TECH & AI
ABOUT PANTHALASSA, ANOTHER MARINE DATA CENTRE PIONEER
Since the AI boom began in earnest in 2022, one of the global economy’ s biggest priorities has been finding ways to power the technology, with companies the world over vying to find solutions.
This huge spike in demand has led to some unusual, innovative developments in recent years, including rebooted nuclear power plants, satellite solar arrays and even investments in fusion reactors.
One particularly unconventional approach to the data centre dilemma has been wave power – an often overlooked form of renewable energy.
Panthalassa, an Oregon-based start-up that has spent a decade developing its wave energy technology, recently emerged as a frontrunner in this field.
It takes its name from the“ superocean” that once surrounded Pangaea before continental drift shaped the Earth as we know it today – an apt name for a company focused on harnessing the power of the sea.
The company’ s technology is, in engineering terms, deliberately unglamorous. Its“ nodes” are 85-metrelong solid-steel structures, roughly the height of London’ s Big Ben, and sit mostly beneath the ocean’ s surface.
The bobbing of the waves forces water through a turbine, generating electricity that powers AI chips housed in a hermetically sealed, seawater-cooled container. The nodes recirculate the same water internally to drive the generator, producing no direct emissions and requiring no engine.
112 October 2026