SemiQon raises €17.5m to develop cryo-CMOS technology for quantum computers

• Finnish quantum startup SemiQon has raised €17.5 million ($18.3m) to support the development of cryogenic CMOS (complementary metal-oxide semiconductor) technology.

• Spun out from the VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland, SemiQon has been developing cryogenic CMOS (cryo-CMOS) transistors in an effort to reduce the amount of expensive control electronics infrastructure required to build quantum computers.

• SemiQon unveiled its first cryo-CMOS transistor optimized for cryogenic conditions, designed to operate at temperatures of 1 Kelvin or below, in November 2024. As well as quantum applications, the company said the chips could be used in high-performance computing (HPC) or space applications.

• The startup says it uses existing CMOS infrastructure to produce its transistors, reducing the energy consumption and costs associated with mass production.

SoftBank Corp., ZutaCore and Foxconn collaborate

• SoftBank Corp., ZutaCore and Hon Hai Technology Group (“Foxconn”) have implemented ZutaCore's two-phase DLC (Direct Liquid Cooling) technology in an AI server using NVIDIA accelerated computing, making it the world’s first implementation of ZutaCore's two-phase DLC (Direct Liquid Cooling) technology using NVIDIA H200 GPUs.

• In addition, SoftBank designed and developed a rack-integrated solution that integrates each component of the server, including cooling equipment with two-phase DLC technology, on a rack scale, and conducted an operational demonstration and performance evaluation at its data center in February 2025.

• The demonstration results indicated the solution passed NVIDIA's temperature test (NVQual), thereby confirming the compatibility, stability and reliability of this rack-integrated solution. The solution also achieved pPUE (partial Power Usage Effectiveness) of 1.03 (actual measured value) per rack for cooling efficiency.

• Features of rack-integrated solution optimized with two-phase DLC technology：1. Plug & Play solution；2. Innovative 2-phase DLC cooling system；3. AI server with guaranteed compatibility, stability and reliability；4. Versatile and scalable rack for high-density placement of AI servers.

Submer launches data center business, plans first facility in Barcelona

• Liquid cooling specialist Submer has expanded its remit and moved into building data centers. Its first facility will be in Barcelona, Spain.

• The company this week announced the launch of two new business units: a design & construction unit and an operations & AI-as-a-service (AIaaS).

• The design & construction unit will build liquid-cooled data centers to support high-density and AI workloads, whilst the operations & AIaaS unit will provide vertically integrated infrastructure for enterprises.

• Founded in 2015 by Daniel Pope and Pol Valls Soler, Submer has historically provided indoor and outdoor single-phase immersion cooling pods and larger-scale containerized pods.

• In early September last year, Submer signed an agreement with UK colo firm Stellium Datacenters to deploy its immersion cooling solution at its data center campus in Newcastle.

Modine scores $180m contract from new AI data center customer

• Power and cooling company Modine has been awarded a $180 million contract for 'Airedale by Modine' cooling systems from a new AI infrastructure customer.

• The products will be manufactured at Modine's factories in Rockbridge, Virginia, and Grenada, Mississippi, with delivery to the unnamed customer expected throughout 2025 and the first half of 2026.

• Modine acquired Airedale in 2005, with the company now one of the largest end-to-end cooling solutions providers in the data center industry.

• In its latest quarterly earnings report, the company said that data center revenue increased by 176 percent year-over-year, for both cooling and power infrastructure.

Nvidia quietly acquires AIOps firm Augtera Networks

• GPU giant Nvidia has quietly acquired AIops firm Augtera Networks. First reported by Rethink Research, the California-based network monitoring company, was acquired by Nvidia in December 2024.

• Augtera is to become a part of Nvidia’s Spectrum-X networking product portfolio. Augtera’s website now redirects to Nvidia.

• Founded in 2016, Augtera had previously secured around $18 million in seed and Series A funding, with backers including Bain Capital Ventures, Acrew Capital, Intel Capital, and Dell Capital. Its last funding round was in June 2021.

• The company provided AI-based tools to automate network operations – its network monitoring technology provided anomaly detection, failure prevention, and real-time network visibility.

UTokyo IPC invests in GPU cloud company Ubitus

• GPU cloud company Ubitus has received funding from the University of Tokyo's investment wing, UTokyo Innovation Platform.

• Ubitus will use the funding to expand its GPU cloud and data center business in Japan to be able to handle petabyte-scale workloads. The data centers will also host Nvidia Blackwell GPUs.

• The company said that, due to the higher industrial electricity rates in Japan and space constraints, the company is prioritizing energy-efficient facilities for its data centers and is exploring establishing a Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV) to manage its data center assets.

