- Microsoft Lab Tests microfluidics cooling that tripled the efficiency compared to cold plates
- Researchers say new system reduces GPU -heat the increase by 65 percent in trial
- Microfluidik cooling lifts closer, faster data centers while reducing energy costs for AI workloads
Microsoft has revealed that it is testing a new chip cooling approach called Microfluidics, with the aim of solving one of the biggest challenges for artificial intelligence hardware.
As AI chips grow more powerful, they generate more warmth than previous generations and pushes traditional cooling methods close to their limits.
Most data centers today use cold plates where liquid passes through a plate attached to the chip. This system is separated from the heat source with multiple layers that catch heat, which limits its efficiency. Microsoft’s new design takes another way.
Reliability test
With microfluidics, small grooves directly etched directly on the back of the chip, allowing coolant to flow on the silicon itself and remove the heat more efficiently.
Judy Priest, Corporate VP and CTO for Sky Operations and Innovation at Microsoft, believes the new approach could reshape how future chips are built.
“Microfluidik would allow for more power-tight designs that enable more features that customers are interested in and provide better performance in a smaller amount of space,” she said in a blog post announcing the news.
Priest added that after proving technology and shown the design worked, the next step was to test its reliability.
In laboratory experiments, microfluidics removed the heat up to three times better than cold plates, depending on the workload, and also reduced the GPU temperature increase by 65%.
By combining the duct design with AI, which maps unique hotspots on the chip, Microsoft was able to direct coolant with greater precision.
Sashi Majety, Senior Technical Program Manager at Microsoft, Heat said is becoming a barrier. “If you still trust traditional cold plate technology, you are stuck,” he said, adding that in five years chips can run too hot to cool effectively with today’s systems.
Microsoft believes its breakthroughs show how new approaches could enable faster, closer data centers, while also lowering energy consumption for cooling.
The technology giant collaborates with the Swiss startup Corintis to refine the chip design.
In an attempt to massively reduce its water consumption, Microsoft previously revealed that it was working on a closed cooling system for data centers.
A number of other technology companies, including Lenovo, Dell, Supermicro and Giga Computing, are also running to develop advanced cooling systems, such as overheating risks that add a ceiling to the pace of AI -progress.
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