AI Boom Turns Chilly for Manufacturing: Industrial Strength

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Microsoft Corp.’s announcement that it’s developed a more efficient way to cool down the chips that power data centers sent chills through the industrial sector — and not in a good way.

The technology giant said this week that it had developed a microfluidic cooling system that’s embedded directly onto a chip, with etched grooves bringing liquid coolant to the silicon. The process works up to three times more efficiently than the cold plates that have traditionally been used for this purpose but whose limitations cap the potential to develop more powerful chips ...