The explosive growth of AIDCs (Artificial Intelligence Data Centers) is driving a dual transformation in data center thermal management architectures. Under the dual pressure of surging computing power density and the "Dual Carbon" goals, the traditional single cooling mode is no longer sustainable. Developing an "air-liquid collaborative" architecture is no longer an optional choice in technological evolution, but a mandatory requirement for the efficient construction of AIDCs.
1. Evolution and Dimensional Upgrade: The Inevitable Leap from "Air-Liquid Independent-Source" to "Air-Liquid Shared-Source"
Current air-liquid collaborative solutions on the market are mainly divided into two architectural paths based on the cold source configuration: air-liquid independent-source and air-liquid shared-source. The independent-source architecture means the air cooling system and liquid cooling system are completely independent, possessing two sets of outdoor cold sources, two sets of pipe networks, and two sets of control systems. This also implies redundant investment in outdoor cold source equipment, massive footprint, and more complex operation and maintenance. For AIDCs requiring higher density computing power, the shared-source architecture holds more advantages compared to the independent-source one.
Comparison of Air-Liquid Independent-Source and Shared-Source Architectures
Source: Compiled by MIR
2. Integration and Reuse: Cold Source Unification and Three Operating Modes in the Air-Liquid Shared-Source Architecture
Mainstream Air-Liquid Shared-Source Architecture
Image Source: Maxxom
The current mainstream air-liquid shared-source architecture adopts closed cooling towers/dry coolers on the outdoor side, cooling water pipelines on the transmission and distribution side, and the CDU on the liquid cooling side is also connected to the outdoor cold source. The air cooling side (such as in-row air conditioners, dual-coil air walls, etc.) is also connected in parallel to the same cooling water system through the secondary side pipe network, thereby completely breaking the physical barriers of traditional independent air cooling and liquid cooling systems, achieving 100% reuse of the underlying cold source.
In the actual operation of this architecture, to fully reduce the PUE, an innovative dual cold source design of "water coil + fluorine coil" is adopted at the air cooling terminal. In this system, three operating modes—natural cooling mode, hybrid mode, and mechanical refrigeration mode—are intelligently switched according to the outdoor ambient temperature throughout the four seasons.
The natural cooling mode operates only the water coil at low temperatures;
The hybrid mode involves water coil pre-cooling in the transition season supplemented by compressor cooling;
The mechanical refrigeration mode operates the compressor fully at high temperatures, forcing the production of constant-temperature chilled water through the complete mechanical cycle of "compressor work - condenser heat dissipation - evaporator heat absorption" to ensure the cooling demand of the liquid cooling CDU and air cooling terminals.
3. Innovation and Disruption: Maglev Fluorine Pump Multi-Link Architecture Breaks Through the Physical Bottlenecks of Mainstream Solutions
Image Source: Maxxom
Although the current mainstream air-liquid shared-source architecture is mature in deployment, it still faces obvious physical and structural limitations in actual engineering. On the one hand, the dual-coil design leads to extremely high terminal air resistance, increasing fan energy consumption. Moreover, the Integrated Part Load Value (IPLV) of traditional scroll compressors is usually only 6 to 7, presenting an energy efficiency bottleneck under partial loads. On the other hand, bringing water coils into the machine room always carries the risk of liquid leakage damaging equipment. Furthermore, components such as compressors, coils, and fans are scattered and built into each air wall terminal, resulting in numerous maintenance points and complex daily operation and maintenance.
To break through these limitations, the industry has introduced the maglev fluorine pump multi-link terminal architecture. This architecture eliminates the water coil, completely eradicating the risk of water in the machine room, and moves the compressor out, deploying it centrally with the fluorine pump in the air conditioning room to achieve centralized cooling for 3 to 4 air walls via a "one-to-many" connection. This single-coil design reduces fan power consumption by approximately 40%, and the IPLV value of the maglev oil-free compressor leaps to 9 to 12. Thanks to the centralized layout of moving parts, the total system maintenance cost can be reduced by about 60%, and operating electricity costs can be reduced by 30% to 40%. Although the initial investment increases due to the maglev units, the premium cost can typically be recovered within 2 to 3 years, achieving a unity of safety, ultimate energy efficiency, and highly simplified operation and maintenance throughout the full lifecycle.
Comparison of Dual Cold Source Air Wall and Maglev Fluorine Pump Multi-Link Architecture
Source: Compiled by MIR
4. Players and Product Matrix of the Maglev Fluorine Pump Multi-Link Architecture
Haier: Maglev Underlying Empowerment, Building a Full-Scenario Thermal Management Matrix
Founded in 1984 and headquartered in Qingdao, Shandong Province, Haier has accumulated underlying technological expertise in data center thermal management, launching China's first maglev central air conditioner in 2006. In the mid-to-late 2010s, it scaled the introduction of maglev oil-free technology into the primary side cold source market for data centers. With the explosive growth of high-density computing power in AIDCs, Haier officially launched the "Air-Liquid Shared-Source, Maglev Leading" AIDC full-scenario solution from late 2025 to early 2026, deeply integrating the high-temperature water supply capability of maglev hosts with liquid cooling and fluorine pump natural cooling.
In terms of commercial implementation and strategic expansion, Haier's "air-liquid shared-source" and maglev solutions have deeply penetrated core scenarios such as supercomputing, the Internet, and telecom operators, achieving a strategic leap from a single equipment supplier to a full-scenario solution provider.
