One of the many challenges of building new AI data centers is heat
One of the many challenges of building new AI data centers is heat. The AI chips, or graphics processing units, are so powerful that they’re in constant danger of melting.
A new partnership between the chemical maker Dow Inc. and Atlanta startup Carbice is aimed squarely at that problem.
Carbice, founded by Baratunde Cola, a mechanical engineering PhD and former Vanderbilt fullback, makes an alternative to “thermal paste,” the glue-like material that connects the blazing hot processor to the cooling mechanism that draws heat away from the chip.
It sounds like no big deal, but thermal paste is a crucial part of a GPU, filling microscopic air gaps that might otherwise trap heat instead of pulling it away. Any reduction in cooling performance can slow GPUs down and reduce their lifespan. It’s so important that serious computer gamers sometimes replace old thermal paste in their GPUs to get performance gains.
Instead of a paste, Carbice’s “ice pads” accomplish the task using carbon nanotubes. These are microscopic strands of carbon that are among the world’s best known conductors of heat.
The ice pad is made up of billions of carbon nanotubes that are vertically oriented, like a forest. They are so small that the individual tubes work their way into microscopic crevices on a material, creating a strong bond. Heat travels up the tubes and into the cooling mechanism, where it’s pulled away from the chip.
And unlike thermal paste, which slowly loses its effectiveness, Carbice says the nanotubes improve over time by burrowing deeper into the materials. The company says the device offers a dramatic improvement in cooling. But even a modest increase could save hundreds of millions of dollars for AI data centers with tens of thousands of GPUs.
Carbon nanotubes have been known for their incredible properties for decades and have fascinated both scientists and science fiction writers, who have dreamed up things like space elevators and, in The Three Body Problem, a grizzly tool of war.
While the material has found its way into products like batteries, it’s usually in powder form and not vertically aligned to take maximum advantage of its properties. But it’s incredibly difficult to manufacture complete carbon nanotubes at scale.
Carbice’s patented method, and Dow’s willingness to help mass produce it, is a positive development in the field, says Ray Baughman, a longtime nanotechnology researcher at University of Texas at Dallas with more than 100 patents. “His upscaling means that we have an opportunity to increasingly take advantage of our patent filings,” he said.
His upscaling means that we have an opportunity to increasingly take advantage of our patent filings.
Ray Baughman
Nanotechnology Researcher
University of Texas