Driving Sustainable HPC Through Strategic Innovation

More than half of all current and planned data center capacity globally is being built or financed by hyperscale cloud providers. In Europe alone, data centers accounted for about 3% of the continent's electricity use in 2024, and demand is set to nearly triple by 2030. This surge is colliding with rising energy costs and increasingly strict EU climate policies, such as the European Green Deal, the Energy Efficiency Directive, and new reporting requirements under EU Delegated Regulation 2024/1364 – all compelling cloud providers to cut carbon emissions, recycle heat, and accelerate progress toward climate-neutral operations.

In response to these challenges, French cloud provider Qarnot launched a strategic collaboration with MiTAC Computing in 2021 to deliver a greener HPC cloud infrastructure. MiTAC supplied OCP AMD-based servers engineered for efficiency and resilience under advanced cooling, powering Qarnot's Heat Recovery Solution – a decentralized HPC infrastructure that recovers and reuses the heat generated by compute workloads.

Together, the two companies are offering industries such as aerospace, energy, automotive, and finance a new model for HPC: one that combines performance, sustainability, and cost-efficiency. This collaboration not only helps organizations manage rising energy and compliance pressures, but also shows how joint innovation can accelerate Europe's transition to a climate-neutral digital economy.

Overcoming Integration Challenges for Custom HPC Deployment

A key challenge was integrating high-performance servers into Qarnot's proprietary direct water-cooling and heat recovery system. To support this model, Qarnot required OCP AMD-based servers with high thermal design power, flexibility and suitability for high-performance workloads—hardware few vendors could provide. MiTAC Computing was the only partner able to deliver this combination, making it a natural fit for the project.

Adapting MiTAC's Capri Standard servers, originally built for air cooling, demanded close technical collaboration. MiTAC engineers reworked thermal safety controls, customized firmware, and optimized cabling to ensure stable performance at up to 400W per server sled. The company also offered procurement flexibility, allowing Qarnot to source only the components needed for a cost-efficient rollout of 132 servers across a 100-kW site.

This joint effort turned a complex integration into a successful deployment, laying the foundation for scalable, sustainable HPC clusters.

From Servers to Sustainable Heat: The QBx Architecture

© 2025, Qarnot Computing. Used with permission

To tackle the energy waste typical of traditional data centers, Qarnot pioneered a distributed model that places high-performance computing clusters directly at sites where their heat can be reused—such as district heating networks, swimming pools, and industrial facilities.

Each cluster integrates MiTAC Capri server sleds with Qarnot's patented direct water-cooling system. A closed-loop circuit circulates water through copper pipes, capturing up to 95% of the processors' thermal output via passive heat exchangers. The heated water, reaching 65°C, is then reused locally for heating—without compromising computing performance or wasting water.

Impact At a Glance

© 2025, Qarnot Computing. Used with permission

Scaling Innovation: From Paris to Pan-European HPC Deployment

Building on the success of two proof-of-concept sites in Southern Paris, Qarnot is adapting its infrastructure to accommodate the shift to next-generation 2U2N OCP form factors and featuring MiTAC OCP solutions, ensuring readiness for future deployments across Europe.

In Italy, a new 100 kW QBx system deployment is planned to grow into a 2 MW installation supporting the country's banking sector. In France, discussions are underway to open new, larger-scale sites to meet growing performance and sustainability needs.

These initiatives reflect the strength of the partnership and its potential to deliver scalable, energy-efficient HPC solutions across diverse industries and geographies. Together, Qarnot and MiTAC Computing are providing an innovative blueprint for industries across Europe to meet rising compute demands while achieving climate and compliance goals.