Thermal Breakthrough, with David Tearse (CEO of Karman Industries) скачать в хорошем качестве

Thermal Breakthrough, with David Tearse (CEO of Karman Industries)

In this episode of Valley of Depth, we sit down with David Tearse, co-founder and CEO of Karman Industries, to explore a piece of the AI boom that rarely gets attention: thermal infrastructure. As hyperscale data centers grow into multi-gigawatt “AI factories,” the limiting factor is no longer just chips or capital — it’s how efficiently we can move and reject heat. David explains how Karman’s Heat Processing Unit (HPU) reimagines cooling from first principles, bringing aerospace-grade turbomachinery and modern power electronics to a decidedly unglamorous but critical layer of the AI stack. The conversation moves from the physics of heat to the politics of data centers, and ultimately to why thermal efficiency may become a quiet national security advantage. We discuss: • Why thermal management—not chips—may be the next bottleneck in the AI stack • How Karman’s HPU replaces traditional chillers and dry coolers outside the data center • How much additional compute Karman can unlock from the same power input • Why CO₂ refrigerant de-risks data center builds from a regulatory standpoint • How Karman thinks about reliability, uptime, and “aerospace-style” engineering • Why data centers are becoming a national security issue • Where Karman could expand beyond data centers—nuclear, geothermal, and beyond …and much more. • Chapters • 00:00 – Intro 00:51 – Elara Nova ad 01:21 – Karman Industries mascot 02:28 – How would David describe himself? 05:01 – The original insight that became Karman Industries 06:31 – What do people underestimate about thermal management? 07:26 – The story behind the name 08:21 – How David and co-founder CJ Karla ended up working together 11:15 – Why is now the right time to be solving thermal management? 15:13 – Where does the heat go today? 16:31 – Energy usage for compute vs cooling 17:32 – Energy Savings with Karman's heat processing units (HPUs) 18:05 – Why C02? 20:48 – Replacing vs integration 21:37 – Regulatory side 24:42 – Karman's customer pipeline 26:33 – Reliability 28:59 – Engineering challenges 30:39 – What comes next for Karman 31:55 – Is thermal management a national security issue? 33:21 – David's thoughts on rerouting heat 36:23 – HPUs in space 37:58 – The company culture that allows for building relaiable solutions quickly 44:35 – Milestones for Karman in the next couple of years 47:00 – What does David do for fun? • Show notes • Karman’s website —https://www.karmanindustries.com/ David’s socials — https://x.com/7earse Mo's socials — https://x.com/itsmoislam Payload’s socials —   / payloadspace   /   / payloadspace   Ignition’s socials —   / ignitionnuclear   /   / ignition-nuclear   Tectonic’s socials —   / tectonicdefense   /   / tectonicdefense   Valley of Depth archive — Listen: https://pod.payloadspace.com/ • About us • Valley of Depth is a podcast about the technologies that matter — and the people building them. Brought to you by Arkaea Media, the team behind Payload (space), Ignition (nuclear energy), and Tectonic (defense tech), this show goes beyond headlines and hype. We talk to founders, investors, government officials, and military leaders shaping the future of national security and deep tech. From breakthrough science to strategic policy, we dive into the high-stakes decisions behind the world’s hardest technologies. • Payload: www.payloadspace.com • Tectonic: www.tectonicdefense.com • Ignition: www.ignition-news.com