Corintis, a Swiss chip startup, has raised $24 million in Series A funding to enhance its innovative chip cooling technology, addressing the thermal challenges posed by AI advancements.
Corintis, an advanced startup based in Switzerland, has successfully secured $24 million in a Series A funding round aimed at scaling its chip cooling technology. The investment was led by Blue Yard Capital, with participation from Founderful, Acequia Capital, Celsius Industries, and XTX Ventures, among others. Following this funding round, the company has been valued at $24 million, as reported by Reuters.
The demand for new cooling methods has surged as AI chips consume unprecedented amounts of power, placing significant strain on traditional cooling systems. Unlike conventional liquid cooling solutions that primarily remove heat from the chip’s surface and often leave hot spots, Corintis has developed a technology that channels liquid directly inside the chip itself. This innovative approach not only cools more efficiently but also reduces both power and water usage.
Corintis employs software to automate its cooling systems and manufactures cold plates—metal blocks that sit atop chips and transfer heat into circulating liquid. According to co-founder and CEO Remco van Erp, the company currently produces around 100,000 cold plates annually, with plans to ramp up production to approximately 1 million cold plates per year in the near future. The startup was established in 2022 as a spin-off from the Federal Institute of Technology in Lausanne and has already shipped over 10,000 cooling systems, generating eight-digit revenue since its inception.
In conjunction with the latest funding, Corintis has appointed Intel CEO Lip-Bu Tan to its board of directors. Tan emphasized the importance of cooling technology, stating, “Cooling is one of the biggest challenges for next-generation chips. Corintis is fast becoming the industry leader in advanced semiconductor cooling solutions to address the thermal bottleneck.”
The new funds will enable Corintis to expand its workforce from 55 to 70 employees by the end of the year, increase manufacturing capabilities, and establish a presence in the United States, where many of its customers are located. The company aims to produce over a million microfluidic cold plates annually by 2026, with the potential for further scaling as the demand for advanced AI chips continues to rise.
In a related development, Microsoft has also invested in Nebius, an artificial intelligence infrastructure firm. Nebius recently announced a multi-year deal with Microsoft to provide cloud computing power for AI workloads, valued at $17.4 billion through 2031. The company, which was spun out of the Russian internet giant Yandex, specializes in providing graphic processing units and AI cloud services. It offers AI developers the necessary computing, storage, managed services, and tools to build, tune, and run their AI models, supported by its cloud software architecture and in-house designed hardware.
As the landscape of AI technology continues to evolve, companies like Corintis are positioning themselves at the forefront of innovation, addressing critical challenges such as thermal management in semiconductor design.
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