[GTC 2026] KoolMicro CEO: "IMMC Technology Resolves Memory Bottlenecks, Maximizes AI Inference Speed"

Interview with Yun Hyeok Im, CEO of KoolMicro
Liquid Cooling Becomes Essential Amid Surging AI Inference Demand
IMMC Minimizes Energy Consumption and Maximizes Efficiency
Aiming for Trillion-Won Company Status by 2030

"The phenomenon of focusing sunlight with a magnifying glass to burn paper is now happening in data centers around the world. The heat generated per unit area inside semiconductor chips is on par with the surface of a nuclear reactor."

Yun Hyeok Im, CEO of KoolMicro, diagnosed the heat dissipation challenges confronting the semiconductor industry during an interview with The Asia Business Daily at the 'GTC 2026' event in San Jose, California, USA, on March 19 (local time). With 25 years of expertise in semiconductor thermal management design and solutions, CEO Im stated, "With the surge in demand for AI inference, semiconductor heat generation has far exceeded the limits of traditional air cooling methods," adding, "Liquid cooling is now a necessity, not an option."

Yun Hyeok Im, CEO of KoolMicro, is being interviewed by The Asia Business Daily at the ‘GTC 2026’ event held on the 19th (local time) in San Jose, California, USA. Photo by Hyunji Kwon

The Limits of Conventional Air Cooling: 'Water' as an Essential Solution

Traditional air cooling dissipates heat by blowing air, but it reaches its limit when the heat generated per unit area approaches 100W/cm². In contrast, high-density AI chips generate 300 to 500W/cm², making the adoption of liquid cooling inevitable. Water, due to its much higher density and specific heat compared to air, is the optimal medium for absorbing and transporting massive amounts of heat without resistance.

KoolMicro's 'Integrated Manifold Micro Channel (IMMC)' technology maximizes the efficiency of liquid cooling. The solution combines a 'micro channel' structure with a winding surface reminiscent of a ria coastline, and a 'manifold' design that controls the flow of water along the shortest possible path.

CEO Im explained, "Unlike conventional methods where water flows laterally to absorb heat, the IMMC adopts a three-dimensional structure in which water passes vertically from top to bottom and then exits upward again. By reducing the coolant's pathway to one-tenth of the original length, we've minimized resistance, dramatically lowering the energy (pumping power) required to circulate the water."

Yun Hyeok Im, CEO of KoolMicro, is being interviewed by The Asia Business Daily at the ‘GTC 2026’ event held on the 19th (local time) in San Jose, California, USA. Photo by Hyunji Kwon

Cooling Equals Performance: "Addressing Memory Bottlenecks Through Temperature Control"

The industry is paying attention to this technology not only because it extends semiconductor lifespan, but also because it directly boosts AI computation performance. The core of AI semiconductors, High Bandwidth Memory (HBM), must perform more frequent "refresh" operations as temperatures rise to prevent data loss. During these refresh cycles, data read/write operations are suspended, slowing down overall computation speed. KoolMicro's solution reliably lowers chip temperatures, thereby extending the refresh interval. CEO Im noted, "By ensuring the memory can operate continuously at full bandwidth, AI inference speed increases dramatically."

Market trends are in line with KoolMicro's strategy. Nvidia has announced it will introduce 100% liquid cooling starting with its next-generation 'Vera Rubin' architecture, and the shift to liquid cooling is spreading across the entire infrastructure, including not just GPUs but also switches and power lines. At this GTC 2026 event, KoolMicro attracted significant attention from representatives of global hyperscalers (large-scale data center operators) such as Microsoft, Amazon, and Google, as well as server manufacturers.

KoolMicro's design is thinner and more compact than that of competitors, reducing the use of expensive copper to cut costs while maximizing space efficiency, thereby meeting the needs of customers who want to install more GPUs in limited data center space.

KoolMicro plans to sequentially launch its IMMC product lineup (1, 2, and 3) from this year through 2028 and is also preparing new product lines for cooling peripheral components beyond CPUs and GPUs. Starting with servers for data centers, the company aims to expand into the defense and medical device sectors, targeting sales of 100 billion won within one to two years and achieving trillion-won status by 2030.

CEO Im emphasized, "I want to innovate humanity's infrastructure with technology that cools heat most efficiently while using less energy. Our mission is to 'Refresh the World.'"

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.