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Digital Realty has announced the selection of its Woking facility by Imperial College London. This collaboration marks the UK’s inaugural installation of a direct liquid-cooled (DLC) high-performance computing (HPC) system.
This advancement is part of Imperial's long-term strategy to establish world-class research infrastructure, underpinning work in AI, climate science, healthcare, engineering, and fundamental research. It supports Imperial’s position as a Tier 3 HPC university environment in the UK.
The foundation for this initiative was laid years ago with the ICICLE (Imperial College Intel Corporation Lenovo) programme, which fosters partnerships aimed at developing energy-efficient HPC and AI solutions. As 2026 approaches, the initiative has been brought to fruition, leveraging Digital Realty’s facilities for handling high-density, liquid-cooled workloads.
At the heart of Digital Realty’s AI-ready centre in Woking, the new HPC platform integrates liquid-cooling solutions from Lenovo. This design enhances compute performance while aligning with Imperial’s energy-efficiency targets.
Beyond infrastructure upgrades, the initiative includes additional features and capabilities. It seeks to empower Imperial’s researchers to manage advanced AI models, expedite data-heavy simulations, and accelerate the translation of scientific insights into real-world applications, from drug discovery to climate modelling.
The partnership mirrors the wider trend of integrating sophisticated data centre solutions into national research agendas. As AI and simulation work demand increased compute density and efficiency, the alliance held demonstrate how infrastructure providers can offer competitive advantages to research institutions.
Completed from a July 2025 contract signing to a Q4 2025 operational handover, the project involved complex structural reinforcements and the installation of liquid-cooling infrastructure. It further underscores Digital Realty’s capability to deliver high-intensity AI deployments efficiently.
This collaboration with Imperial and Lenovo demonstrates a model for AI infrastructure in the UK, combining research capabilities, technological tools, and energy-efficient approaches.
