Solid-State Cooling Technology 2026 — PatSnap Eureka
Solid-State Cooling Technology Landscape 2026
AI workloads and PCIe 5.0/6.0 interfaces are pushing thermal design power beyond passive cooling limits. Explore the patent signals shaping TEC integration, liquid cold plates, and AI-driven thermal governance.
Two Interrelated Domains Converging at the Thermal Ceiling
Solid-state cooling technology resolves into two interrelated domains: physical cooling hardware — the cold plates, immersion tanks, thermoelectric elements, heat pipes, and liquid distribution systems that remove heat from semiconductors — and software-driven thermal governance — firmware throttling, predictive temperature modeling, AI/ML-guided power management, and system-level feedback loops that coordinate cooling responses.
Both domains are tightly coupled: hardware cooling capacity sets the thermal ceiling, while software control determines how close to that ceiling a device can operate safely. As IEEE-standardised PCIe 5.0/6.0 interfaces push thermal design power (TDP) beyond the limits of passive and air-based solutions, the convergence of these two domains has become the defining challenge for enterprise storage and data center infrastructure teams.
Among retrieved results, the most technically active sub-domains are cold-plate liquid cooling of servers and SSDs, thermoelectric cooler (TEC) integration within SSD controllers, AI/ML-based predictive thermal management at device and system level, immersion cooling and hybrid architectures, and radiative cooling for edge deployments. PatSnap's IP analytics platform enables teams to map white space across all these sub-domains.
The SNIA SFF-TA-1008 standard is becoming the convergence point for liquid-cooled SSD enclosures, with multiple independent filings in 2024–2025 conforming to this specification. For life sciences and chemical R&D teams managing high-density compute, PatSnap's materials and chemicals intelligence provides complementary thermal materials analysis.
Core Innovation Clusters in the Dataset
The solid-state cooling patent dataset organises into four technically distinct clusters, each addressing a different layer of the thermal management stack.
Thermoelectric Cooling (TEC) Integrated into SSD Controllers
TEC devices — solid-state Peltier elements — are being embedded directly within SSD enclosures to provide active cooling without mechanical throttling. Controller logic activates TEC elements only when throttling would degrade user experience, preserving performance while maintaining thermal compliance. Western Digital's dual-threshold TEC control patents (2020, 2022) are the foundational filings; Samsung's advanced disturbance-rejection fan control extends this approach to system-level coordination.
Key assignees: Western Digital, SamsungLiquid Cold-Plate and Immersion Cooling for SSDs and Servers
The dominant hardware cluster in the dataset, spanning cold-plate integration directly into SSD form factors conforming to SFF-TA-1008 and SFF-8201 standards, full liquid-cooled server architectures, and immersion tanks. Microsoft's 2025 US filing treats liquid cooling as integral to the SSD enclosure from the device specification level. China Construction Bank's 2024 CN filing eliminates residual air cooling by providing full liquid coverage of server nodes including memory, CPU/GPU, IO, power, and SSD cold plates.
Key assignees: Microsoft, China Construction Bank, TycoSoftware-Driven Predictive Thermal Management
This cluster covers firmware, BMC-level, and AI/ML-based systems that anticipate thermal events rather than reacting to them. Methods include LSTM-based temperature trajectory prediction, power-performance linear relationship modeling, and autonomous disturbance rejection control for fan speed. Innogrit's ML model accepts LBA, timestamp, data size, temperature readings, and performance configuration as inputs and outputs optimal performance configuration and predicted temperature.
Key assignees: Samsung, Innogrit, Shenzhen HuakunHybrid and Passive Cooling Architectures
An emerging cluster combining multiple physical cooling modalities — radiative cooling, phase-change storage, natural convection, and active liquid — switching between them based on ambient conditions. Nvidia's 2023 GB filing uses a neural network trained to infer cooling requirements from sensor inputs, switching between active microchannel and passive heat-pipe modes. Suzhou Yuannao's 2024 CN filings introduce radiative cooling through the 8–13 μm atmospheric window to dissipate heat to deep space.
Key assignees: Nvidia, Suzhou Yuannao, Beijing Guoke HuanyuPatent Filing Distribution and Assignee Landscape
Geographic and assignee concentration data derived from the solid-state cooling patent dataset retrieved via PatSnap Eureka.
Filing Distribution by Geography
China accounts for approximately 55–60% of all filings in this dataset, with the US and KR as secondary contributors.
Top Assignees by Filing Depth (Dataset)
Samsung Electronics leads with approximately 12 filings across multiple technical clusters, followed by Microsoft (4), IBM (3), Nvidia (3), and Western Digital (3).
Top Assignees by Filing Depth and Focus
| Assignee | Jurisdiction | Filing Count (dataset) | Technical Focus |
|---|---|---|---|
| Samsung Electronics | KR / US | ~12 | SSD thermal architecture, BMC control, TEC, advanced throttling |
| Microsoft Technology Licensing | US / CN / EP | ~4 | SSD reliability prediction, liquid-cooled SSD racks |
| International Business Machines | US | ~3 | SSD startup current management |
| Nvidia Corporation | CN / GB | ~3 | Hybrid cold plate, in-row cooling, thermal testing |
| Western Digital Technologies | KR / CN | ~3 | TEC-based SSD thermal management |
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Where Solid-State Cooling Innovation Is Being Applied
Patent filings in this dataset cluster around five distinct application domains, each with different thermal requirements and design constraints.
