Cooling design emerges as battleground for next-gen AI memory

Chip designs aimed at keeping artificial intelligence (AI) accelerators cool are emerging as a new battleground for memory makers, with Samsung Electronics and SK hynix each revealing heat dissipation structures for their upcoming high-bandwidth memory (HBM) products. The memory makers are increasing stacks and data transfer speed for HBMs to meet growing demands for AI computing performance, but facing intensified thermal management challenges. Starting with the eighth-generation HBM5, Samsung Electronics and SK hynix plan to introduce new heat-dissipation technologies to reduce heat at the chip level, improving system reliability and helping data center operators lower total cost of ownership. During COMPUTEX 2026 in Taiwan earlier this week, Samsung Electronics unveiled a mock-up of its HBM5 chip. “Thermal management is becoming a critical factor for next-generation memory as AI systems grow increasingly powerful and densely integrated, requiring advances in not only memory performance but also heat dissipation,” said Song Jai-hyuk, president and chief technology officer of Samsu