Challenging the Future of AI! Japanese Venture Company ZYRQ - Mr. Motoaki Saito, formerly of PEZY -

I found some interesting news that might change the future of AI,
so I'm sharing it.

It's a bit of a technical topic, so it might be hard to follow, but

to put it simply,it's a revolutionary technology for semiconductor cooling.

It's a completely different approach from the conventional one, with ultra-low costs and ultra-high performance.
It has the kind of impact that might just change the world!!

However, since there are few sources of information,
I'm not sure how much of it is true...

From an AERA dot / Yahoo News article

It's a long, seven-page article,
but I read it all in one go.

I am a former semiconductor engineer.
I'm not joking, it's true lol

I've been away from the field for decades now,
so I only skim the latest technology news.

Picking out the important parts of the article...

• A completely new "water immersion" cooling method

• Planned to be used as a cooling technology for next-generation generative AI data centers

• Used for cooling the heart of AI data processing: GPUs and HBM (high-density memory modules)

• Uses only ordinary tap water as the primary refrigerant.
  (Completely unconventional! Crazy in a good way!)

• As a secondary refrigerant for external circulation, natural water such as groundwater, river water, lake water, seawater, etc., as well as industrial water or cooling water from refrigerators can be used.

• It seems the secret lies in the structure of the specially developed heat-conducting body.
  (Realized a new structure that enables long-term watertight performance by covering the chip with a flexible film that allows water to come into direct contact with the chip while keeping it away from other electrical systems.)

• The latest GPUs have power consumption reaching 1000W.
  (The power consumption of a chip just a few centimeters square is equivalent to an air conditioner!)

• Conventionally, designs are often based on a chip temperature of 100–105°C.

• With this technology,stable operation at a chip temperature of 25°C!! (This is also groundbreaking!)
  However, be careful, as the temperature inside the chip and the temperature of the cooling water mean different things!

• Assuming 25°C allows for significant performance improvements and cost reductions

• Currently possesses approximately 10 times the cooling capacity of other state-of-the-art liquid cooling methods

• This enables the volume of data centers to be reduced to a fraction of their conventional size

• Of the 8 filed patents, 6 have already received evaluation reports from the Japan Patent Office

  • Out of a total of 156 claims, at least 141 have been judged to have novelty, inventive step, and industrial applicability, and are considered patentable

  • Moving forward, we will proceed with national phase patent entry procedures in each country sequentially

• The core of the news is that a joint development agreement for commercialization has been signed with Taiwan's ITRI (Industrial Technology Research Institute), which is among the world's best in semiconductor technology

For now, the above is a transcription and summary from the article.
I am not yet sure how much of it is true.

The article was written by Mr. Shigeaki Koga.

The water cooling system of Japan's supercomputer 'K'

I recall that the water cooling for 'K' also used a low temperature...
so I looked it up and found

The temperature of the water being pumped in is 15°C ± 1°C, and
I have heard stories that the water warmed by the chips was also around 20°C

The water cooling system of Japan's supercomputer 'Fugaku'

The current 'Fugaku' also uses a water cooling system, and it seems to use water at around 10°C

Proprietary immersion cooling system

There is also an explanation on the official website of ZYRQ, Inc., which developed it

ITmedia, an article by someone else as well

I can't seem to find any articles in overseas media... Hmm.

The Importance of Cooling Technology

Semiconductors break easily if they get too hot..
Even if they don't break immediately, they degrade and their lifespan shortens.
What should last 10 years might only last a year, or even less...

Also, performance drops when they get hot..
Keeping them at room temperature or near 0°C allows for higher speeds.

However, when you run a semiconductor, it always generates heat.
It's like the image of a human getting a fever from thinking too hard.
In any case, how to efficiently dissipate the heat generated by the semiconductor itself to the outside,
waste heat and cooling are one of the important technical themes.exists as

Like this news,
cooling a 1000W system (chip) to 25°C is,
a bit unrealistic, and if it's true, it's super revolutionary, but...

Japanese venture company ZYRQ

I'm hearing about them for the first time, but they seem to be a PEZY group company.

Led by Mr. Motoaki Saito, formerly of PEZY.

PEZY was a very hot topic in the industry for a while, but,
since the representative was arrested and indicted, I haven't seen them in the news.

But it seems the company is still continuing.
And Mr. Motoaki Saito is also active!?

Semiconductor technology is a multiplication of various technologies.

Semiconductor technology has evolved to a very high level, and,
people from the past (like me, lol) can't keep up at all,
it's become amazing.

• Chip design and manufacturing

• Logic and memory

• Power consumption and cooling technology

• High-density, multi-layer, implementation and packaging technology

• Hardware and software

and so on...

This time, regarding cooling technology,
in the past, a few watts was considered a huge deal,
but now it's 1000W...
It's a world of a different order of magnitude, it feels like we've gone to the edge of the universe.

It's a world like the romance of space (laughs).

If the technology is the real deal,
the path to corporate collaboration and establishing a de facto standard is super important.
This news looks like the first step toward that, so this is also super important.

Since huge amounts of money are involved, politics also comes into play.
You can't succeed with technology alone...

Will they be able to maneuver successfully?
I'm looking forward to it while feeling the depth of business!

Today, my inner geeky boy's blood got a little stirred up,
and I ended up getting a bit carried away lol

Well then, see you later!

This article was written by

Shigeki Kawahara, a 'Future Realization Partner' who increases revenue pillars
https://mousoubiz.com/
https://twitter.com/mousoubiz