By Contributor,David Prosser
Copyright forbes
Power-hungry computer chips for AI generate unprecedented amounts of heat
AFP via Getty Images
Remco van Erp wants to pour cold water on the booming world of artificial intelligence (AI) – literally. Van Erp, the co-founder and CEO of the Swiss start-up Corintis, isn’t suggesting that AI is over-hyped; far from it – the business sees the industry continuing to grow rapidly and has developed an innovative new approach to cooling the computer chips that power it.
This is a major challenge for the technology sector. The chips now being used to drive generative AI applications each require hundreds of watts to do their jobs; as that electricity converts into heat energy, keeping chips cool is imperative. Without new cooling solutions, AI technologies won’t work properly; the worst-case scenario is chips will simply fry.
“The only way to keep chips cool is to use a liquid coolant, but existing technologies are surprisingly simplistic,” says van Erp. “You’re effectively just exposing the chip to a block of copper that has liquid flowing through it.”
In place of that, Corintis has invented a bespoke cooling system that is integrated into the chip, designed to mirror the design of the chip itself – and with the liquid coolant actually passing over the silicon. The company describes this system – comprising a network of microscopic channels that bring coolant in direct contact with the chip to cool the electronics from its core – as “microfluidic cooling”.
“Our inspiration was the most sophisticated cooling system that you see in nature,” van Erp explains. “Our technology resembles the way in which humans use arteries, veins and capillaries to cool the body.”
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The company hopes to build market leadership in a small but fast-growing area of the technology industry. Analysis from Grand View Research suggests the direct-to-chip cooling market was worth $1.96 billion globally in 2024 but expects this figure to increase at a rate of almost 20% a year between 2025 and 2030.
Not surprisingly, other players are eyeing such growth. Potential rivals to Corintis include some very large global players, including Emerson Electric and Schneider Electric, established specialists such as CoolIT Systems, as well as start-ups including Liquid Stack. However, Corintis believes its bespoke designs and integrated cooling system, based on research conducted at the Federal Institute of Technology in Lausanne, can help give it a competitive edge.
The start-up will also be boosted by a significant new capital investment, with its announcement today of the completion a $24 million Series A round. The round takes the total amount of money raised by the company to $33.4 million.
In conjunction with the Series A round, Corintis is also announcing that Lip-Bu Tan, who in March became CEO of technology giant Intel, is joining its board, along with Geoff Lyon, the former CEO of CoolIT.
The two board hires bring additional reputational credibility to Corintis but also represent a symbol of the company’s intent, van Erp adds. “We want to build a bridge between the world of chip manufacturing and the word of cooling,” he says. “The only way to develop the cooling technology that the AI boom requires is to integrate these two industries.”
Corintis’s commercial development to date has been rapid. The company was founded in 2022 but it has already signed a number of major US technology giants as customers. These include Microsoft, which has this week published a report on its collaboration with Corintis to develop an in-chip microfluidic cooling system for its servers.
Today’s Series A round is led by BlueYard Capital with participation from Founderful, Acequia Capital, Celsius Industries and XTX Ventures. Corintis will initially use the new funding to increase the size of its team from 55 today to more than 70 by the end of the year.
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