‘More like a pendulum than a hammer’: The AI chip that can reuse its own energy reaches proof of concept stage – but I don’t think it will be enough to convince hyperscalers to invest
By Wayne Williams
Copyright techradar
Skip to main content
Tech Radar Pro
Tech Radar Gaming
Close main menu
the business technology experts
België (Nederlands)
Deutschland
North America
US (English)
Australasia
New Zealand
View Profile
Search TechRadar
Expert Insights
Website builders
Web hosting
Best web hosting
Best office chairs
Best website builder
Best antivirus
Expert Insights
Don’t miss these
This chip designer you’ve never heard of reveals first thermodynamic silicon in a bid to reduce AI’s unsustainable energy consumption
US startup set to test new CPU that could herald the era of Exaflop on a single chip – I still can’t believe Neurophos’s OPU claims to deliver 234 POPS with a 1000 Petaflops model planned
How can we create a sustainable AI future?
Is the UK energy grid ready for AI’s power demands?
AI’s infrastructure problem is bigger than we think—here’s how to solve it
A tiny firm wants to slash energy consumption by changing the way CPUs are designed – and it is even planning a new high performance server chip
AI’s energy demands are surging – the grid needs to catch up
Remember the doomed AI nation ship? A shipping giant is now planning a real, moving, floating data center that could power thousands of AI GPUs
Microsoft unveils advanced AI cooling which lowers heat, cuts energy use – and could lead to more powerful data centers
Here’s how Nvidia and AMD hardware are being used in surprising ways to build Nvidia’s fastest GPU ever
Laser Processing Units could give traditional CPUs, GPUs and quantum computers a run for their money – but don’t expect them to run Windows anytime soon
Google says it will switch off energy-heavy AI usage at critical points if needed
AI workloads are reshaping infrastructure – here’s what data centers need to know
The hidden economics of AI: balancing innovation with reality
This graph alone shows how global AI power consumption is getting out of hand very quickly – and it’s not just about hyperscalers or OpenAI
‘More like a pendulum than a hammer’: The AI chip that can reuse its own energy reaches proof of concept stage – but I don’t think it will be enough to convince hyperscalers to invest
Wayne Williams
28 September 2025
Vaire Computing’s Ice River chip offers a solution to excessive AI power consumption
When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission. Here’s how it works.
(Image credit: Vaire Computing)
Vaire Computing’s Ice River chip reuses energy, cutting power by around 30 percent
Leaders at the startup describe the test as proof of concept for reversible logic
Despite the result, the chip is unlikely to convince hyperscale operators at this stage
An experimental chip designed by a London startup has reached the proof of concept stage, showing it can reuse part of the energy it consumes.
Vaire Computing hopes its work will go some way to addressing the rising energy demand from artificial intelligence systems, although questions remain about whether such technology will appeal to hyperscale operators who are working on their own energy-taming solutions.
Vaire’s chip, known as Ice River, was tested in August 2025, and used about 30% less energy than a standard processor performing the same task, according to a report by ScienceNews.
You may like
This chip designer you’ve never heard of reveals first thermodynamic silicon in a bid to reduce AI’s unsustainable energy consumption
US startup set to test new CPU that could herald the era of Exaflop on a single chip – I still can’t believe Neurophos’s OPU claims to deliver 234 POPS with a 1000 Petaflops model planned
How can we create a sustainable AI future?
More a pendulum than a hammer
Ice River tackles two common sources of inefficiency in modern processors.
Firstly, instead of running a calculation only one way, the chip’s reversible logic lets it work in both directions, reusing inputs for further calculations rather than discarding them as heat.
Vaire explains, “While traditional computer chips can only use their stored energy once via a typical logic gate, the Ice River chip uses a reversible logic gate, which allows energy to be utilized in both directions.”
Secondly, Ice River uses adiabatic computing. Conventional chips change voltages abruptly, like a hammer striking down, which generates extra heat. In Ice River, voltages rise and fall gradually instead.
Are you a pro? Subscribe to our newsletter
Sign up to the TechRadar Pro newsletter to get all the top news, opinion, features and guidance your business needs to succeed!
