Peter Thiel-backed Panthalassa to Deploy Wave-Powered Floating Data Centers by 2027, Rivaling Musk’s Space Plan
English summary
Panthalassa, a startup backed by Peter Thiel and other Silicon Valley VCs, is developing floating data centers that generate power from ocean waves and use cold seawater for cooling. The company has been testing a 70-meter prototype off Washington State that produces up to 1 MW of electricity. It plans to deploy commercial units with pre-installed chips for AI training in the Southern Ocean by 2027, a year ahead of SpaceX’s 2028 orbital data center target. Panthalassa claims a levelized cost of electricity around 2 cents per kWh and a capacity factor above 90%, aiming to avoid land-use conflicts and grid constraints. The firm completed a $140 million Series B round from investors including Peter Thiel, John Doerr, Marc Benioff’s TIME Ventures, and Gigascale Capital founded by former Meta CTO Mike Schroepfer. In the longer term, the platform could produce carbon-free fuels like green hydrogen from desalinated seawater.
Chinese summary
获彼得·蒂尔等硅谷风投支持的初创公司Panthalassa正在研发靠海浪发电、用海水冷却的漂浮数据中心。其原型设备在华盛顿州海域测试，可产出最高1兆瓦电力，计划2027年在南大洋部署预装AI训练芯片的商用节点，比SpaceX的太空数据中心计划早一年。公司宣称度电成本约2美分，容量因子超90%，能避免用地纠纷和电网压力。该公司已完成1.4亿美元B轮融资，投资方包括蒂尔、约翰·杜尔、马克·贝尼奥夫的TIME Ventures及前Meta首席技术官创立的Gigascale Capital。远期还计划用海上电力生产绿氢等无碳燃料。
Key points
Panthalassa is building floating data centers that harness wave energy for power and seawater for cooling, with a 1 MW prototype already tested off the US West Coast.
Panthalassa正在建造利用海浪发电、海水冷却的漂浮数据中心，已在美国西海岸测试输出1兆瓦电力的原型机。
The startup plans to deploy commercial units in the Southern Ocean by 2027, pre-loaded with AI computing hardware, one year ahead of SpaceX's scheduled orbital data centers.
公司计划2027年在南大洋投放预装AI算力硬件的商用设备，比SpaceX计划的轨道数据中心早一年。
It raised a $140 million Series B from Peter Thiel, John Doerr, Marc Benioff’s TIME Ventures, and former Meta CTO Mike Schroepfer’s Gigascale Capital.
已完成1.4亿美元B轮融资，投资方包括彼得·蒂尔、约翰·杜尔、马克·贝尼奥夫的TIME Ventures以及前Meta首席技术官施罗普弗的Gigascale Capital。
The company claims electricity costs of ~$0.02/kWh and a >90% capacity factor, offering a lower-cost, zero-emission alternative to land-based and space-based data centers.
公司称度电成本约2美分，容量因子超90%，提供比陆地及太空数据中心成本更低、全程零排放的替代方案。