News Release

JX Nippon Mining & Metals Corporation (President: Seiichi Murayama; hereinafter “the Company”) will begin collaborating with Osaka University spin-off venture Lotus Thermal Solution Inc. (President: Takuya Ide; hereinafter “LTS”), having entered into a capital relationship by acquiring LTS shares issued in a capital increase through third-party allocation. The collaboration is aimed at promoting practical implementation of lotus-type porous metals (hereinafter “Lotus Metals”) for use in heat sinks.

 

There is growing interest these days in technology for controlling the heat generated in equipment, which is increasingly an issue as automotive vehicles become more electrified and the amount of data processed in electronic devices becomes larger. Against this background, the need for materials with greater heat dissipating efficiency and cooling performance is expected to rise.

 

The Lotus Metals developed by the founder of LTS are metal materials with pores extending in the same direction. They are manufactured by dissolving hydrogen gas in molten copper or other metal, followed by cooling and solidifying. The large specific surface area and outstanding cooling and heat dissipating properties make these metals promising for application as heat sink materials. They have been shown to improve heat dissipating efficiency by four to five times over use of conventional materials.

 

Through this collaboration, the Company’s core technologies and mass production technology for handling of copper and other metal materials will be used to seek practical implementation of the materials developed by LTS, with their superior performance. Among the applications aimed for are coolers for high-performance CPUs in large servers, and cooling devices for batteries used in electric vehicles and electronic components.

 

The Company intends to engage actively in new business creation through collaboration with partners, and to propose and provide advanced materials essential to innovative electronic devices, thereby helping to achieve a sustainable society.

 

 

 

Figure 1: Overview of LTS (as of August 7, 2020)

Company name	Lotus Thermal Solution Inc.
Location	1-3-267 Umeda 1-chome, Kita-ku, Osaka, Japan
Representative	Takuya Ide, President & Representative
Main business operations	Manufacture and sale of high-performance heat sinks using lotus-type porous metals
Established	January 2016

 

Figure 2: Lotus Metal

Figure 3: Typical Application of Lotus Metal (CPU Cooler)