Contact me with news and offers from other Future brandsReceive email from us on behalf of our trusted partners or sponsorsBy submitting your information you agree to the Terms & Conditions and Privacy Policy and are aged 16 or over.
This allows the system to recycle part of its own energy into subsequent operations.
Mike Frank, Senior Scientist at Vaire Computing, said current devices “use energy once and then throw it away.” Ice River’s design is a shift from brute-force power to something more subtle. “You can think of [the energy] as sloshing back and forth,” he said.
Or, as ScienceNews journalist Kathryn Hulick described it, the effect is “more like a pendulum than a hammer.”
For cofounder Hannah Earley, seeing the Ice River processor in action was a major thrill. “I’ve been sketching [the chip] on paper and [running it] in simulation,” she said.
The company has been positioning itself for longer-term development. In 2024, Vaire brought in Arm’s former unofficial tech futurologist Andrew Sloss as its VP of technology, and also joined the incubator Silicon Catalyst UK to support its work.
More from TechRadar Pro
One of the world’s most powerful supercomputers could one day heat your home
Major quantum computing breakthrough could mean the revolution is here
These are the best AI tools around
Wayne Williams
Social Links Navigation
Wayne Williams is a freelancer writing news for TechRadar Pro. He has been writing about computers, technology, and the web for 30 years. In that time he wrote for most of the UK’s PC magazines, and launched, edited and published a number of them too.
You must confirm your public display name before commenting
Please logout and then login again, you will then be prompted to enter your display name.
This chip designer you’ve never heard of reveals first thermodynamic silicon in a bid to reduce AI’s unsustainable energy consumption
US startup set to test new CPU that could herald the era of Exaflop on a single chip – I still can’t believe Neurophos’s OPU claims to deliver 234 POPS with a 1000 Petaflops model planned
How can we create a sustainable AI future?
Is the UK energy grid ready for AI’s power demands?
AI’s infrastructure problem is bigger than we think—here’s how to solve it
A tiny firm wants to slash energy consumption by changing the way CPUs are designed – and it is even planning a new high performance server chip
Latest in Pro
Qualcomm’s most powerful CPU ever will target AMD’s Ryzen AI+ 395 with 128GB onboard LPDDR5X memory – while Intel has only 32GB integrated memory to contend with
Qualcomm Guardian is its rival to Intel’s popular vPro platform management system – it can even work without Wi-Fi, but I’m not sure whether it’s such a good thing
Watch out – hackers are using AI to make phishing emails even more convincing
Nearly 150,000 patient records exposed in major healthcare data breach – here’s what we know
This graph alone shows how global AI power consumption is getting out of hand very quickly – and it’s not just about hyperscalers or OpenAI
This devious malware has jumped from Meta over to Google Ads and YouTube to spread – here’s how to stay safe
Latest in News
How to watch Ryder Cup 2025 for *FREE* — stream Sunday Singles
Good news for Samsung Galaxy owners – One UI 8.5 could bring these 3 big upgrades
OpenAI responds to furious ChatGPT subscribers who accuse it of secretly switching to inferior models
YouTube Music is testing a new feature that sounds a lot like Spotify’s AI DJ
New Samsung Galaxy Z Tri-fold leaks hint at key software and camera zoom features
NYT Connections hints and answers for Monday, September 29 (game #841)
LATEST ARTICLES
‘More like a pendulum than a hammer’: The AI chip that can reuse its own energy reaches proof of concept stage – but I don’t think it will be enough to convince hyperscalers to invest
The Nutribullet Triple Prep System is a blender and food processor combo that handled almost every recipe I could throw at it
Good news for Samsung Galaxy owners – One UI 8.5 could bring these 3 big upgrades
Spooky season is nearly here! Here are 9 movies I recommend watching on Netflix, Prime Video and more
Walmart crushes it with another budget-friendly RTX 5050 gaming laptop
TechRadar is part of Future US Inc, an international media group and leading digital publisher. Visit our corporate site.
Contact Future’s experts
Terms and conditions
Privacy policy
Cookies policy
Advertise with us
Web notifications
Accessibility Statement
Future US, Inc. Full 7th Floor, 130 West 42nd Street,
Please login or signup to comment
Please wait…
