Chips running artificial intelligence tasks run hot – too hot for comfort in data centers. Enter Discovered Materials, a startup using swarms of AI agents to find cooler materials. Their software generates material leads and runs simulations to verify if these candidates are actually useful.

The founders, Advaith Sridhar and Akash Ramdas, are leveraging Ramdas’ experience from Stanford and Sridhar’s work on AI agents at Persona AI and Luma Labs. They claim to have already discovered several materials that match properties of existing chipmakers' materials but can't reveal more details.

The challenge lies in the engineering trade-space: a material might reduce heat generation or improve dissipation, yet be too difficult to manufacture or compromise electrical properties.

While Mohapatra expects this business to commoditize as models improve, Ramdas’ deep experience and ability to rapidly experiment could give Discovered Materials an edge. The startup aims to patent new materials in the next year, though commercial impact remains uncertain given past AI discoveries that have yet to scale up.