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Introducing AX-NV1 Direct-to-Chip Cooling for Hopper Architecture

Customizable liquid cooling ready for Nvidia’s H100 GPU

CLAREMONT, NH–July 19, 2023 – Mikros Technologies, a leading designer and manufacturer of advanced liquid cooling technologies for data centers and high-power electronics, introduces the AX-NV1 cold plate for Nvidia’s H100 tensor core graphics processing unit (GPU). Purpose-built for the Hopper architecture, the AX-NV1 maintains stable operating temperatures under extreme workloads, ensuring maximum efficiency, reliability, and scalability for next-generation AI and HPC deployments.

Nvidia officially announced on September 20, 2022, that the H100 GPU was in full production. Jensen Huang, the Founder and CEO, stated, “Hopper is the new engine of AI factories, processing and refining vast amounts of data to train models with trillions of parameters. These models drive advancements in language-based AI, robotics, healthcare, and life sciences.”

The AX-NV1 liquid cold plate is specifically designed to optimize the enhanced computing power and efficiency of Hopper GPUs. This single-phase solution ensures reliability and prolongs the lifespan of the chips. The effective heat transfer provided by this cold plate improves a user's thermal budget by achieving a 5–7x improvement over traditional skived-fin cold plates. This allows data centers to run Hopper GPUs at higher performance with lower flow rates and higher coolant temperatures, directly contributing to improved Power Usage Effectiveness (PUE) and reduced operating costs.

“The AX-NV1 demonstrates Mikros Technologies’ ability to deliver precision-engineered, production-ready cooling solutions for the most demanding AI workloads,” said Drew Matter, CEO of Mikros Technologies. “Our innovative microchannel designs enable customers to deploy liquid cooling at data-center scale with confidence.” 

Product specifications for the AX-NV1 include a cooling capacity of 50 W/°C at a flow rate of 1 LPM (assuming PG30 at 40 °C inlet temperature). It features a low-pressure drop of 3 PSI at that flow rate and is designed to be compatible with a wide range of quick-disconnect fluid coupling brands. At higher flow rates, the cooling capacity of this cold plate increases, allowing for more powerful and higher-density computing.

The standard dimensions for the active cooling area of the AX-NV1 are 43.9 mm x 51.5 mm. The cold plate is designed to match the GPU’s heat map, optimizing the flow between the core die and high-bandwidth memory (HBM) die. Furthermore, it fits easily into a single rack unit (1U) and can be integrated with both new and existing single-phase systems. Additionally, the AX-NV1 is compatible with ASHRAE W4/W5 inlet temperatures.

Every copper component in the AX-NV1 cold plate is precisely machined and joined using vacuum furnace brazing. This clean, low-pressure process ensures leak-proof joints. Afterward, cold plates are tested with helium mass spectrometry to confirm that there are no leaks. Additionally, custom mounting options are available to accommodate various data center architectures.

“Our goal with the AX-NV1 was to push thermal performance boundaries while keeping scalability and manufacturability in mind,” said Redal Ram, AX-NV1 Project Lead at Mikros Technologies. “This product not only unlocks more compute potential for Nvidia H100 GPUs but also provides a foundation for future high-power devices.”

Mikros Technologies, established in 1991, has been at the forefront of innovative thermal management technology. As a leading design house and manufacturer, the company specializes in providing advanced thermal management solutions to enhance electronic performance, efficiency, and scalability. Their expertise spans a wide range of markets, including the effective cooling of high-performance CPUs, GPUs, transceivers, insulated-gate bipolar transistors (IGBTs), lasers, optics, and other devices.

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Media Contact
Jake Roberts
Marketing Manager
liquid_cooling@jabil.com