Details about the technology of the young company Maxwell Labs, which proposes to cool chips with photons, have recently emerged. The startup began licensing its development in December 2024, promising a revolutionary method for cooling processors and accelerators in data centers. At the same time, plans were announced to present working models of cooling systems in the summer of 2025 and to begin delivering solutions to customers in 2027. As it turned out, the technology is still far from implementation.
Image source: Maxwell Labs
When Maxwell Labs unveiled its solid-state photonic cooling technology for chips at the SC24 high-performance computing conference in Atlanta, it was demonstrated behind closed doors and by appointment only. At the time, the essence of the development remained unknown. As The Register later explained, the technology is based on the cooling effect discovered in 2012 when a laser is applied to gallium arsenide. Moreover, the gallium arsenide plates that conduct heat away from the chip must be absolutely pure – without any foreign impurities, otherwise the laser beam will not cool them, but heat them.
To set up production of pure gallium arsenide wafers, Maxwell Labs has secured the support of two academic institutions in the United States: the renowned Sandia National Laboratories and the University of New Mexico. These organizations will help with the production of prototypes and development of the technological process.
Moreover, with cooling chips with photons (lasers), everything turned out to be not so simple. It turned out that the laser is capable of cooling only a small area on the plate – only a few hundred microns in size. This leads to the concept of point cooling of chips, when it is necessary to direct laser radiation strictly to those areas of the chip (or cooling plate) that heat up most intensively. For this, for example, special light guides can be used, providing precise focusing of the laser beam.
There are few details, but one can imagine something like a network of optical channels or fibers placed on a cooling plate made of gallium arsenide. The laser is connected to the input channel of such a network and cools the chip at strictly defined points. Such a solution will not become a universal cooling system and will only complement traditional methods of heat removal – using liquid, radiators or air cooling.
The company admits that there is not a single working prototype of a solid-state photonic cooling system yet. All calculations and estimates are based solely on computer modeling. However, the first demonstration sample could be created by the fall of 2025, and the solutions are planned to be delivered to customers by the end of 2027.