Semafor Sep 22, 2026
With Josh Parker, Head of Sustainability at Nvidia
Nvidia's current AI hardware is cooled by a closed loop of liquid piped directly to the chips, and Josh Parker said such a system "can operate without water consumption once the data center is built."
The interviewer noted that communities in the US and abroad are fighting new data centers. Parker said the opposition comes from fear of the unknown, and that the data on water and energy use tells a better story than most people realize because the technology has changed so quickly.
"In the current generation of AI infrastructure, especially Nvidia's hardware, we've kind of solved the water consumption issue at the data center level"
Josh Parker, head of sustainability at Nvidia, who previously built the sustainability program at Western Digital, made the case on Semafor, in an interview at Semafor's The Next 3 Billion event.
The full segment is covered here so you can skip it.
Here are the 3 takeaways that matter.
Key Takeaways
Nvidia's answer to local opposition is to listen first, then publish data on what data centers actually use
Current AI hardware can run without consuming water once a data center is built
Closed-loop liquid cooling has no evaporation built in
Nvidia raised its chips' operating temperature to 45°C (113°F), which makes the cooling system more energy efficient
1. Answering the Pushback
The clip opens on the claim that AI data centers built responsibly with modern AI infrastructure bring benefits to their local communities. The interviewer then pointed out that many communities across the US and around the world are fighting back against new data centers, and asked what Nvidia tells them.
Nvidia starts by listening to the concerns
Parker said Nvidia first listens to understand what the concerns are. He described the opposition as a natural reaction, saying that "fear of the unknown is a very fundamental human response."
"I think a lot of us feel that around AI" — Josh Parker
Then it publishes the numbers
The next step, Parker said, is to answer the questions and "provide transparency and data about the sustainability results" Nvidia sees, including the actual impact of data centers. In his telling the data is good news, and water is the clearest example.
