SEOUL, June 16 (AJP) - Researchers in South Korea have developed a method to carve tiny water channels directly into computer chips, creating a liquid cooling system that reduces the power needed to cool artificial intelligence data centers by 90 percent, the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology said Tuesday.
As artificial intelligence programs become more advanced, the computer chips that run them generate massive amounts of heat. Traditional air-cooling methods using fans and air conditioners are no longer enough to keep these systems from overheating. To solve this, a joint research team, led by the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST)'s Professor Kim Sung-jin and Professor Lee Ik-jin, designed a highly efficient technique to flow water directly inside the chips to absorb heat.
The new technology involves etching microscopic pathways, which are thinner than a human hair, into the silicon of the semiconductor. By dividing the water into multiple short paths rather than pumping it through one long channel, the system works like a local delivery network. This setup significantly reduces the distance the water has to travel, which drastically lowers the energy required to pump it through the chip.
During testing, the team achieved an efficiency level that was more than 10 times higher than the previous world record set in 2020. The system removes heat using ordinary, room-temperature water and does not require expensive materials or complex cooling chemicals. Because the channels can be carved using standard manufacturing processes, the technology can be adopted by chip makers without requiring massive investments in new equipment.
While the initial tests were conducted on a small test chip, the researchers noted the same design could be scaled up for the large, high-performance chips used in modern data centers. The technology has already demonstrated a 30 percent improvement in cooling performance when applied to standard data center cooling plates.
"In the AI era, how effectively heat is controlled is more of a competitive edge than semiconductor performance," Professor Kim said, adding: "We expect this technology to be utilized as a core technology to reduce power consumption in AI data centers."
(Reference Information)
Journal/Source: Energy Conversion and Management
Title: Highly energy-efficient manifold microchannel for cooling electronics with a coefficient of performance over 100,000
Link/DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.enconman.2026.121422
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