• Launched in 2012, Ubitus specializes in cloud and AI services and is headquartered in Tokyo, Japan. The company originally focused on cloud gaming solutions but pivoted to also focus on AI in 2024.

• The company also partners with cloud service providers, including Amazon Web Services, Google Cloud, and Azure, to give customers access to advanced GPU resources, and is a member of the Nvidia Connect program.

Schneider Electric launches R&D data center in Massachusetts

• Schneider Electric has launched a new R&D data center in Massachusetts.

• The new labs are a part of €2.26 billion ($2.4 billion) investment that the company made globally in 2024 to support research and development.

• Schneider said the new spaces will enable researchers to test fully functioning microgrids under real-world conditions, allowing it to better design and deliver microgrids for its customers.

• The new 6,000-square-foot Power Distribution Unit (PDU) laboratory contains three testing bays and allows researchers to test the company’s high-powered voltage systems. The data center lab also features high-voltage test stations and 3D-printing stations.

• The microgrid lab has already reportedly helped Schneider with the deployment of several microgrids, including JFK Airport’s New Terminal One project and Bimbo Bakeries’ facilities in California.

Sharon AI and New Era Helium acquire 200 acres in West Texas for natural gas-powered data center

• Sharon AI and New Era Helium have acquired land outside Odessa in Texas for a natural gas-powered data center.

• The two companies this week announced they have signed a letter of intent (LOI) with Grow Odessa to acquire a 200-acre site in Ector County in West Texas for the development of a 250MW AI/HPC data center that will be powered via natural gas from New Era.

• Founded last year, Sharon AI is a high-performance computing company focused on AI cloud GPU compute infrastructure. The company has Nvidia L40S, H100, and AMD MI3000X GPUs at Equinix and NextDC data centers as well as custom-built Modular Data Centers (MDCs).

• Sharon and New Era announced a joint venture to develop a natural gas data center in November that was finalized last month.

• However, after the companies expanded the planned capacity of the data center from an initial 90MW to 250MW, the joint venture instead identified multiple sites in the Permian Basin that could provide access to New Era’s natural gas while situating the data center near existing fiber optic cable and associated infrastructure.

• Sharon AI announced a business combination agreement with the Roth CH Acquisition Co. SPAC last month to “create a leading specialized AI/HPC infrastructure platform.”

Meta targets sites for $200bn AI data center campus

• Meta could invest up to $200 billion in a new AI data center campus in the US.

• They have informed data center developers about the project, with Louisiana, Texas, and Wyoming all under consideration as possible locations.

• CEO Mark Zuckerberg said last month that Meta plans to bring around 1GW of compute online this year, and expects to field a fleet of more than 1.3 million GPUs by the end of 2025.

• The company already has plans for Louisiana, with a $10 billion data center campus in the works for the state’s Richland Parish which will offer 2GW compute capacity at full build-out.

Edged launches first phase of 96MW Chicago data center campus

• Data center firm Edged has launched a new data center in Chicago, Illinois.

• The company this week launched the first of three facilities at its 96MW Aurora campus. The two-story ORD01-1 offers 24MW across 210,000 sq ft (19,510 sqm).

• Located on 65 acres at 2835 Bilter Road, the site is equipped with a waterless cooling system from Edged's sister company ThermalWorks. The company said the modular system supports densities of up to 70kW per rack with air cooling and 200kW per rack with plug-and-play liquid cooling integration.

• It currently has data centers either operating or in development in Madrid and Barcelona in Spain; Lisbon, Portugal; and across the US, including Missouri, Arizona, Texas, Georgia, Iowa, Ohio, and Illinois.

Apple plans new AI server factory as part of $500bn US manufacturing push

• Apple is building a new factory in Texas to make AI servers and plans to expand its data centers as part of a $500 billion commitment to US manufacturing.

• The 250,000 sq ft (23,225 sqm) facility will be built in Houston, Texas, and employ “thousands” of people, the company said, and make the servers needed to run Apple Intelligence, the tech giant’s AI service.

• Apple will work with Taiwanese firm Foxconn, which manufactures the iPhone, on the new factory. According to the New York Times, last year Foxconn purchased a parcel of land next to an existing warehouse it owns in Houston, which will likely serve as the location for the new facility.

• The company’s investment in the US also includes a pledge to expand its existing data centers in North Carolina, Iowa, Oregon, Arizona, and Nevada, as well as a “multi-billion dollar commitment” to manufacture chips at TSMC’s Fab 21 facility in Arizona.

• The company’s investment in the US also includes a pledge to expand its existing data centers in North Carolina, Iowa, Oregon, Arizona, and Nevada, as well as a “multi-billion dollar commitment” to manufacture chips at TSMC’s Fab 21 facility in Arizona.