NetworkOcean deployed a GPU-powered floating datacenter in San Francisco Bay powered by solar panels after pivoting away from underwater data center concepts.

A San Francisco startup claims to have become the first company to run customer AI workloads from a floating data center powered by solar panels. NetworkOcean has operated a single Nvidia H100 GPU powered by a 20kW solar array in a trial deployment in San Francisco Bay. The customer using the GPU has not been disclosed.

The system consists of 12 floating solar panels linked to a shipping container housing the GPU server. Footage released by the company shows the panels and container arrangement on a vessel at sea.

Founded in 2024 by Sam Mendel and Eric Kim, NetworkOcean is a Y Combinator spin-out that originally pursued underwater data centers before pivoting to floating systems powered by solar energy. The company's initial underwater data center proposal encountered permitting challenges in the Bay Area.

CEO Mendel outlined the company's rationale on LinkedIn, stating: "Our future is bottlenecked by the speed at which we can deploy power. We're building floating solar arrays powering data centers at sea. This will soon be the fastest way to deploy new compute, skipping years of land, grid connections, and traditional infrastructure delays."

The company achieved the transition from design to operational deployment in 53 days. Mendel added: "This will soon become the quickest way to deploy new power, powering the most efficient and sustainable data centers on the planet."

NetworkOcean's roadmap includes deployment of a 1MW array at sea next year, with ambitions to reach 1GW of total compute capacity by 2030.