Overview
- Aikido says it will deploy a 100‑kilowatt demonstration off Norway by year‑end, placing a data pod inside a semisubmersible platform’s ballast tank and drawing power from the turbine with batteries and grid backup.
- The company’s AO60DC design targets 10–12 megawatts of AI compute per platform alongside a 15–18 MW turbine, with three 3–4 MW data halls integrated into the upper portions of the ballast tanks.
- Cooling would use a closed‑loop freshwater system that sheds heat through the steel hull into surrounding seawater, a setup Aikido claims could deliver PUE below 1.08 and keep thermal effects to a few meters from the structure.
- Aikido is aiming for a first commercial deployment off the U.K. in 2028 and says it has identified a site and begun detailed engineering and commercial talks.
- Experts caution that marine corrosion, debris, partial reliance on air‑cooling for some gear, environmental permitting for heat discharge, and vulnerability to offshore sabotage remain open risks, despite precedent from Microsoft’s largely successful but discontinued Project Natick trial.