Refroid Technologies is pioneering next-generation liquid cooling solutions that are redefining how data infrastructure operates, helping organisations enhance performance, improve energy efficiency and build more sustainable digital ecosystems.
Vijay Sampathkumar serves as CBO at Refroid Technologies. With over three decades of experience in enterprise technology and sustainable infrastructure, Vijay has emerged as one of the leading voices driving next-generation cooling solutions for high-density AI environments.
He is also known as the Liquid Cooling Man of India Widely recognised for pioneering liquid cooling adoption in India, his insights on energy efficiency, sustainable data-centre architecture, and AI-ready infrastructure are shaping important industry conversations globally.
Medianews4u.com caught up with Vijay Sampathkumar, CBO, Refroid Technologies
Q. What happens to a computer chip when it runs heavy AI workloads like ChatGPT, does it literally get hot enough to fry an egg?
AI workloads place extraordinary demands on modern processors. Having spent years working in advanced cooling technologies, a journey that has led many industry peers to refer to me as the “Liquid Cooling Man of India”. This consumes significant electrical power, which inevitably gets converted into heat.
While the “fry an egg” analogy is an exaggeration, the heat generated by high-density AI chips is substantial enough to become a major engineering challenge. If not managed effectively, excessive temperatures can reduce performance, impact reliability, and shorten equipment lifespan. This is why cooling has become a strategic infrastructure consideration rather than merely a facility management requirement.
Q. Why can’t we just use giant, powerful air conditioners to cool down modern data centres anymore?
Over the years, one trend has become very clear: traditional air-cooling is reaching its practical limits. AI has fundamentally changed that equation. Modern GPU racks can consume several times more power than conventional enterprise infrastructure, creating thermal loads that air struggles to remove efficiently.
Simply adding larger air conditioners often increases energy consumption without solving the core issue. while advocating next-generation cooling technologies and earning the informal industry title of “Liquid Cooling Man of India,” Liquid cooling offers a more direct and efficient method of heat transfer, enabling higher computing densities while reducing the energy required to maintain optimal operating conditions.
Q. How do you convince a data centre manager to submerge crores of rupees worth of expensive, live electronic servers directly into liquid without fearing they will short-circuit?
The initial reaction is always understandable because electronics and liquids traditionally do not belong together. The key is education and engineering validation. Immersion cooling uses dielectric fluids that are specifically designed not to conduct electricity, making them safe for direct contact with electronic components.
Customers are not convinced through marketing claims but through testing data, certifications, pilot deployments, and operational evidence. Once operators understand the science and see successful implementations in action, their focus shifts from concerns about short circuits to discussions around efficiency, reliability, performance gains, and the long-term operational benefits of advanced cooling technologies.
Q. What tactics does Refroid employ to win clients over global engineering companies like Vertiv or Schneider Electric, who already have deep pockets and decades-old relationships with global data centres?
The infrastructure industry is ultimately driven by technical competence and customer outcomes. Global companies have earned their positions through years of innovation and execution. However, rapidly evolving sectors such as AI infrastructure create opportunities for specialised companies that can move faster and adapt more quickly to emerging requirements.
Our focus is on engineering depth, customer responsiveness, customisation, and close collaboration. Customers today are looking for partners who understand next-generation challenges and can deliver practical solutions. In the end, decisions are based on performance, reliability, value creation, and execution capability rather than solely on the size or age of an organization.
Q. When you go abroad to market ‘Make in India’ infrastructure to international data centres, do global clients treat Indian engineering as world-class, or do they still look at us as just a back-office IT support nation?
The perception of India has evolved considerably over the last two decades. While India initially gained recognition through IT services and software development, the country is increasingly respected for engineering innovation, manufacturing capability, and technology leadership. Global customers are highly pragmatic.
They evaluate suppliers based on quality, reliability, technical expertise, and delivery capability rather than nationality alone. There is growing recognition that Indian companies can contribute to advanced infrastructure, not just digital services. In many markets, the conversation has shifted from questioning Indian capabilities to exploring how Indian engineering can help address global technology and sustainability challenges.
Q. Is it fair to call your liquid cooling systems “sustainable and green” when the data centres using them are still use a lot of electricity from India’s coal-heavy power grid just to run the AI chips?
Sustainability should be viewed as a continuous improvement journey rather than an absolute destination. Liquid cooling does not eliminate the energy consumption associated with AI computing, nor does it directly influence how electricity is generated. What it does achieve is significantly improved cooling efficiency, enabling data centres to use less energy to remove heat from high-performance systems.
Every reduction in energy consumption contributes to lower environmental impact. As renewable energy adoption expands over time, efficient infrastructure solutions become even more valuable. The objective is not to claim perfection but to continuously improve efficiency, resource utilization, and overall infrastructure sustainability.
Q. The company uses AI-driven monitoring and digital twins to track performance. How do you stop your own software from consuming too much power and adding to the very overheating problem you are trying to fix?
That is an important question because optimiSation technologies must deliver a net positive outcome. Monitoring systems, analytics platforms, and digital twins certainly consume computational resources. However, their purpose is to improve operational efficiency by identifying inefficiencies, predicting failures, optimizing cooling performance, and improving resource utilisation.
