Thermal interface material slashes AI data center cooling cost and GPU/CPU power use

The AI revolution has ushered in an period of exponential energy and vitality consumption. In response to the US Department of Energyvitality consumed by AI knowledge facilities might triple by 2028. Right this moment, as much as 40% of information middle energy use comes from cooling high-power chips—an astounding quantity equal to the state of California’s total electrical energy consumption.

To fight this, Sheng Shen, professor of Mechanical Engineering at Carnegie Mellon College has developed an progressive thermal interface materials (TIM) that outperforms present state-of-the-art options. His designnow printed in Nature Communicationsachieves ultra-low thermal resistance whereas growing cooling effectivity by way of improved warmth dissipation. It additionally proves to be extremely dependable.

“The material is like a bridge between the nano- and macroscopic worlds,” defined Zexiao Wang, Ph.D. candidate in Shen’s lab. “Because the nanoscale material can be created using macroscale approaches, we can see with our own eyes the impact of the material on the world.”

Not solely is Shen’s thermal interface materials the best-performing available on the market, additionally it is extremely dependable. The crew examined the fabric at excessive temperature ranges from -55 to 125 levels Celsius for over one thousand cycles and the fabric confirmed no efficiency degradation.

“This material solves a lot of existing challenges and is ready to be used today,” mentioned Shen. “While an immediate need is focused on cooling data centersthe application for this innovation is extensive. It can break through in industries that have been stuck using outdated thermal interface materials. It can be used for pre-packaging, reworked when using non-adhesives, and enables thermal bonding of two substrates at room temperature.”

“Oftentimes work at the nanoscale is foundational for a device that we might not see for decades,” mentioned Qixian Wang, Ph.D. candidate. “It’s been exciting to see the real world impact our material can have today because it is so easy to use.”

“Our material will have great benefits to the field of AI computing,” mentioned Dr. Rui Cheng, postdoc and innovation commercialization fellow of CMU and the lead writer of the paper. “Past lowering energy consumptionwe will make AI improvement extra reasonably priced, extra renewable, and extra dependable.”