By 2030, data centers are expected to consume 35 gigawatts of energy per year, up from 17 gigawatts in 2022, according to McKinsey & Company. As a reminder, one gigawatt represents enough energy to power 750,000 homes, according to CNET.
According to McKinsey estimates, around 40% of this energy is devoted to cooling servers.
Perhaps this is good news for no one more than a centuries-old Japanese ceramicist who has started making tableware.
Maruwa, which makes ceramics for printed circuits and semiconductors, has seen its share double over the past year, according to the Financial Times. And since April, its shares have been at a “historic” level.
The company says its strength lies in building materials that dissipate heat, moving heat from sources operating at high temperatures to their surrounding environment.
“The demand for heat dissipation is increasing rapidly due to high-speed communication in data centers, and our company has a strong competitive advantage in heat dissipation,” a Maruwa spokesperson told Business Insider.
“We anticipate that next-generation high-speed communications, including those related to generative AI, will be the primary driver of our business growth over the coming years,” according to the company.
Maruwa’s competitive advantage stems from its long history. The company traces its origins to the early 19th century and originally made dishes for Japanese cuisine before turning to electronic components in the 1960s, according to its website.
“As the company has more than 200 years of history as a ceramic supplier, all the knowledge and technology accumulated since the early 1800s form the core of the company’s competitiveness,” said Mitsuhiro Icho, an analyst at Goldman Sachs, at the FT.
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