One of Europe's leading climate tech VC firms has called for a “fundamental redesign” of traditional computing methods amid surging energy consumption from AI applications.

The Berlin-based World Fund warns that simply transitioning data centres to renewable power will not be enough to fully decarbonise AI compute. 

“We need to rethink the way we go about computing, from the materials and chips we use to software we run,” Daria Saharova, founding partner at World Fund, said at the event in Munich today.  

At the event, World Fund joined Dealroom and Intel's deeptech accelerator Ignite to unveil a new report that proposes a set of emerging technologies — from chips made in space to processors that mimic the brain — to curb AI's enormous appetite for energy and usher in a new era of greener computing. 

Using data from Dealroom, the report maps out the green computing ecosystem. It identifies 65 startups in this space, 54 of which are European, which have collectively raised $900mn. Over half of these companies were founded within the past five years, with 12 emerging in just the last 12 months. 

A greener vision of AI

The report highlights three key technologies that hold the most potential to decarbonise AI. 

The first is advanced semiconductor materials such as Gallium Nitride (GaN), Silicon Carbide (SiC), and graphene. These could significantly reduce AI's energy consumption by improving efficiency and thermal performance in computing hardware. 

One of the leading innovators in this space is Welsh startup Space Forge. The company is leveraging the microgravity, vacuum, and extreme temperatures of space to produce semiconductors that it claims are three to five times purer than those made on Earth. 

“We've pushed the efficiency of silicon chips to their limit,” said Joshua Western, CEO and cofounder at Space Forge.

Another promising avenue lies in new computing paradigms, such as quantum, neuromorphic, and optical computing. Quantum computers, for instance, promise to solve complex calculations much faster than classical machines, potentially reducing computational time and overall energy consumption. 

“Classical computers are getting too big, too expensive, and use too much energy and water,” said Inés De Vega, VP of innovation at IQM, Europe's best-funded quantum computing startup. “Quantum computing can both find new solutions to climate change but also drastically reduce the overall energy consumption of computing itself.”

Another type of computing gaining traction is optical computing, which leverages photons — particles of light — instead of electrons. It could dramatically increase processing speed, as demonstrated by Germany's Black Semiconductor. The company's photonics processors could transmit signals 100 to 1,000 times faster than traditional electronic chips.

Anastasiia Nosova, a former chip engineer at German semiconductor giant Infineon and host of the Anastasi In Tech podcast, argued that photonic chips could be 100 times more energy efficient than regular silicon semiconductors. “They are one of the most important developments in computing right now,” she said at the Munich event..  

While hardware fixes will be critical, there's also work to be done in advanced software that makes AI's energy use more efficient. One of the startups working on this is London-based Deep Render. The company uses deep learning to compress files while retaining quality beyond what was previously possible. This reduces the volume of data that needs to be transmitted or stored, and thus the amount of computing power required. 

While these technologies hold potential, they're still in the nascent stages of development. Meanwhile, the energy needed to train AI models is doubling every three to four months, according to OpenAI.  

“For these computing solutions to scale in Europe, we need a lot of venture capital but also government backing,” said Saharova. She believes that Europe needs to allocate about €1 trillion to bring climate tech, including green computing, to the “level it needs to be.” 

The future of AI will be a hot topic at TNW Conference, which takes place on June 19-20 in Amsterdam. Tickets for the event are now on sale. Use the code TNWXMEDIA2025 at the check-out to get 30% off the price tag.