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Corintis valued at around $400 million after Series A

round -

source

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Corintis plans to expand team, scale up manufacturing and

open

U.S. offices

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Microfluidic cooling tech promises better heat management

for AI

chips, company says

By Aditya Soni and Stephen Nellis

SAN FRANCISCO, Sept 25 - Corintis, a Swiss startup

promising more rapid liquid chip-cooling technology, has raised

$24 million and added Intel ( INTC ) CEO Lip-Bu Tan to its board as

artificial intelligence fuels demand for better heat management

tools for semiconductors.

Tests by Microsoft ( MSFT ), a Corintis customer, have shown

the Lausanne-based startup's system, which runs liquid through

tiny channels etched on the chips to draw off heat, is up to

three times more efficient than standard methods.

Corintis was valued at around $400 million after the Series

A funding round, a source familiar with the matter told Reuters

on Thursday.

Demand is rising for new cooling methods as AI chips made by

companies such as Nvidia ( NVDA ) consume unprecedented amounts

of power, straining traditional systems that rely on pumping

cold air through data centers. The heat results in slower chips

and adds pressure on already stressed power grids.

While most liquid cooling only pulls heat from the chip's

surface and leaves hot spots, Corintis says its technology

channels liquid inside the chip itself to cool more efficiently

and reduce power and water use.

The company uses software to automate the design of cooling

systems and manufactures its cold plates - metal blocks that sit

on top of chips and transfer heat into circulating liquid - in

Europe. The tech can be used as a drop-in upgrade for existing

liquid cooling systems or be built directly into chips.

"Right now we are able to produce around 100,000 cold plates

per year. Next year we are ramping up to around 1 million cold

plates per year," co-founder and CEO Remco van Erp told Reuters.

Remco founded the startup, spun off from Lausanne's Federal

Institute of Technology, in 2022 with two others, including

Chief Operating Officer Sam Harrison.

The company's Series A funding round was led by venture

capital firm BlueYard Capital and joined by Founderful, Acequia

Capital, Celsius Industries and XTX Ventures, among others. It

took the total funds raised so far to $33.4 million, including a

pre-seed round.

Corintis said Tan, also the chairman of venture capital firm

Walden International, became a board member before his

appointment as Intel ( INTC ) CEO in March. Geoff Lyon, founder and

former CEO of liquid-cooling firm CoolIT, also joined the board,

it added.

Corintis will use the new funds to expand its team to 70 by

year-end from 55 currently, scale up manufacturing and open

offices in the U.S., where many of its customers are based.