Mumbai : Vertiv (NYSE: VRT) and IIT Bombay have announced a strategic collaboration to develop advanced cooling solutions for AI-driven data centers—at a time when India’s digital infrastructure is expanding at an unprecedented pace. With 54% of Indian businesses already adopting AI in some form and GPU power consumption rising sharply from 700W in 2022 to an expected 1,200W in 2025, the pressure on data-center cooling systems has never been greater. This partnership aims to build solutions that address these fast-evolving thermal demands while creating a pipeline of industry-ready engineering talent.
The partnership brings together Vertiv’s global engineering strength—supporting mission-critical infrastructure in 130+ countries and maintaining a 56% market share in the U.S.—with IIT Bombay’s research leadership. The MoU, signed by Prof. Shireesh Kedare, Director, IIT Bombay, and Mr. Subhasis Majumdar, Managing Director, Vertiv India, reinforces their shared commitment to enhancing India’s digital capabilities in line with the Make in India and Aatmanirbhar Bharat vision.
Speaking about the collaboration, Dr. A.S. Prasad, Vice President – Product Management and Engineering, Vertiv, said, “At Vertiv, we design and deliver critical power and cooling infrastructure for some of the world’s largest data centers and telecom networks. With decades of real-world experience keeping mission-critical systems running 24×7, we are happy to collaborate closely with Professor M.V. Rane from the Department of Mechanical Engineering, IIT Bombay, one of India’s foremost experts in refrigeration and thermal systems. By combining IIT Bombay’s deep scientific insights with Vertiv’s global engineering expertise and our real-time learnings from thousands of operating data centers, this collaboration will help prepare the next generation to be better equipped with industry-relevant knowledge. This is how we ensure that tomorrow’s thermal engineers, data center architects, and technology leaders carry both academic excellence and industry intuition in their DNA.”
Commenting on the partnership, Prof. Shireesh Kedare, Director of IIT Bombay, said, “Our collaboration with Vertiv enables us to take research from labs to solutions with direct industrial relevance. As AI and high-performance computing systems evolve, there is a pressing need for approaches that are both technically robust and future-ready. This initiative offers our students and researchers the opportunity to work at the intersection of innovation and real-world application. Because when industry brings real-world experience, and academia brings fearless curiosity, the result is always greater than the sum of its parts.”
At the core of the collaboration is IIT Bombay’s patented Rotating Contacting Disk (RCD) technology, which reduces air-side pressure drops, lowers fan power consumption, and enhances water use efficiency (WUE). The RCD-based evaporative precooling system can improve Power Usage Effectiveness (PUE) by 15-30% and operates effectively with recycled or treated wastewater, offering a sustainable alternative to conventional chillers.
The project begins with Vertiv designing a dry cooler for a 40 kW liquid cooling load. The RCD module will be integrated and tested at IIT Bombay’s Heat Pump Laboratory, followed by full-scale evaluation at Vertiv’s Pune facility. The system will later serve as a demonstration unit at IIT Bombay, providing students with hands-on exposure and enabling further research into the economic and environmental benefits.
Together, Vertiv and IIT Bombay aim to set a benchmark for industry-academia collaboration—fueling innovation, advancing India’s digital growth, and preparing engineers for the demands of an AI-powered future.
