xMEMS begins mass production of solid-state cooling chips for AI glasses, phones and data centers
Chip startup xMEMS Labs has started mass production of the XMC-2400 and XMC-4800, two solid-state coolers that use a vibrating silicon membrane to move air in AI glasses, smartphones and data center storage.
The chips are aimed at two places where AI hardware runs into heat limits. Conventional fans "simply cannot fit" in AI glasses and smartphones that still need active heat removal, said Mike Housholder, vice president and general manager of the thermal management business unit at xMEMS. In data centers, the company is targeting solid-state drives, laser modules and other parts left outside the liquid cooling that increasingly surrounds high-power processors.
The technology behind both chips came out of xMEMS' speaker business, where an electrical signal flexes a thin silicon membrane to produce sound. In the cooling chips, the same type of membrane moves air. Because the device builds high pressure, xMEMS said, manufacturers can route that air down narrow channels to a processor or a memory chip. Nothing in the package spins, and because each device is a single piece of silicon, Housholder said it could eventually be packaged together with the AI processors it cools.
The smaller XMC-2400 targets personal solid-state drives and glasses built for AI or extended reality. The XMC-4800 moves more air, enough for thermally demanding AI smartphones as well as enterprise SSDs and other lower-power subsystems in the data center. In July, xMEMS introduced a third, smaller model, the XMC-1200, to cool the light engines and processors inside smart glasses.
xMEMS said customers testing the chips have cut temperatures by 10 to 25 degrees Celsius at the chip and system level in glasses, smartphones and SSDs. Measuring 7.42 by 9.48 by 1.13 millimeters, the XMC-2400 moves up to 28 cubic centimeters of air per second against as much as 1,300 pascals of back pressure on about 150 milliwatts. The larger XMC-4800 tops out at 48 cubic centimeters per second.
Founded in 2018, xMEMS is a venture capital-backed startup that made its name with speakers for earbuds and headphones. In October last year it raised $21 million in a Series D round led by Boardman Bay Capital Management LLC to fund the move into mass production.
The first commercial products built around the XMC-2400 are expected to reach the market in early 2027. Live demonstrations are planned for CES in Las Vegas in January.