In the supercomputing field, Haier provides a complete set of cooling solutions, including maglev chiller hosts and natural cooling, for the core node of the National Supercomputing Internet in Zhengzhou, helping the node's PUE drop below 1.20. It has also deployed 27 large-scale 1200RT water-cooled maglev units in a national-level supercomputing center to guarantee top-tier computing power, with the actual measured overall PUE below 1.2. For major Internet companies, Haier customized two sets of maglev dual cold source highly efficient integrated cooling stations for the Shanghai Tencent Qingpu Caoying Cloud Data Center (Room 103 expansion), achieving ultimate energy efficiency in high-density machine rooms. In addition, Haier has won bids for centralized procurement of air conditioners and maglev chillers for data centers of telecom operators such as China Mobile and China Telecom for many consecutive years, maintaining a leading market share in the segmented market.
INVT: Multi-Link Intelligent Control Brain, Creating a Highly Flexible Cooling Solution
Founded in 2002 and headquartered in Shenzhen, Guangdong Province, INVT is a listed domestic enterprise in the fields of industrial automation and energy power. In the field of data center thermal management, INVT officially released the maglev fluorine pump multi-link cooling solution at the CDCC Data Center Standard Summit in November 2025. Compared with previous traditional room-level precision air conditioners and conventional fluorine pump systems, this solution achieves two core leaps: first, the oil-free upgrade of the power core, equipped with a maglev variable frequency compressor, completely eliminating mechanical friction loss and breaking through the partial load energy efficiency ceiling of traditional compressors; second, the multi-link and water-free innovation of the system architecture, adopting a "one-to-many" all-fluorine circuit design, eliminating the water coils and complex water pump pipe networks of traditional chilled water systems. This not only eliminates the safety hazard of "water entering the machine room" but also significantly reduces the number of moving parts on the roof and the complexity of operation and maintenance through the centralized deployment of outdoor hosts. The system deeply integrates variable frequency fluorine pump and evaporative cooling technologies, supporting the intelligent switching of three cooling modes, and is mainly targeted at scenarios with strict PUE requirements such as large and medium-sized data centers, Colo data centers, and cloud computing centers.
In terms of commercial implementation and market expansion, according to INVT's 2025 annual report, its network energy business achieved an operating income of 729 million RMB throughout the year. To adapt to the trend of AIDC thermal management architecture evolving towards "air-liquid shared-source" and "water-free", the company is in the process of a transformation strategy, proactively shrinking traditional low-margin businesses and comprehensively transforming towards AI computing-driven operations. In the market and client side, INVT has successively won bids for precision air conditioner projects at the headquarters of basic telecom operators, and successfully delivered AIDC and containerized data center projects in the Americas, Africa, the Middle East, and other overseas regions. In addition, the company jointly developed liquid cooling systems with some leading Internet enterprises and communication research institutes. Its thermal management and micro-module (Tengzhi Integrated Data Center) solutions have also been successfully implemented in key projects such as the Wuhan "Rail Transit and Anti-Terrorism Dual-Center Smart Brain", accumulating a solid customer base for the scaled application of its innovative architecture in the AIDC market.
Maxxom: Full-Chain Water-Free Design, Developing Prefabricated Agile Delivery
Changsha Maxxom High-Tech Co., Ltd., founded in 2005 and headquartered in Changsha, Hunan Province, is a national high-tech enterprise focusing on data center thermal management and liquid cooling technologies. In the field of data center thermal management, based on its technological accumulation in heat pipe and natural cooling utilization, Maxxom has laid out the "maglev fluorine pump multi-link terminal architecture" solution. Released in May 2026, this solution adopts a system architecture of "cooling tower + liquid cooling + maglev fluorine pump multi-link terminal", deploying maglev compressors and fluorine pumps centrally through a pump cabinet to achieve a "one-to-many" (one host connected to multiple air wall terminals) pipeline design. In terms of technical parameters, the IPLV indicator of its maglev oil-free compressor is 9-12, and the motor efficiency is nominally 98%; the air wall terminal adopts a single-coil water-free design to reduce the risk of water leakage in the machine room. According to its official data, compared with traditional dual cold source solutions, this architecture can improve the annual PUE indicator and reduce subsequent maintenance costs. In addition, the company provides supporting products such as liquid cooling CDUs and proximal air walls, covering the hardware links from the cold source to the terminal.
Conclusion
The continuous iteration of AIDC thermal management architectures aims to actively respond to the dual challenges of increasing computing power density and energy efficiency red line constraints. From "air-liquid collaborative" to "air-liquid shared-source", and then to the emergence of innovative architectures such as "maglev fluorine pump multi-link", the industry is gradually evolving from single equipment stacking to system-level global coordination.
Looking ahead, AIDC thermal management technology presents three core development trends:
First, the system architecture is developing towards "water-free" and "centralized cold source" to significantly reduce the risk of liquid leakage in the machine room and simplify subsequent operation and maintenance;
Second, core cold source components are popularizing towards "maglev", relying on the high energy efficiency advantages of oil-free design to further optimize the Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) throughout the full lifecycle of the data center;
Third, system scheduling is upgrading towards "AI intelligent control", relying on intelligent algorithms to achieve global energy efficiency optimization under dynamic loads.
Driven by the dual forces of computing power demand and thermal management bottlenecks, thermal management enterprises that can take the lead in integrating the full technology stack of "shared-source, water-free, maglev, and intelligent control" are expected to establish significant technological barriers in the construction of AI computing infrastructure, thereby gaining a first-mover advantage in the competition in the green computing power market.