- The Ice River chip of Vaire Computing reuses energy, reducing energy by about 30 percent
- Startup leaders describe the test as proof of concept for reversible logic
- Despite the result, it is unlikely that the chip will convince hyperscala operators at this stage
An experimental chip designed by a London startup has reached the concept proof stage, showing that it can reuse part of the energy it consumes.
Vaire Computing expects your work to be somehow to address the increase in energy demand for artificial intelligence systems, although questions remain about whether such technology will attract hyperscala operators who are working on their own energy domestication solutions.
The Vaire chip, known as Ice River, was tested in August 2025, and used approximately 30% less energy than a standard processor that performs the same task, according to a report from Science Sciences.
Plus a pendulum than a hammer
Ice River addresses two common sources of inefficiency in modern processors.
First, instead of executing a calculation only in one way, the reversible logic of the chip allows you to function in both directions, reusing the inputs for more calculations instead of discarding them as heat.
Vaire explains: “While traditional computer chips can only use their energy stored once through a typical logical door, the Ice River chip uses a reversible logical door, which allows energy to be used in both directions.”
Secondly, Ice River uses adiabatic computer science. Conventional chips change voltage abruptly, like a hammer that hits, that generates additional heat. In Ice River, voltages gradually increase and decrease.
This allows the system to recycle part of its own energy in subsequent operations.
Mike Frank, a senior scientist at Vaire Computing, said current devices “use energy once and then throw it.” The ICE River design is a change from the power of brute force to something more subtle. “You can think of [the energy] How to collaborate from one place to another, ”he said.
Or, like Science Sciences The journalist Kathryn Hulick described it, the effect is “more like a pendulum than a hammer.”
For co -founder Hannah Earley, seeing the Ice River processor in Action was a great emotion. “I’ve been drawing [the chip] on paper and [running it] In simulation, ”she said.
The company has been positioning for long -term development. In 2024, Vaire brought the former Futurologist at Arm’s unofficial technology, Andrew Sloss, as vice president of technology, and also joined the incubator Silicon Catalyst UK to support his work.
