Overview

• Microsoft and Swiss startup Corintis co-developed AI-shaped, leaf‑vein‑like microchannels etched into the back of silicon to route coolant directly over hotspots.
• The prototype cooled a server running simulated Microsoft Teams workloads using a water/propylene glycol mix flowing through hair‑thin channels on the die.
• Microsoft says the approach could enable short overclocking bursts, tighter rack density and, longer term, 3D‑stacked chip designs that current cooling can’t support.
• The company has not set a deployment timeline and says leak‑proof packaging, coolant safety, reliability testing and fab integration must be proven outside the lab.
• Corintis closed a $24 million Series A that Reuters reports valued it around $400 million, added Intel CEO Lip‑Bu Tan and CoolIT founder Geoff Lyon to its board, and targets scaling cold‑plate output from about 100,000 to roughly 1 million units next year as Vertiv shares fell on the news.