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Science·2 min read

NTT data center heat will raise shrimp, and maybe dinner

Four companies led by NTT Docomo Business want to warm shrimp tanks with a data center's waste heat. Whether the shrimp end up on plates is still undecided.

Whiteleg shrimp swimming in a warm indoor aquaculture tank next to data center cooling equipment.
Image: ITmedia NEWS
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Data centers throw off a lot of heat, and shrimp farms spend a lot of energy making water warm. A group of four Japanese companies, including NTT Docomo Business, now wants to connect the two in a shrimp farming experiment announced on November 13.

The plan is to pull waste heat from a data center's cooling equipment and use it to warm the water the shrimp live in. In fiscal 2026 the team will measure the temperature and amount of heat available and work out how best to collect it. In fiscal 2027 they will raise whiteleg shrimp (vannamei) and check whether the heat keeps the water at the right temperature, how much heating energy it saves, and whether it affects data center operations. The trial runs until March 2028.

Why shrimp, and why waste heat?

AI is pushing data center power use up, but the waste heat is relatively low in temperature, so it has had few uses. Land-based fish and shrimp farming has the opposite problem: keeping tank water at a steady temperature eats energy. The partners hope each problem solves the other.

According to an NTT Docomo Business spokesperson, whiteleg shrimp were chosen because land-based farming research is far along, and the technique can raise them in a short 16 to 18 weeks. Adults grow to roughly 15 to 20 cm. They are widely farmed in Southeast Asia and, in Japan, end up in dishes like shrimp in chili sauce.

Can you eat the shrimp?

Maybe. The company says it will consider shipping them if they are in sellable condition once the trial ends. No buyer or schedule has been set, and the spokesperson described getting there as something they hope to manage.

The project was selected for a Tokyo Metropolitan Government program promoting startup use of unused heat. NTT Docomo Business supplies a data center near Tokyo and assesses the effect on its equipment. IMT Engineering designs the farming system and runs the tanks, Hibiya Engineering designs and builds the heat recovery equipment, and NTT Green & Food monitors conditions and judges whether it can work as a business. If it does, the four want a model other data centers can copy.

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Tags:ntt docomo businessdata centershrimp farmingwaste heataquaculture

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