Cooling down the energy costs of data centres

On average, a ChatGPT search consumes almost 10 times more energy than a search on Google. And as artificial intelligence becomes more widely used, energy consumption is expected to double every 100 days. Experts predict that by 2030, data centers alone will account for 9% of the total energy demand in the US. The complex cooling process is a major driver of this energy consumption.

Zurich-based Apheros, a spin-off of ETH Zurich, has developed and patented a novel cooling solution for data centres. Co-founder Julia Carpenter's PhD thesis in the Complex Materials Group laid the groundwork for the new cooling method using metal foam. The innovative metal foam solutions utilise steel, nickel and copper particles to create foam structures with completely open porosity. The unique microstructure boasts a surface area 100 to 1,000 times greater than existing metal foam products, allowing more heat to be dissipated and improving performance in high thermal load applications.

According to the company, these metal foams are ideal for high performance cooling applications and can be seamlessly integrated into customers' existing cooling systems. They address the pressing need for customers to reduce energy consumption and cooling costs. Apheros is currently targeting the thermal management market, focusing on liquid cooling – a segment that is growing rapidly due to the increasing demand for high performance computing, artificial intelligence and data centres.

Interest in the new technology is high. The Swiss materials research institute Empa is collaborating with them, as are the renowned German Fraunhofer Institute and the European Space Agency's business incubator, among others. According to the founders, the use of the innovative metal foams extends beyond cooling systems. In the long term, they see great potential in energy storage, for example in rechargeable batteries. And as a next step, Apheros aims to focus on the development of components used in electrolysis in connection with the production of hydrogen – the energy source of the future.

The all-female founding team has raised USD 1.85 million in pre-seed funding to achieve these ambitious goals.