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

- Show: [Additive Snack](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/additive-snack)
- Published: 2026-08-18
- Length: 49m
- Episode: 39
- Page: https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/additive-snack/2026-08-18-ai-is-getting-hot-can-additive-manufacturing-help-cool-it-down
- Listen: https://share.transistor.fm/s/7459144b

## Summary

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.

## Chapters

- [0:07](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/additive-snack/2026-08-18-ai-is-getting-hot-can-additive-manufacturing-help-cool-it-down#t=7) Introduction: Professor PS Lee and CoolestDC
- [5:23](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/additive-snack/2026-08-18-ai-is-getting-hot-can-additive-manufacturing-help-cool-it-down#t=323) Chip-to-Grid Cooling and GPU Density Challenges
- [10:22](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/additive-snack/2026-08-18-ai-is-getting-hot-can-additive-manufacturing-help-cool-it-down#t=622) Liquid Cooling Maturity and Infrastructure
- [14:15](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/additive-snack/2026-08-18-ai-is-getting-hot-can-additive-manufacturing-help-cool-it-down#t=855) Single-Phase vs. Two-Phase Direct-to-Chip Cooling
- [18:12](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/additive-snack/2026-08-18-ai-is-getting-hot-can-additive-manufacturing-help-cool-it-down#t=1092) Cold Plate Design Tradeoffs and AM Unibody Benefits
- [24:23](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/additive-snack/2026-08-18-ai-is-getting-hot-can-additive-manufacturing-help-cool-it-down#t=1463) Benchmarking AM Gains: Temperature and Pumping Power
- [30:18](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/additive-snack/2026-08-18-ai-is-getting-hot-can-additive-manufacturing-help-cool-it-down#t=1818) AM Applications for CDUs and Distributed Systems
- [33:53](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/additive-snack/2026-08-18-ai-is-getting-hot-can-additive-manufacturing-help-cool-it-down#t=2033) Inside STDC Testbed: 22 Racks and 500 kW Deployment
- [38:09](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/additive-snack/2026-08-18-ai-is-getting-hot-can-additive-manufacturing-help-cool-it-down#t=2289) Reliability, Leakage, and Next Phase Roadmap
- [42:15](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/additive-snack/2026-08-18-ai-is-getting-hot-can-additive-manufacturing-help-cool-it-down#t=2535) Orbital Data Centers and Space-Based Thermal Management

## Topics

- [Mechanical engineering](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/topic/mechanical-engineering)
- [Materials & manufacturing processes](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/topic/materials-and-processes)
- [Energy & climate tech](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/topic/energy-and-climate-tech)
- [Scaling production](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/topic/scaling-production)
- [AI & machine learning](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/topic/ai-and-machine-learning)

## Most relevant to

early-stage companies

## Mentioned

- National University of Singapore (company)
- CoolestDC (company)
- EOS (company)
- STDC (product)
- SpaceX (company)
- NASA (company)
- Boeing (company)

## Related episodes from other shows

- [S1E03 This ain’t your grandma’s cooling technology | David Binger](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/being-an-engineer/2020-05-01-s1e03-this-aint-your-grandmas-cooling-technology-david-binger) (Being an Engineer)
- [Smart Air, Smarter Cooling: Actasys's Innovation in Data Center Technology](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/over-the-air/2025-02-10-smart-air-smarter-cooling-actasyss-innovation-in-data-center-technology) (Over the Air)
- [The truth about data center water usage](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/catalyst/2026-10-08-the-truth-about-data-center-water-usage) (Catalyst)
- [21. AI Rescues Firefighters, NASA Prints Spacecraft Parts, Plug & Play Prosthetics](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/the-next-byte-podcast/2021-06-08-21-ai-rescues-firefighters-nasa-prints-spacecraft-parts-plug-play-prosthetics) (The Next Byte Podcast)
- [The Digital Warehouse: A Look Inside Additive Manufacturing w/ Melanie Lang](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/the-manufacturing-executive/2022-03-01-the-digital-warehouse-a-look-inside-additive-manufacturing-w-melanie-lang) (The Manufacturing Executive)

## Citing this page

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