Overview
- Microsoft reports its on‑chip microfluidic system cools roughly three times better than current cold plates and cuts GPU maximum temperature rise by 65%.
- Coolant is routed directly across exposed silicon through biomimetic microchannels designed with AI to concentrate flow on heat‑intense regions.
- Lab evaluations included a server scenario simulating Teams workloads, with Microsoft citing improved data‑center energy efficiency and potential for denser deployments and longer hardware life.
- Key hurdles remain in channel fabrication without weakening silicon, leak‑proof packaging, coolant formulation, and supply‑chain integration; the team iterated four designs over a year.
- The effort remains in R&D with integration into Microsoft chips under study, while competitors pursue other liquid‑cooling paths, including reported NVIDIA work on micro‑channel cold plates.