Innovative ideas are discussed at Leti Innovation Days, as datacentres swell under the weight of AI workloads
Jun. 23, 2025 –
At last week’s Leti Innovation Days (LID) 2025 event in Grenoble, power consumption was on everyone’s mind.
With artificial intelligence (AI) driving insatiable demand for compute, datacentres are ballooning in size and energy use. “It’s expected that some datacentres will soon reach 500 megawatts,” said Jean-René Lèquepeys, chief technology officer (CTO) of CEA-Leti, in an exclusive interview with Computer Weekly. “In places like Ireland, where 40% of the country’s electricity is consumed by datacentres, this raises serious questions about sustainability.”
This year’s event, which drew more than 1,000 attendees and featured over 130 talks, revolved around the future of sustainable electronics. In his plenary speech, Sébastien Dauvé, CEO of CEA-Leti, underscored the urgency of tackling energy inefficiencies. “AI is not optional,” he said. “It’s a strategic imperative. But we must not allow it to become a runaway train.”
Many companies are heeding the call. Representatives from across the semiconductor ecosystem gathered at the event to share solutions – from advanced packaging to photonic interconnects, and new methods to tame the heat and power demands of high-performance computing. Among the speakers, Thibault Basquin of Ardian Semiconductor highlighted the private investment community’s growing commitment. “We’re doubling down on companies building the next generation of power-saving technologies,” he said. “Public-private investment is critical at this inflection point.”
Lèquepeys announced the launch of Resolve, an ambitious initiative targeting a 1,000-fold improvement in energy efficiency by 2032. “We’re working on 15 technology tracks across three layers of the compute stack, from frugal data use to hardware-level power optimisations.” Backed by a growing consortium that includes Fraunhofer, Silicon Austria and Finland’s VTT, Resolve positions Europe as a central actor in the global sustainability race.
Lèquepeys also revealed that CEA-Leti is working with partners like Schneider Electric and startups like Ferroelectric Memory Company and Soitec to industrialise early results from pilot lines. These collaborations are already shaping commercial strategies, from wide-band-gap power devices for electric vehicles to photonic links and power converters tailored to AI-centric datacentres...