Panthalassa 的节点长约 85 米，多数位于水面下，内含经密封的 AI 伺服器舱，透过海水冷却。设备可不靠引擎推进，利用船体形状乘浪前进，先由船只拖曳水平下水，再转为垂直并自动前往离岸作业。结构主要为整体固态，缺少铰链、襟翼与齿轮箱等易损件，并循环同一批水驱动发电机，降低机械故障风险、排放与海上油动力干扰。关键原则是电力就地使用，不向岸上回输电。
随著 AI 计算需求持续超过供应端，资金正流向非常规供能方案，从重启停役核电站到将太空太阳能资料中心推上轨道。Sheldon-Coulson 认为，只有太阳能、核能、风能与波浪能才能提供「数十太瓦」级的清洁电力，且海浪既低成本、可持续又充足；在其表述中，风生的海浪是日照被再次聚集的形式，风停时仍可延续，理论上支援 24/7 运转。公司计划在美国先行建立试生产厂，并可依部署区域调整；其快速制造模式主要使用钢材等地球常见材料，提供较稳健且可扩展的供应链。
Peter Thiel is leading a US$140 million investment in Panthalassa, a US start-up developing wave-powered floating data-centre fleets, after the company has spent ten years on ocean-energy technology. The round values Panthalassa near US$1 billion including new capital. The funds are expected to scale a pilot factory and begin first commercial deployments next year. Thiel is investing through his personal fund, while Founders Fund backed the company in 2018; other investors include Marc Benioff, Max Levchin, and John Doerr, who described Panthalassa as a potential “game changer” for global clean power.
Each Panthalassa node is about 85 metres long, with most of the structure below the surface and a hermetically sealed AI-server container cooled by seawater. The system moves without engines by using hull shape to ride waves, is towed out horizontally behind a vessel, then rotates to a vertical posture and operates offshore autonomously. The platform is mainly solid, with no hinges, flaps, or gearboxes, and recirculates the same water through the generator. This reduces mechanical failure risks and avoids emissions and engine-related marine disturbance. A core design choice is on-site power consumption rather than transmitting electricity back to shore.
As AI compute demand keeps exceeding supply, capital is shifting to unconventional power approaches, from restarting mothballed nuclear plants to launching space-based solar data centres. Sheldon-Coulson argues that only solar, nuclear, wind, and wave energy can scale to tens of terawatts of clean power, with wave energy being low-cost, abundant, and sustainable. In his framing, wind-generated waves are sunlight concentrated again in the ocean, and the wave field can persist when wind stops, enabling theoretically continuous 24/7 operation. The company plans a pilot manufacturing plant in the US (initially Oregon) but may relocate depending on deployment regions; its rapid manufacturing relies on earth-abundant materials such as steel, supporting a robust and scalable supply chain.