Venture Clienting with ebm-papst – Shape the Future of Chip Cooling

Solution Space 

You will find all information regarding the goal, the requirements and the potential partner profile. 

Goal

The goal of this project is to identify and validate next-generation chip and data-center cooling solutions that work excellently together with the next generation of ebm papst products. Each solution should:

• Demonstrate a clear, real-world use case in cooling high-power computing chips in data centers.
• Be measurable and comparable on relevant technical and economic indicators (for example cooling performance, energy efficiency, space requirements and cost level).
• Operate within a clearly defined range of conditions (such as temperature, pressure and flow ranges) that can be jointly refined together with ebm papst.
• Offer a realistic path towards a joint Proof of Concept or lab demonstrator, where your cooling concept is combined with advanced liquid cooling components.

The project aims to create solutions that are technically robust, commercially promising and suitable as the basis for a long-term venture partnership in future data-center cooling.

Solution Requirements

These requirements serve as orientation. Not all criteria must be fully met from day one.

Functional Requirements - the solution should:

• Provide reliable cooling for high-power computing chips used in AI and data-center environments.
• Fit into realistic data-center environments, such as direct-to-chip cold plates, immersion systems, two-phase loops, advanced air-assisted concepts or hybrid systems. Create tangible advantages in performance, energy efficiency or rack density compared to today’s standard cooling solutions (for example more stable chip temperatures, higher packing density, improved energy efficiency of the data center).
• Address a clearly defined customer or use case (for example cloud providers, colocation data centers or high-performance computing installations) with an initial indication of market relevance

Technical Requirements

• Use a cooling approach with a  liquid, gas or two-phase media
• Clearly specify key medium and system parameters: medium type, single- or two-phase behaviour, temperature levels, pressure ranges, typical flow rates, and required cleanliness or filtration.
• Allow that ebm papst can connect its technology into the cooling loop.
• Support instrumentation and data collection during a Proof of Concept (for example temperature, pressure and flow sensors with basic logging) so that joint tests with ebm papst can generate meaningful insights and refine requirements for liquid cooling components.                                                

Operational Requirements - the solution must:

• Be beyond pure concept – ideally with live deployments or pilots in data centers or comparable environments, or at least with credible lab data under realistic conditions.
• Be able to provide the key evaluation metrics that ebm papst uses for comparison, including at minimum:

1. Manufacturer
2. Cooling concept and short process description
3. Cooling performance per chip (and, if available, per square centimetre)
4. Indicative investment cost per watt of cooling capacity
5. Space requirements (a qualitative estimate is enough at first)
6. Physical principle and simplified governing equation
7. Approximate market revenue for this concept (2024)
8. Typical or achievable Power Usage Effectiveness (PUE) and a derived investment cost per PUE (rough values are fine)

• Operate in a way that is safe, maintainable and scalable in a professional data-center context.

ROI Requirements - the solution should deliver a positive net ROI, considering the cost of the solution itself and the operational benefits it generates through:

• lower energy consumption for cooling per unit of IT load (better overall energy efficiency, improved PUE / cooling efficiency ratio)
• attractive investment cost per watt of cooling capacity and per efficiency gain (€/W and €/W per PUE improvement)
• avoiding or postponing major infrastructure upgrades, for example grid or building-side cooling expansions
• enabling more computing capacity in the same data-center footprint (higher usable rack or chip density)
• reduced operational effort, such as lower maintenance needs and higher system reliability over lifetime

Partner Requirements

Partner Requirements – the solution provider should:

• Be a startup, scaleup, research team, or established technology company with proven expertise in chip / server / data-center cooling or closely related thermal-management systems.
• Be willing to collaborate closely with ebm papst experts, including regular technical exchanges.
• Be open to exploring longer-term venture partnership models with ebm papst – for example supplier relationships, co-developed products or co-branded cooling solutions for AI and data-center customers.

We welcome both early-stage and mature teams, as long as you can demonstrate a functional, testable cooling system within the program timeframe.