When Water Becomes Intelligent: Wilo’s WATER AI at the Alibaba Cloud Data Center
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Artificial intelligence, cloud computing, and big data are transforming our world. These trends make processes faster, cities smarter, and industries more efficient. Yet this digital revolution comes with enormous energy and water demands.
Data centers have now become the backbone of global digitalization and are among the largest consumers of electricity worldwide. Their high power consumption requires powerful cooling systems to regulate the heat generated by thousands of servers. Every unused kilowatt-hour, every inefficient cooling cycle, represents a waste of energy, water, and other resources.
This is where Wilo comes in with WATER AI. Under the strategic pillar “We enable AI,” the water technology company defines its impact on the AI value chain. Wilo’s products, systems, and solutions make infrastructures efficient, reliable, and sustainable.
But WATER AI stands for much more than just technology. It is a mindset that connects water, energy, and data, creating the foundation for the digital and AI era.
The Alibaba Cloud Data Center
Where WATER AI Becomes Reality
In China, we can see many impressive examples of this vision: one is the Alibaba Cloud Data Center in Hangzhou - one of the largest water-cooled cloud clusters in Asia.
The site is a perfect symbol of green digitalization: powered by renewable energy sources such as wind and solar, it uses an intelligent Wilo system to cool its massive server landscapes in an environmentally friendly way.
In this demanding environment - characterized by strong temperature fluctuations and dust exposure - Wilo’s specially configured Wilo-Atmos GIGA-N and Wilo-Helix V pumps demonstrate their strengths. They ensure maximum operational safety, even under extreme conditions, and form part of a modular system that balances energy efficiency and performance.
The innovative solution is called the Wilo-Ice Cube a pre-assembled cooling container that integrates all essential components into one intelligent overall system. This showcases the Wilo Group’s strength as a solution provider.
Water Technology Meets Digital Intelligence
Its uniqueness lies in the combination of physical and digital intelligence. Sensors continuously collect data on parameters such as pressure, temperature, and flow. AI-based algorithms analyze these values and dynamically adjust performance to match operating conditions.
The results:
20% space savings due to compact design
30% less energy consumption through adaptive control
40% shorter delivery time thanks to prefabricated modules
Maximum operational safety – even during peak loads or extreme weather
Connectivity to data center management systems
A key factor in the successful collaboration between Wilo and Alibaba was their partnership approach. From the planning phase onward, Wilo engineers and sales experts worked closely with the Alibaba Cloud teams to develop a tailor-made configuration.
The outcome: a system that not only operates efficiently but also learns and adapts – perfectly embodying the spirit of WATER AI. In addition to the Alibaba Cloud Data Center, Wilo has also equipped the Alibaba Headquarter and other data centers – each a flagship reference for the water technology company.
From Cloud to City
WATER AI as a Global Vision
The Alibaba project is not a one-off - it’s part of a larger movement. Wilo is working with technology partners around the world to make digital infrastructure more sustainable.
Whether in cloud campuses in China, semiconductor plants in South Korea, or smart city projects in Southeast Asia, WATER AI demonstrates how water technology becomes the connecting element of the digital world. Wherever data flows, water must be managed efficiently and intelligently.
Technology with Responsibility
WATER AI also reflects Wilo’s sense of responsibility and aligns with its sustainability strategy. At its core lies the question: How can digitalization – and especially the AI era – be made sustainable? Instead of focusing solely on energy optimization, Wilo thinks in terms of systems cycles.
Water is viewed both as a resource and an energy carrier. This connection between sustainability and intelligence is the DNA of WATER AI. In this way, Wilo helps ensure that technological progress and climate protection are not opposites but mutually reinforcing forces.
Water as the Foundation of Digitalisation
With the strategic pillar “We enable AI”, Wilo defines its mission to empower artificial intelligence through water technology. Without water - and specifically, without cooling - no data center, no cloud, and no AI application could operate reliably.
But WATER AI goes even further: it sees water as a connected medium that enables decisions.
Water Shapes Our Digital Future
The Alibaba Cloud Data Center exemplifies how WATER AI works in practice and how a strategic idea becomes tangible impact. Wilo proves that sustainable water technology forms the foundation of the digital world. It cools data centers, stabilizes infrastructures, enables artificial intelligence, and contributes to the decarbonization of industry.
