US floating wind company, Aikido, has entered the data center space with the launch of a floating offshore wind platform integrated with a modular AI-focused data center.

The offshore wind platform is expected to host a turbine with between 15 and 18MW of capacity, which would support 10 -12MW of IT capacity.

Each unit will include three prefabricated 3 – 4MW data halls directly within the platform’s steel hull. In addition, the platform will host a battery energy storage system to support longer run times. Aikido expects to supply compute for more than 75 percent of operating hours, potentially rising to 90 percent with larger battery systems.

“Over the past year, as we watched the growing challenges around powering and cooling new data centers, we realized our platform already had ample power and effectively free cooling built in. It hit us like a ton of bricks,” Sam Kanner, CEO of Aikido Technologies, told DCD.

Kanner said he expected that the data center would achieve a PUE below 1.08 using a closed-loop freshwater cooling system that transfers heat through the steel structure into the surrounding seawater. The company claims thermal impact will be limited to a localized area extending only a few meters from the platform.

Rather than selling power into the grid, Aikido’s model centers on selling compute directly, effectively becoming a data center operator. To achieve economies of scale, the company has adopted a modular approach, which Kanner claims allows the platforms to be assembled up to 10 times faster than conventional offshore structures. In addition, the company claims that the batteries can be pre-charged ahead of grid stress events, which can significantly shorten effective grid connection timelines for new capacity.

The company has already constructed a prototype unit, with assembly completed in less than a week. The data halls are installed during final integration at the port and connected to the onboard cooling and electrical systems, quayside.

The company is now in the process of developing a proof-of-concept unit in Norway for deployment later this year and is targeting its first commercial project in the UK, with a planned operational date of 2028. A site has been selected, and engineering and commercial discussions are underway. Aikido is also a member of the Nvidia Inception program and has said it has received early interest from GPU compute customers.

Concerns remain, however, over the current state of the floating offshore wind sector, which, despite early promise, has stalled somewhat. Projects have been delayed as rising costs and higher interest rates pressure economies, while government subsidy mechanisms have become less common.

Kanner told DCD that many projects are currently “not really economical without government support,” and that the industry is at a “standstill” as developers wait for clearer policy and pricing signals. However, in reframing the business model, Aikido is hoping to kickstart the floating wind sector.

“Before we go off-world, we should go offshore,” Kanner said. “By combining proven offshore energy systems with high-density compute, we are creating a new class of infrastructure where energy, cooling, and compute are co-located at source.”