Ventiva has introduced reference designs for an ionic cooling system aimed at AI data centers, edge infrastructure, and compact devices. The company presented the designs publicly for the first time at CES 2026 in Las Vegas.
Ventiva positioned the designs around the rising thermal density of AI workloads. The company said the architecture supports zoned air cooling that directs airflow to the hottest components. These include CPUs, GPUs, and AI accelerators.
The company designed the system to scale across environments. It can support hyperscale data centers, edge deployments, and end-user devices such as laptops. This approach aligns with industry efforts to unify cooling strategies across compute tiers.
Zoned airflow focuses on board-level hot spots
Ventiva said the reference designs rely on ionic cooling technology. The system generates airflow through electrostatic fields that convert electrical current into directed air movement. This process creates micro-channeled airflow paths inside the system.
According to the company, the airflow targets localized heat sources on boards. These include memory modules, storage components, and emerging accelerator architectures. The design limits cooling delivery to areas that actively generate heat.
Ventiva said the approach can reduce the need for traditional mechanical fans and ducts. By doing so, it can free internal chassis space. The company linked this to higher rack density and greater flexibility in system layouts.
Positioning alongside liquid cooling systems
Ventiva described the ionic cooling system as complementary to liquid cooling. The company said operators can deploy it as an augmentative layer within hybrid data center designs. In this role, it can address heat loads that liquid loops may not evenly capture.
Several vendors now market plasma- or electrostatic-based cooling technologies. These solutions aim to overcome the limits of conventional air cooling. Ventiva’s announcement places it within a growing segment focused on reducing mechanical complexity.
The company did not disclose deployment timelines or commercial partners. However, the release of reference designs signals engagement with system integrators and hardware manufacturers.
System design implications highlighted by leadership
Ventiva linked the zoned approach to broader system-level outcomes. The company said targeted cooling can lower noise and reduce mechanical components. It also said the design can simplify internal layouts across platforms.
“Our zoned cooling approach to thermal management represents a meaningful step forward in system design,” said Carl Schlachte, Chairman, President, and CEO of Ventiva. “By cooling only where it’s needed, designers can reclaim valuable motherboard space, simplify internal layouts, and reduce reliance on bulky mechanical components, enabling thinner, quieter devices with fewer tradeoffs while still meeting the thermal demands of AI workloads.”
Broader implications for AI-era infrastructure
Data center operators continue to reassess thermal strategies as AI clusters increase power density. Training and inference systems concentrate heat in fewer components. Uniform cooling models now face growing strain.
From a broader perspective, zoned cooling reflects a shift toward precision infrastructure design. Operators increasingly align cooling capacity with real-time heat generation. Ventiva’s CES 2026 debut highlights how airflow-based systems may evolve alongside liquid and hybrid cooling as AI workloads expand.
