SK Lubricants invests $25 million in liquid cooling company GRC

Industry

Published: 30 Mar. 2022, 17:03

SK Lubricants invests $25 million in liquid cooling company GRC

From left: SK Lubricants' head of Lubricants Biz and New Biz Development department Kim Wone-kee, SK Lubricants CEO Cha Gyu-tak, GRC CEO Peter Poulin and GRC's Chairman of the board of directors Derek Gordon pose for a photo to celebrate the investment on Tuesday at SK Lubricants Americas headquarters in Houston. [SK LUBRICANTS]

SK Lubricants invested $25 million in liquid cooling system company GRC for an undisclosed stake, aiming to become a thermal management solution provider.

Texas-based GRC is a company that specializes in liquid immersion cooling, or using liquid solutions as a coolant to decrease the temperature of data centers. SK Lubricants' stake in GRC was not disclosed due to the company's request.

Following the investment, both companies will work together to develop immersion coolants and cooling systems for data centers. SK Lubricants' base oil will be used to make the coolants.

Compared to the air cooling method — using fans and circulating cold air to cool data centers — liquid immersion cooling lowers data center power usage by 30 percent, according to SK Lubricants. This lowers carbon emissions, and the company hopes it will help it acquire emission credit permits from the government to legally produce emissions.

“The market for high density data centers is expected to grow rapidly as the artificial intelligence, virtual reality and self-driving industries gain traction,” said Cha Gyu-tak, CEO of SK Lubricants. "I believe this equity investment in GRC will maximize cooperation between the two companies and help us be a leading company in the market while helping us grow into a liquid-based thermal management solution provider."

BY LEE TAE-HEE [lee.taehee2@joongang.co.kr]