Key Points
- Panthalassa raised $140 million in Series B funding led by Peter Thiel
- Ocean-3 nodes will run AI chips using electricity generated from ocean waves
- Commercial deployment of wave-powered AI computing planned for 2027
Panthalassa, a renewable energy startup based in Portland, Oregon, has raised $140 million to build floating data centres that will run artificial intelligence computing using electricity generated from ocean waves.
The Series B funding round was led by Peter Thiel, with participation from John Doerr, Marc Benioff’s TIME Ventures, Max Levchin’s SciFi Ventures, Susquehanna Sustainable Investments and Hanwha Group. Returning investors include Founders Fund, Gigascale Capital and Lowercarbon Capital.
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The funding will complete a pilot manufacturing facility near Portland and accelerate deployment of the company’s Ocean-3 series — autonomous floating systems designed to generate power from waves and use it to run AI processors onboard.
How the Technology Works
Panthalassa’s nodes are self-propelled floating platforms made from plate steel. They operate in distant ocean regions where wave energy is strongest. Rather than transmitting electricity back to land, the systems use the generated power directly to run AI chips that perform inference — the process by which trained AI models generate responses to queries.
The processed data is sent to land via satellite. Surrounding ocean water provides natural cooling, addressing one of the most significant challenges facing conventional data centres on land.
“There are three sources of energy on the planet with tens of terawatts of new capacity potential: solar, nuclear, and the open ocean,” said Garth Sheldon-Coulson, co-founder and chief executive of Panthalassa. “We’ve built a technology platform that operates in the planet’s most energy-dense wave regions, far from shore, and turns that resource into reliable clean power.”
Thiel said the approach represented a shift in how computing infrastructure could be deployed. “The future demands more compute than we can imagine,’ he said. ‘Panthalassa has opened the ocean frontier.”
Decade of Development
The company has spent ten years developing the core power generation, propulsion and computing technologies behind the platform. Prototype systems named Ocean-1, Ocean-2 and Wavehopper were tested at sea in 2021 and 2024.
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Panthalassa plans to deploy its Ocean-3 pilot node series in the northern Pacific Ocean in 2026. The deployment will demonstrate AI inference capabilities and refine manufacturing processes ahead of commercial operations planned for 2027.
The technology addresses growing constraints facing land-based data centres. These include limited grid capacity, water scarcity for cooling, supply chain bottlenecks and permitting delays. Global electricity demand for data centres has risen sharply as AI adoption accelerates, with the International Energy Agency projecting that data centres could consume over 1,000 terawatt-hours annually by 2026.
Doerr said the technology could ease pressure on terrestrial power grids. ‘Panthalassa’s autonomous wave power system is addressing global energy needs and clean power generation,’ he said.
Panthalassa is structured as a public benefit corporation, a legal form that requires the company to consider social and environmental impact alongside shareholder returns.
Your Questions, Answered
What does Panthalassa do?
Panthalassa builds autonomous floating platforms that generate electricity from ocean waves and use it to power AI chips onboard. Processed data is transmitted to land via satellite.
How much funding has Panthalassa raised?
The company raised $140 million in Series B financing led by Peter Thiel, with participation from investors including John Doerr, Marc Benioff’s TIME Ventures and Hanwha Group.
When will Panthalassa begin commercial operations?
The company plans to deploy pilot nodes in the northern Pacific Ocean in 2026, with commercial operations scheduled to begin in 2027.
How does ocean-based computing address data centre challenges?
The ocean provides natural cooling for chips and eliminates constraints faced by land-based centres including grid capacity limits, water scarcity and permitting delays.