Tokyo (SCCIJ) – The startup Corintis from Lausanne won the 2025 Top100 Swiss Startup Award for its pioneering in-chip cooling technology. It has the potential to transform next-generation computing and solidify Switzerland’s position at the forefront of deeptech innovation.
Liquid chip cooling
Among the Top 100 Swiss startups in 2025, Corintis stood out with a solution that tackles one of the tech industry’s biggest challenges: heat. As chips become more powerful, managing thermal efficiency of processors is becoming increasingly important. Corintis’ liquid-cooling technology for microchips boosts performance while reducing energy use.
“Traditional air cooling of chips is reaching its limits,” explained Remco van Erp, co-founder and CEO of Lausanne-based engineering startup Corintis. Manufacturers like Nvidia, Intel, and AMD, and cloud operators such as Amazon, Google, and Microsoft are turning to cold plates: copper plates that conduct a cooling fluid to the chips via microcapillaries.
Integrated cooling
The technology is considered a breakthrough with applications across AI, data centers, and high-performance computing. The project idea started in 2022 with Venture Kick, a philanthropic three-stage funding model supporting Swiss startups. Today, the spinoff of the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Lausanne (EPFL) employs 50 people. Since January, Corintis has been shipping entire pallets of cold plates to the US, where most of its large customers are located.
Corintis’ unique selling point: The cooling plates are tailored precisely to the chip’s layout. The software models the heat development in a microchip and predicts the hot spots and the amount of heat generated. The startup is already working on the next logical step: To integrate the microcapillaries with the cooling fluid into the chips. This technology consumes up to 50 times less electricity than traditional air-cooling systems for microchips.
Swiss startup diversity
The two runners-up of the 2025 Top100 Swiss Startup Award demonstrated the diversity of Swiss innovation. Valais-based sDePoly, in second place, has developed a chemical recycling process that breaks down PET plastics into their original building blocks. This innovation enables true circularity in the plastics industry.
DeepJudge from Zurich took third place with its AI-powered legal research platform. By applying natural language processing to vast document collections, it enables law firms and in-house teams to swiftly locate relevant legal information, thereby enhancing the efficiency of a traditionally manual and costly process.
Now in its 15th year, the Top100 Swiss Startup Awards have become an indicator of the country’s entrepreneurial strength. The annual ranking showcases the most promising early-stage ventures, offering insights into the technologies and business models that will shape Switzerland’s economic future. The ranking covers only companies that are no more than five years old at the time of incorporation.
Text: Swisstech (Editing by SCCIJ)