Enterprise Data Centers and AI Training Clusters
The largest application domain in this dataset. Cold-plate liquid cooling of GPU and CPU server nodes, full-liquid-cooled server systems, and immersion tanks are all driven by AI and high-performance computing workloads. Key filings include China Construction Bank's full liquid-cooled server system (CN, 2024) and Nvidia's in-row cooling unit with interchangeable heat exchangers (CN, 2023). Life sciences R&D teams managing genomics compute clusters face identical thermal challenges.
Driven by AI workloads and HPCEnterprise SSD Storage in PCIe 5.0+ Servers
PCIe 5.0+ interfaces push SSD TDP beyond passive cooling limits. Water-cooling channels integrated into SSD enclosures conforming to SFF-TA-1008 are the target architecture. Key filings: Shanghai Baocun's water-cooling channel SSD (CN, 2024), Innogrit's SSD with internal coolant pipe (CN, 2025), and Microsoft's hot-swappable liquid-cooled SSD rack system with dry-contact cold plates (US, 2025). This signals a shift from liquid cooling as retrofit to designed-in from the device specification level.
SFF-TA-1008 convergence pointBlockchain and Cryptocurrency Mining Servers
ASIC mining hardware generates extreme heat densities. Dedicated liquid-cooling manifolds and hybrid per-component cooling — liquid for temperature-insensitive parts, air for temperature-sensitive components — are the key approaches. Key filings: Shenzhen Bitmain Electronics Technology's blockchain server power supply heat dissipation (CN, 2023) and a private inventor's hydraulic module for ASIC servers (UA, 2024). WIPO data confirms this as a growing cross-border filing area.
Extreme heat density challengeEdge Computing and Aerospace/Satellite Servers
Edge servers deployed outdoors require adaptive cooling that can exploit low ambient temperatures for free cooling while switching to active systems in hot conditions. Beijing Guoke Huanyu Technology filed in January 2026 for a vibration- and shock-resistant liquid-cooled server architecture specifically for satellite deployment — an entirely new application domain. The Korea Electronics Technology Institute filed on adaptive temperature control via log analysis for edge servers (KR, 2024). According to ITU, edge compute deployments are growing rapidly in challenging thermal environments.
New frontier: aerospace & edgeFive Emerging Directions in the Dataset
Among filings from 2023–2026 in this dataset, five directional signals are visible — each pointing toward a distinct architectural shift.
- Direction 01
Hot-Swappable Liquid-Cooled SSDs as a Standard Form Factor
Microsoft's 2025 US filing and Innogrit's 2025 CN filing both treat liquid cooling as integral to the SSD enclosure, conforming to SNIA standards. This signals a shift from liquid cooling as a retrofit toward it being designed-in from the device specification level.
- Direction 02
AI/ML Thermal Prediction Replacing Reactive Throttling
Multiple 2024–2025 filings — Innogrit's ML-based SSD thermal management (2023, CN), Shenzhen Weikeweiyu's LSTM-based SSD array control (2025, CN), and Shenzhen Huakun's BMC with 3D thermal LSTM (2025, CN) — all treat temperature as a predicted variable rather than a measured threshold.
- Direction 03
Radiative Cooling to Deep Space for Edge Servers
Suzhou Yuannao Intelligent Technology filed twice (2024, 2024) on integrating radiative cooling materials that emit through the 8–13 μm atmospheric window to dissipate heat to outer space — enabling passive cooling without any powered refrigeration in low-ambient-temperature conditions.
What This Landscape Means for R&D and IP Teams
Standard-form-factor liquid cooling for SSDs is imminent. Multiple independent filings (2024–2025) across US, CN, and KR are converging on SNIA SFF-TA-1008 compliant liquid-cooled SSD enclosures. R&D teams building enterprise storage infrastructure should treat this as an architecture transition, not an incremental upgrade.
TEC activation is becoming a firmware-native capability. Western Digital's dual-threshold TEC control patents and Samsung's advanced disturbance-rejection fan control indicate that solid-state thermal actuation — rather than throttling — will be the primary QoS preservation mechanism in next-generation SSDs. IP strategists should audit white space around TEC controller integration patents using PatSnap's IP analytics tools.
The AI/ML thermal prediction space is competitive and fragmented. At least five distinct assignees filed predictive thermal management patents between 2023 and 2025, with no single dominant architecture. This fragmentation creates both freedom-to-operate risk (multiple overlapping claims) and licensing opportunity. The trend toward LSTM/neural-network temperature prediction is consistent across CN, KR, and US filings. EPO patent analytics confirm AI-based thermal control as one of the fastest-growing IPC subclasses.
China leads in server-level liquid cooling hardware volume but trails in device-embedded cooling IP. Chinese assignees dominate cold-plate server architecture and immersion system filings. US and Korean assignees (Samsung, Microsoft, Western Digital) hold stronger positions in device-embedded and software-defined thermal control. Companies entering the space should assess both dimensions independently. The PatSnap platform enables cross-jurisdictional white space mapping across both dimensions simultaneously.
