AirTrunk partners with Emergence Quantum to explore integration of cryogenic cooling systems into data center facilities.

AirTrunk this week announced a partnership and memorandum of understanding with deep tech company Emergence Quantum (EQ) to explore deploying cryogenic cooling in data centers alongside quantum computing integration.

The companies noted that cryo-cooling can "significantly improve" the speed and energy efficiency of today's silicon computer chips and is foundational to other future computing systems, including quantum. The partnership aims to bring together deep expertise in cryogenic computing, thermal engineering, quantum technologies, data center architecture, and real-world techno-economic models that can prove out the performance opportunities for cryo-data centers.

The collaboration is part of AirTrunk's broader goal to build data center infrastructure that is quantum-ready and able to embed cryogenic cooling into its overall data center campus setup. AirTrunk VP for Innovation and Intelligence Jose Castaneda said: "We are continuously redefining data centers with cutting-edge technologies that improve performance, efficiency, and sustainability. This partnership with EQ challenges the status quo and is a great example of how data centers can act as broader enablers of innovation in our communities."

AirTrunk, founded in 2018, operates and develops data center campuses in Sydney and Melbourne, Australia; Singapore; Hong Kong; Johor, Malaysia; and Tokyo and Osaka, Japan.

Emergence Quantum, founded in 2025 by University of Sydney academics, focuses on integrated cryogenic electronics and quantum computing. Co-founder and CEO Professor David Reilly stated: "It's been understood for decades that computers run significantly faster and more efficiently in the cold, but there are challenges and costs to cooling that have so far limited this approach to niche applications. The scale of data centers and the tiny size of transistors today change all that — the cryo-computing epoch has arrived."

Co-founder and CTO Professor Thomas Ohki added: "For us, cryogenic data centers are an inevitable reality — this cooling technology is needed for high-speed efficient silicon chips, superconducting logic, and ultimately quantum computing. All flavors of qubits need cryogenics one way or another."

Most quantum computers have historically been deployed in labs, computing centers, and facilities operated by quantum companies, though a growing number are being placed in colocation data centers. Oxford Quantum Circuits has installed a quantum computer at an Equinix facility in Tokyo, Japan, and Centersquare's LHR3 facility in Reading, UK. Orca has deployed its hardware in Digital Realty's liquid cooling lab in London. Australian quantum startup Diraq has partnered with Equinix to deploy a quantum computer at a data center in Sydney.

Research is also underway on cryogenic cooling for conventional computing hardware. Studies of CMOS chips operating at very low temperatures using liquid nitrogen cooling have demonstrated potential for increased performance and power efficiency.