system. NVIDIA's review also weighed Castrol's business and global supply-chain resilience.
A closed loop
PG25 runs in a closed-loop system, circulating continuously without exposure to the atmosphere. Castrol said this limits evaporative water loss and improves the water usage effectiveness of AI factory infrastructure.
Peter Huang, Castrol's global president of thermal management and data centres, said the NVIDIA inclusion gives customers "added confidence" in the fluids' performance and in Castrol's ability to provide consistent global support. He called it a step toward making liquid cooling "a dependable part of AI factory design and operation." Sung A. Kim, Castrol's data centre global technology manager, said every thermal management fluid goes through rigorous testing before release, and the NVIDIA validation confirms PG25 (OAT) and PG25T (IAT) meet that bar at the scale of today's AI infrastructure build-out.
Global reach
Castrol's thermal management business, part of the bp group, sells data centre cooling fluids under the Castrol ON brand in the US, Europe, the Middle East, China, Australia and Southeast Asia.
