Infosys & ExxonMobil Join Up to Scale Immersion Cooling Tech

The energy demands of AI are fast becoming one of the defining infrastructure challenges of the decade.

Now, two seemingly unlikely partners are taking aim at making the operation of AI data centres more energy-efficient with a new way to cool computers.

Infosys, the Indian IT and consulting giant, and ExxonMobil, the US oil and gas major, have announced an expanded collaboration to develop and deploy liquid immersion cooling systems for AI and high-performance computing (HPC) data centres.

The initiative, announced on 12 February, will make use of a special kind of immersion fluid owned by ExxonMobil.

The dielectric liquid (meaning a liquid which does not conduct electricity and prevents discharges) is designed to cool server hardware by submerging it.

This method, should it work at scale, could help to dispense with the energy-intensive air conditioning systems that currently dominate the world of data centres.

For oil giant ExxonMobil, this renewed collaboration with Infosys represents a conscious diversification of its product portfolio, at a time when hydrocarbons are being phased out and digital infrastructure is in high demand.

What Infosys brings to the table

Infosys is contributing two of its core platforms to the initiative.

Infosys Topaz – the company's Gen AI-focused suite of services and platforms – will be used to optimise cooling operations in real time, handling predictive maintenance and dynamic energy management across data centre environments.

Infosys Cobalt, which provides cloud infrastructure and deployment services for enterprise clients, will underpin the rollout of these cooling solutions at scale, handling integration across cloud and on-premises data centre environments.

The pairing of AI-driven operational intelligence with cloud-based deployment infrastructure reflects a broader shift in how large technology service providers are positioning themselves: not merely as integrators of third-party tools but as active participants in the engineering of the underlying infrastructure.

The case for immersion cooling

In order to function properly, data centres cannot be allowed to overheat. The most common method of cooling these facilities is by using industrial-size chillers and air conditioning units, which generally consume huge amounts of energy.

In fact, temperature regulation can account for anywhere between 40-50% of the energy consumption of data centres, according to Iceotope.

However, immersion cooling technologies, which are emerging as genuine alternatives, can be far more efficient.

For AI workloads in particular, which rely on densely packed GPU clusters running at high sustained power densities, the case for immersion cooling has grown considerably stronger as chip thermal design power continues to rise.

Ashiss Kumar Dash, EVP & Global Head for Services, Utilities, Resources, Energy & Enterprise Sustainability at Infosys, sees his firm's collaboration with Exxon terms of measurable outcomes rather than aspirational targets.

"Our expanded collaboration with ExxonMobil marks a pivotal step in scaling next-generation solutions," he says.

"By leveraging Infosys Topaz for real-time AI-driven optimization and Infosys Cobalt for secure, scalable cloud deployment with ExxonMobil's advanced energy expertise, we are addressing the urgent need for more efficient high-performance digital infrastructure.

"This collaboration has the potential to deliver measurable outcomes by reducing data centre energy costs and carbon emissions, while empowering enterprises to scale responsibly and meet the demands of an AI-powered future."

ExxonMobil's foray into digital infrastructure

For ExxonMobil, the venture into data centre cooling is a notable extension of its traditional chemicals and lubricants business.

The company's Product Solutions division, which manufactures synthetic fluids and specialty chemicals, has been positioning its thermal management products as a solution to the data centre's power problem for some time now.

Alistair Westwood, who is Global Marketing Manager at ExxonMobil's Product Solutions wing, sees the firm's work with Infosys as a new means of applying the team's expertise.

"This collaboration reflects our commitment to innovation by allowing us to apply our energy and thermal management expertise to the evolving landscape of digital infrastructure," he explains.

"Infosys' suite of AI and digital services is enabling us to pilot and adopt infrastructure that is smarter, efficient, and more resilient."

The collaboration is targeting a broad set of potential clients, including hyperscalers, global enterprises and public sector organisations across financial services, telecoms, manufacturing, energy and government.

The market context

The announcement comes at a moment of intense commercial interest in immersion cooling.

In 2026, a growing number of vendors, whether start-ups or established players like Vertiv and Schneider Electric, are jostling for position in what analysts expect to fast become a multi-billion-dollar market.

Whether the Infosys-ExxonMobil collaboration can move quickly enough to capture a meaningful share of that market will depend in part on the pace of adoption.

Neither company disclosed financial terms of the expanded collaboration, nor provided specific performance targets or timelines for commercial deployment.

What is clear is that the partnership represents an attempt to bridge two industries, energy and digital infrastructure, whose futures are increasingly entangled, as the power consumption of AI workloads forces data centre operators to reconsider the fundamental engineering assumptions on which their facilities were built.