• Silicon Valley investors, including Palantir co-founder Peter Thiel, have invested hundreds of millions in floating AI data centers powered by ocean waves.
  • Company Panthalassa raised $140 million to build floating ’nodes’ that directly power AI chips and transmit data via satellite link.
  • Each node is a steel sphere with a tube that uses wave energy to generate electricity and cool AI chips with seawater.
  • The Ocean-3 prototype, 85 meters tall, will be tested in the northern Pacific Ocean in 2026.
  • Challenges include satellite data transmission limitations and maintaining nodes in harsh ocean conditions without human intervention.
  • The project is more ambitious than previous attempts like Microsoft’s Project Natick, but faces growing resistance to land-based data centers.

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