5 Notable Data Center Links, May 16 2025
Ford Launches Energy Subsidiary, CME and Silicon Data Plan Compute Futures Market
Each week I curate 5 links from the data center sector that I find particularly interesting, with my commentary on why they merit your attention.
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5 Notable Data Center Links
Ford Launches Energy Subsidiary to Provide BESS for Data Centers - Automaker Ford Motor Company launched an energy subsidiary to provide battery energy storage systems (BESS) for data centers, utilities and large industrial customers. Ford Energy’s flagship product will be a 20-foot containerized battery energy storage system designed around 512 Ah LFP prismatic cells, with a liquid-cooled thermal management system. Shares of Ford gained 20% over two days following the announcement, reflecting broader market enthusiasm for AI (see our pieces on the Fervo and Cerebras IPOs). “The convergence of data center growth, renewable energy integration, and grid resilience requirements has created a gap in the market,” Ford said in its announcement. “That is the gap Ford Energy is built to fill.”
CME Group and Silicon Data Launch Compute Futures - GPUs have become valuable assets for compute, and now for finance as well. The CME Group and research firm Silicon Data say they plan to launch the first compute futures market later this year, pending regulatory review. The contracts would allow traders and stakeholders to manage volatility and price risk associated with the market for GPUs. “The launch of compute futures is an important step toward giving AI builders, cloud providers and investors more reliable tools for valuation, hedging and long-term planning as demand for compute continues to accelerate," said Carmen Li, Chief Executive Officer of Silicon Data. This is an intriguing initiative, advanced by veteran trading executive Don Wilson of DRW, the parent of Silicon Data.
Liquid Cooling Specialist Iceotope Raises $26 Million - There’s been lots of investment and M&A in the liquid cooling sector as soaring rack densities boost adoption of high-density cooling. This week Iceotope closed a $26 million Series B round of investment, and will use the funds for product development and accelerating partnerships that will bring its technology to market. "We've spent years developing a robust, differentiated IP portfolio and products purpose-built for AI infrastructure, and we’re ready to scale at precisely the moment the industry demands more advanced, sustainable cooling technology,” said Simon Jesenko, CEO and CFO of Iceotope. “The opportunity ahead – both directly with customers and through our partner ecosystem – is significant."
Gridcare Raises $64 Million to Unlock Grid Capacity (Latitude) - The fastest route to power is getting better utilization out of the grid we have. One of the startups showing promise in this effort is Gridcare, which we profiled last month for its efforts unlocking 400 MWs of power in the Portland General Electric service area (Hillsboro market). This week the company raised $64 million in an oversubscribed Series A funding round from a combination of tech and energy investors.
Community Resistance Meets Data Center Expansion Head-On (DCK) - Public resistance to data center development is intensifying, overwhelming industry efforts to change the narrative. Yes, there’s tons of misinformation, and it’s kind of depressing. It’s increasingly clear that data centers will be a significant political issue in the midterm elections. That said, I’ve seen no evidence that protesters are boycotting the online services that live in data centers. This DCK piece features a revealing hockey-stick graph showing the growth of Facebook groups created to combat data center projects. There’s a pretty clear disconnect here, and our society will need to grapple with this eventually. In the meantime, there’s a pressing need to build better data centers, for the planet and for communities. That’s the effort I’m seeking to chronicle in our coverage here at Data Center Richness. Stay tuned, as there’s lots happening on this front.
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