A US startup is building AI data centers that float in the open ocean, generate their own electricity from waves and cool their chips with seawater.
A US startup called Panthalassa is developing floating data centers that operate in the open ocean, powered entirely by wave energy and connected to the world through satellite links rather than undersea cables. The company, a public-benefit corporation based in the Pacific Northwest, has spent close to a decade building the technology and is now moving toward commercial deployment.
The concept addresses two of the biggest problems facing artificial intelligence infrastructure: the enormous amount of electricity these systems consume and the heat their chips generate. Land-based data centers increasingly face opposition from communities concerned about electricity costs, noise and water use. Panthalassa’s answer is to move the entire operation out to sea, where it says wave energy is available around the clock and cold seawater provides natural cooling.
How Panthalassa’s Wave-Powered Data Centers Work
Each Panthalassa unit is a large floating structure that generates power directly from the motion of ocean waves. The company’s chief executive and co-founder, Garth Sheldon-Coulson, has described the system as working like a floating hydroelectric dam.
As the structure rises and falls with the waves, water is forced up through an internal tube and into a chamber at the top of the unit. From there, the water is pushed through a turbine, and the spinning turbine generates electricity. In engineering terms, the design is known as an overtopping wave-energy converter, in which wave action fills a reservoir above the surrounding sea level and the resulting pressure difference drives the turbine.
The cooling system is designed to be equally self-contained. When the units go commercial, the computing hardware will be housed in sealed containers with cold seawater circulating around them. The company selected this design because the surrounding ocean absorbs the heat from the chips naturally, removing the need for mechanical cooling systems or large fans.
Data does not travel back to shore through cables. Instead, the platforms transmit their computing results using low-Earth-orbit satellite networks, allowing them to operate far from land as self-contained units with no anchors or cables connecting them to the seabed.
The Ocean-2 Prototype Off the Washington Coast
The company’s progress centers on a full-scale prototype called Ocean-2, which has been undergoing testing off the coast of Washington state.
The prototype is large. Reports describe a tall steel tower, roughly 60 to 70 metres long, that sits mostly submerged beneath the surface, topped by a bulbous head that floats above the waterline. The structure is built from thick steel coated with zinc or aluminium to resist rust, and the company expects the units to last at least 15 years.
During recent trials in the Puget Sound area, the unusual floating object drew public attention, with some observers reporting what they believed was an unidentified floating object before local news identified it as Ocean-2. The prototype was deployed for a multi-week trial to validate its electricity generation and satellite communications. Panthalassa has said the unit was designed so that marine life would not be disrupted or caught in the system, and that the prototype was monitored throughout the trial.
Ocean-2 follows earlier prototypes named Ocean-1 and Wavehopper, which were tested in sea trials in 2021 and 2024.
Panthalassa has attracted significant investment. The company raised around $140 million in a funding round led by technology investor Peter Thiel, reflecting the growing appetite for new energy sources to meet the demands of artificial intelligence.
The company is preparing to deploy its next-generation pilot series, called Ocean-3, an autonomous, self-propelled platform designed to power a modular AI data center. Testing of Ocean-3 is intended to demonstrate live AI processing at sea and refine the manufacturing process ahead of commercial systems, which the company plans to bring into operation in 2027.
Significant obstacles remain. The ocean is a harsh environment, and the platforms will need to withstand storms, salt spray and constant motion over many years. Saltwater corrodes equipment, storms can turn routine maintenance into major operations, and the continuous movement places stress on hardware. For the plan to succeed, Panthalassa will need to demonstrate that each unit can keep running for years in these conditions without frequent human repair. The company says it is developing autonomous systems built specifically for harsh ocean conditions to address those concerns.
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