Thiel Leads $140M Series B in Panthalassa’s Wave-Powered AI Nodes
Peter Thiel led a $140 million Series B in Panthalassa to finish a Portland-area pilot factory and deploy wave-powered Ocean-3 nodes to run AI inference at sea.
Panthalassa, an Oregon-based startup, raised $140 million in a Series B round led by Peter Thiel and participation from existing and new investors. The company said the financing will complete a pilot manufacturing facility near Portland and fund deployment of its Ocean-3 pilot nodes.
The firm plans to place Ocean-3 units in the northern Pacific Ocean this year to demonstrate at-sea AI inference and to refine production ahead of planned commercial deployments in 2027. Panthalassa previously tested prototypes called Ocean-1, Ocean-2 and Wavehopper in 2021 and 2024 to validate power generation, propulsion, autonomy and on-board computing.
Panthalassa builds its floating nodes from plate steel in coastal factories. The platforms harness wave energy on site to power AI processors and use seawater for passive cooling. Instead of sending electricity back to shore, the systems run inference workloads on board and transmit results to land by satellite.
The Ocean-3 series includes autonomous navigation and propulsion systems designed to operate in high-wave-energy regions well offshore. Panthalassa said the design reduces dependence on conventional data center cooling systems by relying on the surrounding ocean for temperature control.
In a statement, Peter Thiel wrote, “The future demands more compute than we can imagine. Extra-terrestrial solutions are no longer science fiction. Panthalassa has opened the ocean frontier.” The company attributed the funding to a mix of new and returning backers.
Garth Sheldon-Coulson, Panthalassa’s CEO and co-founder, stated that the company views the open ocean as one of three sources with tens of terawatts of potential capacity, alongside solar and nuclear. He said the firm is preparing factories and testing processes to support fleet deployments.
Investor John Doerr called the wave-powered approach “a game changer,” adding that it could provide jobs and strengthen U.S. technological capacity.
Activity in offshore power for computing is increasing. Some firms are developing floating wind platforms integrated with data centers, and discussions have included proposals for floating nuclear plants to supply power to military sites. Panthalassa’s model focuses on using wave energy directly at sea to run inference workloads without routing generated power to terrestrial grids.
Panthalassa said it will use the Series B proceeds to finish the Portland-area pilot factory, accelerate field testing, and pursue certification of its autonomous, wave-powered data center systems ahead of commercial rollout in 2027.
