San Francisco startup NetworkOcean says it has become the first company to run customer AI workloads from a solar-powered floating data center. The company operated a single Nvidia H100 GPU powered by a 20kW solar array during a trial in San Francisco Bay. The customer was not disclosed. NetworkOcean shared footage showing 12 floating solar panels connected to a container aboard a ship housing the GPU server.
Founded in 2024 by Sam Mendel and Eric Kim, NetworkOcean initially explored underwater data centers before shifting to floating, solar-powered systems. CEO Sam Mendel said the company’s focus is driven by the need to deploy power more quickly.
“We’re building floating solar arrays powering data centers at sea. This will soon be the fastest way to deploy new compute, skipping years of land, grid connections, and traditional infrastructure delays.”
Mendel said the company went from design to deployment in the water in 53 days, describing the approach as a fast way to deploy power for sustainable data centers. A Y Combinator spin-out, NetworkOcean initially planned underwater data centers but faced claims that it lacked the required permits for a trial deployment in the Bay Area. The company’s roadmap includes a 1MW offshore array planned for next year, with a target of up to 1GW of compute power by 2030.