When designed correctly, the energy required to operate these platforms is significantly lower than the energy savings they enable. The goal is not simply to collect data but to generate actionable insights that reduce waste, improve infrastructure performance, and create measurable operational and sustainability benefits across the entire data-centre environment.
Q. What was the big marketing reason behind partnering with a public-sector oil giant like BPCL to launch a coolant—was it to build instant trust, or did you just need their chemical factories to manufacture it?
Partnerships in industrial technology are rarely driven by a single objective. Developing advanced cooling solutions requires expertise across chemistry, engineering, manufacturing, quality control, and supply-chain management. Organisations such as BPCL bring decades of experience in large-scale industrial operations, research capabilities, and market reach.
From a customer perspective, such collaborations can also increase confidence in product consistency, availability, and long-term support. While trust is certainly an outcome of these partnerships, the larger objective is to combine complementary strengths. Successful innovation often happens when technology expertise and industrial-scale execution come together to address emerging infrastructure challenges.
Q. Tech buyers are notoriously scared of leaks. Why should a data centre operator choose a younger Indian company like Refroid over established global engineering companies who have been doing liquid cooling for decades?
Caution is entirely justified because data-centre infrastructure decisions involve significant operational and financial risk. However, trust should be built on engineering capability, product reliability, customer support, and demonstrated performance rather than company age alone.
Established global companies bring valuable experience, while younger companies often bring agility, innovation, and a willingness to address new market requirements more rapidly. Customers ultimately evaluate whether a solution meets their technical and business objectives.
The decision should be based on testing, validation, references, service capability, and long-term commitment. In technology markets, credibility is earned through execution and outcomes rather than organisational history alone.
Q. Is it hard to market a high-tech B2B product when your main customer is a faceless server room, and you can’t rely on Instagram ads or other forms of consumer ad vehicles?
Infrastructure marketing is fundamentally different from consumer marketing because the audience, buying process, and decision criteria are completely different. Data-centre investments are evaluated by engineers, operators, architects, procurement teams, and business leaders who focus on performance, reliability, efficiency, and risk management.
As a result, marketing becomes less about visibility and more about education, credibility, and technical validation. Thought leadership, technical demonstrations, industry forums, customer engagement, and knowledge sharing often have greater impact than traditional advertising. While consumer brands compete for attention, infrastructure companies compete for trust, and trust is typically built through expertise, transparency, and demonstrated capability.
Q. How do you market your hybrid load banks to operators—are you basically selling them an expensive “fake test run” before they install their actual AI hardware?
I would describe hybrid load banks as a risk-management and validation tool rather than a simulated exercise. Before critical infrastructure supports live workloads, operators need confidence that power, cooling, and operational systems will perform exactly as intended under real-world conditions. Load banks help create controlled testing environments where potential weaknesses can be identified and addressed before deployment.
The cost of testing is often insignificant when compared to the cost of unexpected downtime, equipment failure, or operational disruption. In that sense, load-bank testing is less about simulation and more about ensuring infrastructure readiness and reducing business risk before production begins.
Q. Why do you focus your marketing on high-level industry panels and technical explainers on LinkedIn instead of launching broad digital ad campaigns—is it because the actual circle of people who buy data centre plumbing in India is too small for regular advertising?
The audience for advanced data-centre infrastructure is highlu specialised. Decisions involving cooling systems, power infrastructure, and AI-ready facilities are typically made by a relatively small group of industry professionals, engineers, consultants, architects, and business leaders.
Broad advertising can create awareness, but it may not always generate meaningful engagement with decision-makers. Industry panels, conferences, technical discussions, and professional platforms allow for deeper conversations around technology, performance, and best practices. The objective is not necessarily to reach the largest audience but to engage the most relevant audience with credible insights that support informed infrastructure decisions.
Q. How do you use live engineering demonstrations at tech summits to sell your product when the biggest fear a client has is a catastrophic fluid leak that could destroy their entire system right in front of them?
Live demonstrations provide an opportunity to replace assumptions with direct observation. Customers naturally have concerns about new technologies, particularly when they involve mission-critical infrastructure.
Demonstrations allow operators to evaluate safety mechanisms, monitoring systems, containment strategies, and overall engineering design in a transparent environment.
Rather than avoiding difficult questions, demonstrations encourage them. Seeing technology operate under real conditions often creates greater confidence than reviewing specifications or presentations alone.
The objective is not to eliminate healthy skepticism but to address it through evidence, engineering rigour, and open dialogue. Transparency remains one of the most effective ways to build trust.
Q. You recently left a regional role at a global firm like ZutaCore to join a newer Indian company as CBO; is Refroid actually winning large-scale commercial contracts from real hyperscalers right now, or are you currently relying on strategic partnerships and “Emerging Leader” awards to build a buzz?
The AI infrastructure market is expanding rapidly, and demand for advanced cooling technologies is unquestionably real. Throughout my journey in the cooling industry one that has led many in the ecosystem to refer to me as the “Liquid Cooling Man of India” I have seen that infrastructure markets ultimately reward execution over publicity.
The AI infrastructure market is expanding rapidly, and demand for advanced cooling technologies is unquestionably real. Partnerships, pilot projects, and industry recognition can help build awareness, but long-term success is measured by customer adoption, operational performance, and the ability to solve real infrastructure challenges at scale.
