Extending Moore's Law means putting more transistors on an integrated circuit and, increasingly, adding more cores. Doing so improves performance but requires more energy. Over the past decade, Intel estimates it has saved 1,000 terawatt hours of electricity through the improvements its engineers have made to processors. These advances are complemented by cooling technologies - fans, in-door coolers, direct-to-chip cooling - that further manage heat, conserve energy and reduce carbon emissions.

These cooling features require up to 40% of a data center's energy consumption. As Intel looks to increase performance in the future, improvements need to be accomplished in an energy-efficient way, and air cooling may not be the solution. Fortunately, Intel is working with the liquid cooling industry - from tank vendors to fluid providers to its own labs - to create innovative solutions where computing components are in direct contact with a heat-conducting fluid. Some of the solutions seem squarely in the realm of science fiction, like 3D vapor chambers embedded in coral-shaped heat sinks. Or tiny jets, adjusted by artificial intelligence, that shoot cool water over hot spots in the chip to remove heat. All are being explored in thermal labs at Intel.