How Firmus Technologies is delivering a cool solution in a hot market

Inside the HyperCube

The Firmus mission statement is simple: “to build the most energy efficient AI infrastructure”. With energy usage being a core engineering design constraint for data centres, this is an attractive proposition. Firmus reports that it has achieved a power usage effectiveness (PUE) as low as 1.1 in its existing AI Factories, with around 40% less power loss than its competitors operating in the same jurisdictions using traditional data centre air-cooled infrastructure. This has been enabled by innovations in liquid cooling, implemented through its proprietary HyperCube technology.

The HyperCube is what Firmus describes as an “AI factory building block”: a self-contained, modular unit designed to house racks of processors, which can be shipped and deployed as needed. The HyperCube is turning heads as it stands in contrast with the approach taken by many other players in the AI infrastructure space, who have focused primarily on scaling. By comparison, Firmus has taken a more vertically integrated approach, rethinking the underlying infrastructure and developing the HyperCube as a unified AI Factory system in which compute, cooling and power are optimised together and can be deployed different configurations, depending on the type of AI compute to be hosted and the design of the building in which it is located.

Each HyperCube is designed to provide liquid cooling to racks of processors, which are densely packed to increase space and energy efficiency. In view of these constraints, the construction of the HyperCube presents many challenges that have had to be solved with creative thinking and smart design. From the layout of pipework for achieving the desired fluid dynamics to the design of the temperature control systems, the HyperCube is packed full of interesting and unique engineering solutions.

From Innovation to Patent Protection

One way in which Firmus has built a competitive advantage is through its strategic use of patent protection directed towards these solutions. Its patents span both the physical elements of its liquid cooling systems and its software-related innovations, ranging from the core enabling technologies to more granular features that provide an additional competitive edge.

The foundation of the Firmus patent portfolio lies in a series of initial patent families relating to its core liquid cooling and grid-stabilisation software technologies. With the corresponding Australian applications now granted, Firmus has been able to build on this position through divisional filings, mining the initial applications to provide alternative claim sets of broader or differing scope. A similar approach has been adopted in the US and other jurisdictions.

To add further layers to the patent thicket, Firmus has filed additional patent families directed to more specific innovations developed on top of its core system. These additional applications strategically strengthen the Firmus patent portfolio in key jurisdictions, and relate to features of the tanks, pipework, control systems and software underpinning the HyperCube design. By securing protection not only for foundational technologies but also to improvements and alternative implementations, Firmus has created a layered defensive position which increases the cost and complexity for competitors seeking to emulate its approach. This also provides Firmus with potential leverage in licensing discussions, partnerships, and future market expansion.

By continuing to revisit its patent strategy in view of ever evolving systems and commercial strategy, Firmus has placed itself in an enviable position, with multiple granted and pending patent rights spanning a range of technologies across numerous jurisdictions.

With strong IP supporting smart technology, Firmus appears to be not only riding the AI wave, but helping to define the infrastructure on which it runs.