Swiss Startup Revolutionizes Data Center Cooling with Innovative Metal Foam

Efficient and Sustainable Solution for Rising Global Data Processing Demands

In response to the growing demands of artificial intelligence (AI) and data processing, Swiss startup Apheros has introduced a groundbreaking metal foam that promises to transform the cooling systems of data centers.

The novel metal foam developed by Apheros offers a solution to the increasing needs for efficient cooling in data centers. With the rise in complex AI workloads, traditional air-based cooling systems are becoming inadequate to handle the heat generated by specialized hardware such as GPUs and TPUs.

Apheros' metal foams are made from various materials, including copper, nickel, and stainless steel, and feature a highly porous structure with interconnecting pores. This design enables a surface area 1000 times higher than traditional cooling methods, resulting in much more effective heat exchange.

The innovative foams boast excellent thermal conductivity and offer up to a 90% improvement in heat exchange, allowing the use of higher coolant temperatures and leading to energy savings of 10-20% in data center cooling systems. This not only reduces operational costs but also promotes sustainability in the data processing industry.

As data centers continue to seek ways to operate more sustainably and efficiently, Apheros' solution presents an optimal choice for passive cooling applications, such as heat sinks, and has potential in two-phase direct-to-chip cooling. The company's co-founder and CEO, Julia Carpenter, compares the foam's functionality to that of a highly porous kitchen sponge that effectively draws heat away from the chips.

This advancement in cooling technology represents a significant step forward for data centers, providing them with an energy-saving alternative that meets the needs of an industry driven by the relentless growth of AI and large language models.