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Headlines · 6
- Synthetic Diamond Cooling Targets AI Chip Heat and Supply-Chain Risk
TechNews reports that synthetic diamond and diamond-copper cooling could help address the heat generated by AI computing, as the International Energy Agency estimates data-center electricity consumption could more than double to about 945 TWh by 2030. It cites research by TSMC and Huawei into synthetic-diamond chip cooling, Lenovo’s launch of a China-market laptop with a claimed diamond-copper cooling system, and a Chinese Academy of Sciences institute’s report that a cooling module raised chip-module heat-transfer efficiency by 80%. Reuters also reported that China’s dominant position in synthetic-diamond production could expose the United States to supply-chain risk, while large-scale diamond-wafer manufacturing still requires higher purity and production standards.
科技新报 · 🔥 0 - Opinion: Europe should make AI prove its value before granting grid priority
A commentary in The Next Web argues that Europe should not automatically prioritize data-centre and AI electricity demand when allocating scarce grid capacity. It says developers should demonstrate credible demand, explain public benefits and cover infrastructure costs. The article cites the International Energy Agency’s 2025 base case, which projected global data-centre electricity consumption of about 945 terawatt-hours by 2030, more than twice the 2024 level; the forecast covers data centres broadly, not AI alone. It also cites AEP Ohio’s 2026 update: an initial pool of roughly 30 gigawatts of data-centre requests fell to about 13 gigawatts after customers had to request and pay for engineering studies, while binding agreements covered approximately 5.6 gigawatts.
The Next Web · 🔥 0 - US Data Center Expansion Faces Resource and Political Constraints
An analysis from Culture Dimensions argues that US data center expansion is constrained by access to power, capital, manufacturing capacity, skilled labor, and local fiscal capacity. It reports that seven states are expected to put 34 data center-related measures to ballot votes on November 3 and cites a 2026 Gallup survey saying 70% of US adults oppose building data centers near where they live. The analysis also discusses TSMC and Intel factory timelines and argues that data centers create relatively few long-term jobs compared with the public resources they require.
虎嗅 AI · 🔥 0 - AI Revenue Rises as Infrastructure Spending Pressures Cash Flow
An analysis from the WeChat account Zhengjing She reports that Nvidia generated $96.2 billion in revenue in its fiscal 2027 second quarter, including $89 billion from data centers, at a 75% gross margin. It contrasts these figures with negative quarterly free cash flow at Meta, Alphabet and Alibaba, while noting that Microsoft reported positive free cash flow in its fiscal 2026 fourth quarter as Azure revenue grew 43%. The analysis says GPUs, data centers and power contracts require substantial spending before revenue and profits are realized, so rising valuations do not necessarily mean companies are generating cash. The figures cited in the analysis were not independently verified for this review.
虎嗅 AI · 🔥 0 - Delta, Bloom Energy to showcase AI data-center power tech at Smart Energy Week
Taiwan International Smart Energy Week 2026, held alongside the Taiwan International Net Zero Expo, opens Oct. 14 with Delta Electronics, Bloom Energy, Teco and Eaton among exhibitors showing SOFC fuel cells, microgrids and power distribution technology aimed at AI-era energy supply and management. TechNews cited a latest IEA report saying global data-center electricity use rose 17% in 2025, far above the roughly 3% growth in overall power demand, and noted IEA's earlier estimate that about 20% of planned data-center capacity worldwide could face delays due to grid constraints. The report also said lead times for large transformers have stretched to 3–4 years according to supply-chain sources, drawing attention to solid-state transformers and on-site generation.
科技新报 · 🔥 0 - Software could ease AI data centres' power squeeze, researchers say
Researchers argue there is substantial room to cut data-centre energy use at the software and algorithm layers rather than only in hardware, Tom's Hardware reports. The IEA expects roughly 945TWh of electricity to serve AI demand by 2030 — about as much as Japan uses today — while the Uptime Institute's 2025 survey found average PUE has barely changed for six straight years. The University of Michigan's ML.Energy says running inference in FP8 on Alibaba's Qwen 3 235B A22B Thinking consumed about a third less energy than bfloat16, and its Perseus training optimiser cut training energy by up to 30% without reducing throughput or changing hardware; Nvidia says Blackwell power profiles can save up to 15% of energy while keeping 97% or more of performance.
Tom’s Hardware · 🔥 0
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