Liquid-cooled SSDs are being deployed in AI data centers to address thermal dissipation constraints.

Solidigm has launched a new liquid-cooled enterprise SSD to address thermal management challenges in AI data centers, as announced at Nvidia's GTC conference last week. The D7-PS1010 eliminates the need for fans traditionally required for data center storage devices and enables fully liquid-cooled AI servers. Solidigm worked with Nvidia to overcome eSSD liquid-cooling challenges, particularly hot-swappability and single-side cooling constraints—two capabilities now incorporated into the new D7 line.

At GTC 2025, Solidigm demonstrated the first 9.5mm cold-plate-cooled SSDs, with a 15mm form factor also available to provide flexibility for air-cooled server and storage systems. According to Kevin Noh, co-CEO of Solidigm, "The combination of an innovative Solidigm E1.S SSD and liquid cold-plate kit – both first-to-market innovations – deliver significant benefits in thermal efficiency while maintaining data center grade serviceability."

Roger Corell, senior director of AI and leadership marketing at Solidigm, framed the solution against pressing data center constraints. "Power and cooling are the top challenges facing AI data centers," he said, noting that as "GPUs continue to run faster and faster and power available to data centers becomes more challenging," liquid cooling of all server components is essential. The new solution extends liquid cooling to storage while maintaining enterprise-grade serviceability through hot-swappability, addressing what Corell described as "real-world pain points" for data center engineering teams.

Industry analyst James Zhao from Omdia suggested this could establish a "potential new standard" for cold-plate liquid cooling systems. While liquid cooling has been mainly applied to high-power chips such as GPUs, CPUs, and DRAMs, Zhao emphasized that "GenAI and accelerated computing call for memory and storage that can provide the best performance," yet this higher performance generates increased heat and design challenges. He noted that traditional single-side cooling lacks flexibility when multiple eSSSDs are needed and efficiency drops sharply with higher eSSD loads, though hot-swap capability remains critical despite the risks posed by liquid cooling systems.

Solidigm announced the D7-PS1010 E1.S 9.5mm SSD and liquid cooling cold-plate kit will be available for AI servers in H2 2025, with initial capacity points of 3.84 TB and 7.68 TB, with the range to expand later in the year. Corell concluded that as GPU capabilities increase, future GPU servers will likely require full liquid cooling, and since liquid cooling and the cold plate solution eliminate air-cooling fans, "this product can enable compact 1U server designs, helping to increase compute density."