Radiative and passive hybrid cooling represents an uncontested frontier. The deep-space radiative cooling approach (8–13 μm emission window) appears in only two filings in this dataset and zero US or KR filings. For R&D teams targeting edge, aerospace, or ultra-low-PUE data center markets, this represents a low-competition IP filing opportunity with growing practical relevance as energy costs drive PUE optimisation. IEA data on data center energy consumption underscores the urgency of passive cooling approaches.
Solid-State Cooling Technology — key questions answered
Solid-state cooling encompasses a broad set of thermal management approaches for solid-state devices — primarily solid-state drives (SSDs) and the server/data center infrastructure they inhabit — ranging from thermoelectric cooling elements embedded within storage devices to advanced liquid-cooling architectures serving high-density compute clusters.
Samsung Electronics is the single most prolific assignee across multiple technical clusters — from physical SSD heat spreader design to firmware-level TEC control and BMC-coordinated fan management. Other key assignees include Western Digital Technologies, Microsoft Technology Licensing, Nvidia Corporation, and OCZ Storage Solutions.
The field has reached an inflection point as AI workloads and PCIe 5.0/6.0 interfaces push thermal design power (TDP) beyond the limits of passive and air-based solutions, forcing convergence between hardware thermal design, firmware-level power management, and predictive software control.
TEC devices — solid-state Peltier elements — are being embedded directly within SSD enclosures to provide active cooling without mechanical throttling. The key innovation is controller logic that activates TEC elements only when throttling would degrade user experience, preserving performance while maintaining thermal compliance.
Among the retrieved results, China (CN) dominates by volume, accounting for approximately 55–60% of filings. The United States (US) and South Korea (KR) are the next most active jurisdictions, with smaller contributions from AU, IN, GB, JP, WO, UA, HK, and EP.
Suzhou Yuannao Intelligent Technology filed twice (2024, 2024) on integrating radiative cooling materials that emit through the 8–13 μm atmospheric window to dissipate heat to outer space — enabling passive cooling without any powered refrigeration in low-ambient-temperature conditions.
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References
- Hydraulic Module for ASIC Servers — BABIY IGOR LEONIDOVYCH (Private Inventor), 2024, UA
- Electrical Power Distribution Optimized Liquid Immersion Cooling Tank — Tyco Fire & Security GmbH, 2025, AU
- Cold-Plate Full Liquid-Cooled Server System and Cooling Method — China Construction Bank Corporation, 2024, CN
- Data Center 3D Solid State Drive with Matrix Cooling — SanDisk Information Technology (Shanghai) Co., Ltd., 2019, CN
- Solid State Drive with Internal Coolant Pipe and Server — Innogrit Corporation, 2025, CN
- A Solid-State Cooling System — Shailendra Anil Waghulde, 2023, IN
- Methods and Apparatus for Mitigating Temperature Increases in a Solid State Device (SSD) — Western Digital Technologies, Inc., 2022, KR
- Methods and Apparatus for Mitigating Temperature Increases in a Solid State Device (SSD) — Western Digital Technologies, Inc., 2020, CN
- Advanced Thermal Control for SSD — Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd., 2023, KR
- SSD Driven System Level Thermal Management — Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd., 2019, US
- Hot-Swappable Liquid-Cooled Solid State Drive — Microsoft Technology Licensing, LLC, 2025, US
- Server Device and Solid-State Storage Device Thereof — Shanghai Baocun Information Technology Co., Ltd., 2024, CN
- Dynamic Power Throttling in Solid State Drives — OCZ Storage Solutions, Inc., 2016, US
- Fine-Grain Dynamic Solid-State Cooling System — Jacob A. Balma, 2022, US
- Intelligent Cold Plate System with Active and Passive Features for a Datacenter Cooling System — Nvidia Corporation, 2023, GB
- In-Row Cooling Unit with Interchangeable Heat Exchangers — Nvidia Corporation, 2023, CN
- Server Heat Dissipation Equipment and Cooling Control Method (Radiative Cooling) — Suzhou Yuannao Intelligent Technology Co., Ltd., 2024, CN
- Natural Cooling Data Center and Manufacturing Method — Beijing Guoke Huanyu Technology Co., Ltd., 2024, CN
- IEEE — Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers — PCIe standards and thermal design power references
- SNIA — Storage Networking Industry Association — SFF-TA-1008 liquid-cooled SSD form factor standard
- EPO — European Patent Office — AI-based thermal control IPC subclass growth data
- IEA — International Energy Agency — Data center energy consumption and PUE optimisation
- WIPO — World Intellectual Property Organization — Cross-border filing data for server cooling technologies
- ITU — International Telecommunication Union — Edge compute deployment growth in challenging thermal environments
All data and statistics on this page are sourced from the references above and from PatSnap's proprietary innovation intelligence platform. This landscape is derived from a limited set of patent and literature records retrieved across targeted searches and represents a snapshot of innovation signals within this dataset only.
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