# GCM brings graphite tech to the fight against AI’s heat problem > Source: > Published: 2026-08-12 20:35:15+00:00 # GCM brings graphite tech to the fight against AI’s heat problem **AI’s rapid growth is creating an increasingly difficult heat management problem****GCM’s lightweight VHD graphite moves and spreads heat faster than tested copper****Customer testing and OEM qualification are the next steps towards recurring orders** The AI boom is swallowing up chips, electricity and data centre capacity at a ridiculous pace. Tech giants are spending heavily on the infrastructure needed to train and run increasingly powerful AI models. But cramming more computing power into chips, then packing more of those chips into dense server racks, creates an unavoidable problem. It produces an enormous amount of heat. And if that heat cannot be removed quickly enough, processors throttle back to protect themselves, performance becomes less consistent and the wider cooling system has to work harder. Buying a beast of a GPU is not much use if it has to keep taking its foot off the accelerator. So the AI infrastructure race is increasingly about who can stop all that expensive hardware from cooking itself. For decades, copper and aluminium have done most of the heavy lifting inside heat sinks, heat spreaders and other thermal-management components. But as processors become more powerful and heat becomes concentrated into smaller areas, [ GCM Corporation (ASX:GCM)](https://stockhead.com.au/company/gcm-corporation-gcm/) believes those conventional materials are running into their limits. The Australian tech company is developing and commercialising a [graphite-based thermal-management material called VHD](https://www.gcmcorporation.com/vhd-technology), designed to move and spread heat rapidly while weighing substantially less than copper or aluminium. “AI is not just a compute race; it is increasingly a heat-removal race,” GCM CEO Clinton Booth told *Stockhead*. “As chips and server racks become more powerful and densely packed, the ability to move heat away quickly, evenly and efficiently becomes increasingly valuable.” ## AI’s increasingly hot bottleneck Almost every watt of electricity consumed by a processor eventually becomes heat. AI makes that problem more difficult because far more computing grunt is now being squeezed into smaller chip packages and increasingly crowded server racks. The challenge is not simply the overall temperature inside a data centre. It is also heat flux – the amount of heat concentrated within a particular area – and how quickly that heat changes as processors jump between different workloads. “AI intensifies that challenge because far more computing power is being concentrated into smaller chip packages and denser server racks,” Booth said. Data centres are responding with increasingly advanced air cooling, liquid cooling, cold plates and vapour chambers. But every system still depends on the same opening move: transferring heat away from the chip or power device and spreading it into the broader cooling architecture. That critical first step is where GCM believes VHD can earn its spot. Third party research cited by GCM estimates the data centre thermal-management market was worth around US$15 billion in 2025, and could grow at a compound annual rate of about 9% through to 2034. ## Giving heat a faster exit GCM manufactures VHD from graphite flake using its proprietary mix, press and bake process. That turns graphite into dense, repeatable blocks that can be machined into heat sinks, heat spreaders, cold-plate components and other thermal products. Graphite itself is thermally anisotropic, meaning it conducts heat particularly effectively along the plane of its structure rather than equally in every direction. GCM’s process turns it into a dense, machinable VHD block. The block can then be oriented so its strongest heat-spreading plane carries heat away from a concentrated source and across a larger area. “A simple analogy is that VHD creates a thermal highway in the direction the product needs it,” Booth said. That directionality means VHD is not a magic slab that can be dropped anywhere and expected to fix every cooling problem. Its orientation, shape and interface with the surrounding system still have to be properly engineered. The underlying material numbers give GCM something substantial to work with. In like-for-like independent testing conducted by the University of New South Wales, VHD recorded in-plane thermal conductivity of 422 watts per metre-kelvin, 29% above the 328W/mK recorded by the tested copper. Its thermal diffusivity, which measures how quickly a material responds to and spreads changing heat loads, was almost three times greater than the tested copper’s. In a separate technical white paper based on thermal modelling, GCM found its VHD heat sinks delivered stronger cooling per gram than selected copper and aluminium products, highlighting their potential in weight-sensitive applications. The practical benefit is greater engineering flexibility. “Depending on the application, a customer may be able to operate a component at a lower temperature for the same power,” said Booth. “They can also create additional power headroom within the same temperature limit, reduce the size or weight of the cooling hardware, or improve the effectiveness of the surrounding air- or liquid-cooling system.” ## Moving beyond impressive lab numbers Strong material properties, however, are only the starting point. The commercial test is whether GCM can turn those properties into application-ready products that solve real customer problems. GCM recently received its first independent results from VHD heat sinks installed in a potential customer’s fully enclosed, passively cooled LED streetlight modules. Using the same heat-sink geometry and thermal interface material, the VHD-equipped 25W and 40W modules recorded LED surface temperatures 3.1°C and 3.3°C lower respectively than comparable modules fitted with aluminium heat sinks. The VHD units also showed a smaller temperature difference between the LED and the heat sink, indicating heat was being transferred away from the device more effectively. Testing is now expected to move into the potential customer’s higher-powered and higher-heat-flux products. By the end of the June quarter, GCM had shipped 12 products for evaluation by potential customers, with another 10 in various stages of design or manufacture. ## Getting inside existing cooling systems GCM sees its biggest near term opportunity in AI and hyperscale data centres, working with thermal-management manufacturers and liquid-cooling OEMs already supplying the sector. Its thermal enhancement wafer, or TEW, is a thin VHD component designed to spread heat from localised hot spots inside an existing cold plate. By enhancing rather than replacing the cold plate, it should be easier for customers to integrate and test. Initial samples are already with potential customers. “The practical entry point is not to ask those companies to replace an entire cooling system; it is to improve the critical interface where heat must first be removed from a chip and spread into that system,” Booth said. Success in testing, the company said, could lead to purchase orders and recurring supply. ## Building more than one road to market Under a binding 24-month agreement, GCM is also working with Chinese thermal-management manufacturer ALVC to combine its vapour chamber technology with a VHD heat sink. Two products have entered prototyping, with ALVC to lead sales and marketing and GCM to supply the VHD heat sinks (subject to commercial terms and purchase orders). GCM’s standard heat sinks are meanwhile available through global distributor DigiKey, where initial Australian and US sales have generated its first revenue from the channel. The volumes remain immaterial, but DigiKey gives engineers an easy way to discover, buy and evaluate VHD products. “The early signs are encouraging, but it is important to describe them accurately,” Booth said. “We have completed initial DigiKey sales in Australia and the United States and generated our first product revenue.” ## What investors should watch next GCM has shown it can manufacture VHD and turn it into saleable products. The harder question is whether customer testing can now produce qualification, purchase orders and repeat demand. The next 12 to 18 months could be pivotal for GCM – with stronger test results, OEM approvals, repeat orders, ALVC progress and lower-cost manufacturing at scale all potential catalysts for investors. Qualification cycles will vary, but once a component is designed and qualified inside an OEM cooling platform, it could potentially be deployed across multiple customer programs. “The central milestone is the transition to a qualified component that generates repeat demand,” Booth said. AI will keep demanding more computing power, and more computing power will keep producing more heat. If GCM can turn its technology into qualified, repeatable products, AI’s growing heat problem could open up a major commercial opportunity. **Now listen to this: Long Shortz with GCM Corporation: New testing backs VHD cooling tech** *At Stockhead we tell it like it is. While GCM Corporation is a Stockhead advertiser, it did not sponsor this article. This story does not constitute financial product advice. You should consider obtaining independent advice before making any financial decision.* ## Related Topics ### UNLOCK INSIGHTS Discover the untold stories of emerging ASX stocks. 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