Zero Water for Cooling
Beginning in August 2024, Microsoft launched a new datacenter design that optimizes AI workloads and consumes zero water for cooling. By adopting chip-level cooling solutions, we can deliver precise temperature control without water evaporation. This design will avoid the need for more than 125 million liters of water per year per datacenter.
Project Natick
Experience Microsoft's experimental underwater datacenters in virtual reality. Get a closeup look at the inner workings of these energy-efficient and hyper-reliable storage capsules, and then ride shotgun as Natick descends to the ocean floor.
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DNA Storage
This project uses advances in manufacturing, manipulating and reading DNA molecules to enable molecular-level data storage in synthetic DNA molecules. Microsoft and University of Washington researchers continue to explore DNA as a high-density, durable, sustainable and eternally relevant storage medium.
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Quantum Computing
Quantum computing presents unprecedented possibilities for solving society's most complex challenges. Microsoft is committed to responsibly turning these possibilities into reality for the betterment of humanity and the planet.
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Project Silica
Project Silica leverages recent discoveries in ultrafast laser optics to store data in quartz glass. It is the first-ever technology designed and built from scratch for the cloud. It consumes no power when idle and is the most durable storage medium, lasting many thousands of years.
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Hydrogen Fuel Cells
In a global first, Microsoft used hydrogen fuel cells to run a row of datacenter servers for two straight days. This is the latest step in the company’s commitment to phase out traditional diesel fuel for datacenter backup power by 2030.
Slashing Carbon Emissions
Microsoft has developed a wood datacenter approach using cross-laminated timber, or CLT, a fire-resistant prefabricated wood material that will enable the company to reduce the use of steel and concrete. The model is estimated to significantly reduce the embodied carbon footprint of two new datacenters by 35 percent compared to conventional steel construction, and 65 percent compared to typical precast concrete.
The InnovationRoom
Microsoft is at the forefront of cloud innovation. The company continually seeks to improve the security, reliability and sustainability of datacenters to better serve customers and meet growing global demand for cloud computing and digital services.
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Introducing the AI Assistant
You can ask the AI assistant questions about how we design, build and operate our datacenters with innovations around security, reliability, and sustainability.
This assistant uses AI and may contain mistakes. Please verify referenced source material as needed.