Microsoft unveils AI chip cooling breakthrough

Microsoft has announced it has found a way that could help the next generation of powerful AI chips run more efficiently. The company has tested a system that removes heat up to three times more effectively than metal plates, which are the current solution.

Let's start at the beginning – for a data center to work, it needs Artificial Intelligence chips. As people rely more on AI in their everyday lives, companies build more data centres and focus on investing in or building energy power plants themselves.

The chips that data centres use now are usually cooled with cold metal plates made from copper or aluminum. They’re placed directly on the chip, which creates a limit to how much cooling is possible – they’re separated from the source of the heat by layers of material.

Now, Microsoft is introducing a new approach called microfluidics, and it works like this: AI chips now have tiny channels that are engraved. They serve as “valleys” through which liquid flows more efficiently, specifically over hot spots. Microsoft also used AI to track heat patterns and direct the coolant where it is needed most.

“Microfluidics allows for more powerful designs, better performance, and smaller, more efficient chips,” said Judy Priest, Microsoft’s chief technical officer for Cloud Operations and Innovation.

a microchip that has engraved veins, blue, and grey — Dan DeLong for Microsoft.

Microsoft’s tests showed that microfluidics could reduce the maximum temperature rise in a GPU (the part of the chip used for AI, machine learning, and scientific computing) by 65%. What’s more, the technology could also allow servers to “overclock” – or run faster than usual without overheating.

Microsoft claims that the inspiration for this cooling system came from nature after a collaboration with a Swiss startup that came up with nature-inspired patterns similar to leaf veins or butterfly wings.

Microfluidics is part of Microsoft’s wider effort to improve data center efficiency and sustainability. In the future, according to the company, the technology could enable new chip designs, including the stacking of 3D chips, which is currently impossible because they would overheat.