Alphabet’s Google introduced Brazos, a rack-mounted liquid-to-air cooling system designed for high-density AI and HPC data centers.

Key Highlights

  • Brazos supports up to 60 kW of nominal thermal load per rack across three cooling units.
  • AI and HPC chips now routinely exceed 1,000 W thermal design power.
  • Each Brazos modular chassis occupies 11 Open Units in OCP ORv3 racks.
  • The system operates on 40 to 60 V DC input and supports remote monitoring through Modbus over TCP.

Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) said Google has developed Brazos, a rack-mounted, closed-loop liquid-to-air cooling system for artificial intelligence and high-performance computing infrastructure.

The system is designed to help operators deploy liquid-cooled equipment inside existing air-cooled data centers. Google said Brazos is generally available, with manufacturing suppliers prepared to support broader industry production of the design.

Brazos addresses rising heat density from next-generation AI and HPC chips, which routinely exceed 1,000 W thermal design power. Standard air-cooling systems may be insufficient for these loads, while facility-level chilled water upgrades can require significant capital spending and long installation timelines.

The cooling platform is designed for one-rack-at-a-time deployment. It separates the internal liquid loop serving IT equipment from the facility water supply, allowing high-density cooling without a full data center retrofit.

Google described Brazos as a self-contained liquid system. It captures heat at the component level and rejects it into the hot aisle through liquid-to-air heat exchangers.

The system includes three cooling units and integrated rack manifolds. It is built for Open Compute Project ORv3 form-factor racks and is intended for facilities with adequate power and standard air handling capacity.

Each modular chassis uses 11 Open Units of rack height. Across three units, Brazos supports a nominal 60 kW thermal load per rack.

The system can run on deionized water or a 25% propylene glycol mixture. It uses 40 to 60 V DC power input designed to connect with standard rack busbars.

Safety features include leak detection, pressure relief valves and certification to UL, CSA and IEC 62368-1 standards. Local monitoring is handled through a built-in human-machine interface, while remote management uses Modbus over TCP.

Google said the mechanical design is intended to improve field serviceability. The chassis sits on low-friction slides, while pumps and fans are hot-swappable field-replaceable units.

The company said it plans to open-source Brazos technical specifications, design principles and visual assets through industry forums in the coming months.