A startup founded by a Nobel laureate is targeting data centers in water-stressed regions as customers for its technology.
Atoco featured in Bloomberg
The article highlights how Atoco, an Irvine-based startup, is harnessing Nobel-winning reticular chemistry to extract water from air and turn climate innovation into commercial reality.
Professor Omar Yaghi won the 2025 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for a scientific breakthrough that his startup is now on the verge of commercializing. Its technology harvests water from the atmosphere in an increasingly arid world, with the global recognition set to give it a boost.
“He has always been highly regarded in the scientific community, but the Nobel Prize gives us additional validation in the business world and simplifies the communication of what we are doing,” said Samer Taha, chief executive officer of Atoco, the Irvine, California company Yaghi founded in 2020.
Taha expects the Nobel to also spark interest among investors, though Atoco declined to comment on the company’s fundraising efforts.
Atoco, which will start taking orders for its water harvester in the second half of 2026, is targeting data centers as the artificial intelligence boom stresses water supplies across the US. The company is also focusing on supplying water to green hydrogen plants and communities in drought-afflicted regions of the world. The harvesters don’t require electricity and can produce ultrapure water using just ambient sunlight or waste heat from data centers and other industrial facilities.
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