AI Is Getting Hot: Can Additive Manufacturing Help Cool It Down?

Additive Snack · 18 Aug 2026 · 49m · Episode 39

What this episode covers

Professor PS Lee, founder of CoolestDC and head of Mechanical Engineering at the National University of Singapore (NUS), explains how additive manufacturing (AM) enables complex unibody cold plates that reduce junction temperatures by ~10°C and pumping power by 60–70% in AI data centers. He details the transition from single-phase to two-phase direct-to-chip liquid cooling and the deployment of AM cold plates at NUS’s Sustainable Tropical Data Center Testbed (STDC), which features 22 liquid-cooled racks and ~500 kW capacity. Lee discusses system-level challenges, including leakage risks, total cost of ownership (TCO) evaluations, and the potential for AM in space-based data centers and waste-heat reuse.

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