Microsoft's Project Natick — which places sealed data centre pods on the ocean floor — has published results showing an 8x lower hardware failure rate compared to equivalent land-based data centres.
The improvement is attributed to the controlled environment: no human access (eliminating accidental damage), constant cool temperature (reducing thermal stress on components), and a nitrogen atmosphere inside the pods (preventing corrosion).
The project has been running continuously for 4 years at a site off the coast of Scotland. The pods are powered by tidal and offshore wind energy, making them nearly carbon-neutral.
Microsoft is now planning commercial-scale underwater data centres, with initial deployments expected in 2028. The company believes underwater data centres could provide edge computing capacity to coastal cities — where 50% of the world's population lives.