Here’s what we’re looking at today:

• Google partners with Hugging Face to boost opensource AI development

• Aligned launches new liquid cooling solution, DeltaFlow

• Big Deals: New guys at CalEthos look to bring dc innovation to Imperial County, TSMC reaches a deal with AZ union, AirTrunk looks for a buyer

• Check this out: Flying cars, AWS down south, AI as a service

Est. read time: 4mins 20secs

Google Cloud announces partnership with AI depository ‘Hugging Face’

Google Cloud has hooked up with AI model repository Hugging Face to enhance the accessibility of AI development tools.

Partnership with HF

The collab will allow developers utilizing Hugging Face's platform to build, train, and deploy AI models without needing a Google Cloud subscription.

This initiative provides cost-effective access to Google's high-end computing resources, including TPU and GPU supercomputers.

As part of this partnership, Hugging Face users will gain access to Google Cloud’s Vertex AI, an AI app-building platform, and Kubernetes engine, both instrumental in training and fine-tuning AI models. This integration is scheduled to become available in the first half of 2024.

A notable feature of this partnership is the inclusion of Nvidia's sought-after and export-restricted H100 GPUs.

Boilerplate quote here: “Google Cloud and Hugging Face share a vision for making generative AI more accessible and impactful for developers,” said Google Cloud CEO Thomas Kurian in a statement Thursday.

HF

Initially launched as a chatbot app in 2017, Hugging Face has evolved into a comprehensive open-source data science and machine learning platform. It’s now the most prominent hub for AI experts and enthusiasts, likened to a GitHub for AI.

This video is a pretty good rundown of what Hugging Face is.

One of the key features of Hugging Face is its Transformers library, a Python package that includes open-source implementations of transformer models for text, image, and audio tasks.
This library is compatible with major deep-learning libraries like PyTorch, TensorFlow, and JAX. It offers over 350,000 models, making it highly accessible.

Valued at approximately $4.5 billion, Hugging Face has attracted significant investment, raising $235 million in the last year alone, with contributions from the big boys like Google, Amazon, and Nvidia.

Hugging Face aims to bring AI development closer to end users, and Google Cloud is trading compute power to facilitate that in exchange for becoming the preferred destination for HF training.

Aligned launches new liquid cooling system, DeltaFlow

Aligned Data Centers has introduced DeltaFlow, described as a novel liquid cooling solution designed for the high-density compute environments of next-generation data centers.

DeltaFlow

With up to 300kW per rack and described as a turnkey solution, DeltaFlow supports both current and future liquid cooling technologies such as direct-to-chip, rear-door heat exchangers, and immersion cooling.

Andrew Schaap, CEO of Aligned - “Aligned has been a leader and innovator in data center cooling for more than a decade. Providing customers the ability to scale seamlessly across rising rack densities is intrinsic to our data center designs…”

The new system extends Aligned’s “ExpandOnDemand” strategy by allowing customers to adapt and scale according to changing computing environments, irrespective of their applications, density requirements, or cooling solutions.

The integration of DeltaFlow with Aligned's existing air-cooled Delta³ technology ensures easy transition and compatibility, eliminating the need for significant changes in power delivery or data hall temperatures.

More cool…

Aligned's current Delta³ system, unlike traditional cooling methods, works by extracting heat directly from the air expelled from server racks. This system efficiently rejects up to 350kW of heat within a four-foot array, accommodating rack densities of up to 50kW.
This approach significantly enhances the cooling efficiency in data centers.

Last year we covered Stack’s launch of its liquid cooling system, which also supports 300kW or higher per rack with immersion cooling. CyrusOne also launched a liquid cooling system marketed for high-density workloads à la AI and machine learning.

- Big Deals -

CalEthos wants to put 300MW of clean compute in Southern California

CalEthos, a new data center firm, has announced plans for a 300MW data center campus in Southern California.
The million square foot facility will be on an 80-acre site in Imperial County and be surrounded by geothermal power plants. 

They’re in phase two of the project now. Phase one was assembling their executive team (replete with industry heavy hitters), completing a feasibility study with data center design juggernauts HDR, and figuring their power out with ZGlobal.

The big pitch is: they’re going to use geothermal power to make the facility sustainable, and their southern Cal location offers low-latency connectivity.

 Read more here

TSMC reaches deal with AZ unions

Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. (TSMC), undertaking a $40 billion manufacturing project in Phoenix, (the largest foreign investment in the state’s history) has finalized a labor agreement with the Arizona Building and Construction Trades Council.

Delayed to 2025 due to skilled worker shortages, TSMC's Arizona chip factory sparked controversy over its workforce strategy, with accusations of favoring foreign labor.

The U.S. construction sector, facing a 10.3% rise in job openings, struggles to attract new talent. The TSMC deal will bring advanced semiconductor technology to the region. It includes commitments to local hiring, worker training, safety transparency, and regular meetings to assess workforce needs, marking progress for Arizona's labor landscape.

Read more here

AirTrunk wants to sell the whole biz for $7.9B

Currently attracting attention from private equity and digital infrastructure investors, AirTrunk is expanding, with new data centers underway and its first Malaysian facility, JHB1 in Johor Bahru, set to be completed this year.

Founded in 2015, AirTrunk, an Australian data center operator, has expanded its presence in the APAC region with hyperscale facilities in Australia, Japan, and Singapore.

After a consortium led by MAM acquired a majority stake in 2020, AirTrunk announced over half a gigawatt of new capacity development in the Asia Pacific and Japan between 2021 and 2023.

Despite IPO plans announced last October, with Goldman Sachs and Macquarie Capital as potential lead managers and an estimated value of $6.4 billion, a sale, as reported by Bloomberg, could be imminent. Macquarie declined to comment on the speculation, and AirTrunk has not responded to information requests.

Read more here

What’s more

That’s it. Thanks for reading.

Let me know what you think by replying to this email. Also, sharing it with someone who loves data centers helps too.

- Taylor