Gone are the days when artificial intelligence was an abstract concept or an idea straight out of science fiction. Today, it’s driving one of the most aggressive physical infrastructure expansions the United States - and the rest of the world - has ever seen. From hyperscale cloud campuses to regional edge facilities, data centers are being built, expanded and retrofitted at extraordinary speed to support AI training, inference and storage workloads.

For sure, this is an exciting development. Much of the conversation has focused on servers, GPUs, power distribution, and cooling technologies. These elements deserve the spotlight: without them, the AI revolution stalls.

However, behind every rack and every cooling coil sits a quieter layer of infrastructure that directly influences reliability, uptime and asset longevity: air filtration. As operating tolerances tighten, air filters are shifting from a background utility to a core protective system. It’s a change we see every day at Brookaire, and this week, we’re taking a closer look at the unsung heroes behind this new era.

AI Is Driving a New Phase of Data Center Expansion

The scale of change tied to AI is substantial. It’s something that dominates news headlines and is becoming a key area of focus for several government departments. The U.S. Department of Energy, for example, has taken great strides to predict the scale of the change. In a recent report published by the Department and produced by Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, it was found that data centers consumed about 4.4% of total U.S. electricity in 2023 and are expected to consume approximately 6.7 to 12% of total U.S. electricity by 2028.

This growth is accompanied by considerable risk. This is because higher densities directly translate into more heat generation, higher airflow volumes, and a potential increase in humidity levels driven by continuous operation. Each and every one of these factors is placing new, unprecedented demands on environmental control systems.

Why Air Quality Has Become a Reliability Variable

Electronic equipment is sensitive to airborne contamination in ways that aren’t always visible. Here at Brookaire, we typically speak to data center decision-makers concerned with two core challenges: fine particulates and humidity.

Fine particulates can accumulate on circuit boards and heat sinks, reducing heat transfer efficiency. Over time, this accumulation contributes to higher component temperatures and localized hot spots.

Meanwhile, humidity introduces an additional layer of risk. Elevated moisture increases corrosion potential, whereas low humidity increases the likelihood of electrostatic discharge. Both conditions threaten equipment reliability.

Only one solution can meet these challenges: control. Indeed, the American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air-Conditioning Engineers (ASHRAE) continues to publish a range of learning resources highlighting particulate and humidity control as crucial in the protection of IT equipment.

As AI-driven facilities push toward higher densities, the acceptable tolerance for these variables continues to shrink.

The Air Filtration Challenge Inside AI-Driven Facilities

Traditional filtration strategies were developed around lower airflow volumes and less aggressive operating envelopes. AI environments, however, behave differently: air systems run continuously, filters load faster and pressure stability becomes a design consideration rather than a maintenance footnote. In this new era of AI, several practical challenges emerge:

• Filters must maintain airflow under high volume conditions without excessive pressure rise.
• Media must hold large amounts of particulate without collapsing or deforming.
• Media must offer a strong degree of moisture absorption to protect critical infrastructure.
• Performance must remain predictable over extended service intervals.

When filtration struggles in these areas, HVAC systems compensate by increasing fan energy and reducing cooling effectiveness. The impact may not present as an immediate failure - more often, it shows up as gradual efficiency loss and rising operating cost.

Humidity Control Is Increasingly Central

Humidity management has always mattered in data centers. However, AI workloads have intensified their importance.

High-density machines typically generate more heat, which increases the latent moisture load cooling systems must manage. Outside air economization strategies - used to reduce energy consumption - can introduce additional humidity levels depending on the climate.

Filtration technologies that can influence moisture levels within the airstream add another layer of protection in facilities where mechanical dehumidification capacity is heavily utilized. With increased operational pressures, we believe that air filtration must now be viewed as part of a broader environmental strategy in this rapid-growth sector.

Air Filtration as Part of a Broader Environmental Strategy

Effective filtration does not operate in isolation. It interacts with containment design, airflow pathways, cooling architecture and maintenance practices. Facilities that treat air filtration as a strategic component tend to experience more stable performance over time.

Brookaire’s Mastering Data Center HVAC Challenges whitepaper explores how filtration integrates with broader environmental control strategies and why application-specific selection matters. For advice on how air filtration fits into the bigger decision, we highly recommend downloading this free learning resource. Common characteristics of mature air filtration programs include:

• Lifecycle-based filter selection rather than price-only decisions
• Pressure monitoring to guide changeouts
• Standardized specifications across similar environments

These practices improve predictability and reduce operational risk.

A Closer Look at DeltaPleat™ Hydro H11

Within critical infrastructure environments, certain applications benefit from filtration media designed to address both particulate and moisture-related challenges.

DeltaPleat™ Hydro H11 was developed with these conditions in mind. It combines high-efficiency particulate capture with hydrophobic media technology engineered to reduce relative humidity by up to 21 percent within the airstream.

For data centers and other sensitive facilities, this capability supports lower moisture content in supply air, reduced corrosion risk and more stable operating conditions. Hydro11 is intended to complement existing HVAC and dehumidification strategies rather than replace them.

In environments where small environmental improvements compound into meaningful reliability gains, this type of filtration becomes part of a broader protection strategy.

Prepare for What Comes Next with Brookaire

AI adoption continues to accelerate. Air filtration strategies must evolve alongside these shifts. Brookaire approaches filtration from an advisory standpoint, helping operators align filter selection with system design, operating conditions and long-term objectives. For expert guidance, reach out to one of our Data Center HVAC experts. Alternatively, browse our full selection of high-performance air filters.