Press Release of 23.10.2025

Towards energy-efficient artificial intelligence (AI)

New platform for magnet-based AI hardware under development at HZDR

The Helmholtz-Zentrum Dresden-Rossendorf (HZDR) has achieved double success in the EU Regional Development Fund (ERDF) funding call “InfraProNet” conducted by the Saxon State Ministry for Science, Culture and Tourism (SMWK). With the two projects MagKI and Magnon4KI, the HZDR is further strengthening its leading position in magnetic AI research. Combined, the projects will receive around €3.75 million in funding from the EU and the Free State of Saxony. Their aim is to lay the groundwork for a novel and highly energy-efficient hardware platform for artificial intelligence – a technology designed to operate more sustainably than today’s AI systems.

With this new infrastructure, a competence center for magnetic AI hardware is emerging in Dresden-Rossendorf. The total funding from EU, federal, and state sources now amounts to roughly €10 million – a strong signal for the future viability of this research. “This makes HZDR a key location for magnetic AI in Germany,” says HZDR Scientific Director Prof. Sebastian M. Schmidt. “We are creating a platform that links basic research with industrial applications – precisely what is needed to develop the next generation of AI technologies.”

Recent advances in large language models, translation software, and image generators all come with a significant drawback: they consume enormous amounts of energy. “Training AI models like ChatGPT requires gigawatt-hours of energy,” says Dr. Helmut Schultheiß, head of the Spin Interaction and Control working group at HZDR’s Institute of Ion Beam Physics and Materials Research. “And with each new model, greater computing performance is required, which also means even more power.” Consequently, the energy consumption of AI systems threatens to increase unchecked – posing a problem not only for future development, but also for the global climate. To improve the situation, HZDR is pursuing a disruptive approach: AI hardware based on magnetic components, designed to operate more sustainably.

Today’s computer chips are based on billions of transistors that switch electrical current and continuously generate heat, making them real power guzzlers for AI applications. Magnetic components work differently: they utilize collective oscillations of electron spins, known as magnons. They carry energy and information via magnetic interactions rather than transporting electrical charges – consequently, hardly any current flows, resulting in minimal energy loss as heat.

Making sense of the puzzle-chaos

Instead of toggling between individual transistor states, complex wave patterns propagate in the magnetic materials, which can process information directly. “Picture it like a pile of puzzle pieces,” explains Schultheiß. “Magnetic AI sorts all the pieces before classical logic takes over. Doing it that way will save a number of computational steps – and thus a lot of energy.” The approach builds on the successes of the EU project NIMFEIA. Here, the HZDR has already demonstrated that such magnetic elements can be seamlessly integrated into the chip manufacturing processes of partners such as GlobalFoundries and Infineon.

The newly awarded grants will allow the center to further advance the development. The MagKI investment program enables the acquisition of four specialized device platforms for the production and characterization of magnetic nanostructures. The institute’s clean room will be equipped by an advanced etching tool. Using focused ion beams, researchers can create nanodefects – a key technology for precisely tuning memory cell properties. This will be complemented by a femtosecond laser for magneto-optics, an ultrafast arbitrary waveform generator and a THz spectrometer – all combined with a superconducting magnet – giving us access to magnetic oscillations in the terahertz range, i.e., at previously unattainable speeds. The measuring station will demonstrate how magnons behave on extremely short time scales – a prerequisite for a magnetic AI that learns and reacts in real time.

Linking up with quantum technology

In addition, a quantum magnetometry platform will be purchased, where highly sensitive probes detect magnetic fields on an atomic scale. This enables coupling magnetic storage with quantum technology, for example in ultra-precise quantum sensors. Finally, a nano-ellipsometer will capture the light reflections of individual nanostructures. For the first time, this will allow the measurement of the optical properties of magnetic and quantum-based systems with spatial resolution. The data generated will aid in characterizing and optimizing new materials.

Magnons and quantum phenomena complement each other perfectly. In the future, magnetic states could thereby be read out optically or via quantum-based methods – a significant technological step forward. “With these four instruments we greatly expand our capabilities,” explains Jürgen Lindner, head of the Magnetism Department of the Institute of Ion Beam Physics and Materials Research at HZDR. “We will be able to work at low temperatures, high magnetic fields, and ultra-short timescales, which is crucial to truly understand the performance of magnetic systems.”

Competence center for magnetic AI

The second, closely linked project “Magnon4KI” consolidates the research activities. It explores how magnetic and quantum-based processes can be combined to create novel AI components. Magnon4KI provides the scientific foundation for MagKI. The project develops the concepts, methods, and prototypes that will later be tested on the new equipment platform. “Both projects are set up cross‐departmentally, are closely interlinked, and part of HZDR’s Strategy 2030+, which focuses on sustainable information and quantum technologies,” emphasizes Lindner. “Our goal is to secure for Saxony a long-term international leadership position in the field of magnetic AI.” That is why partners from industry have been involved from the outset: GlobalFoundries already supplies wafers and chips that are tested in Dresden-Rossendorf. Infineon intends to pre-characterize its new silicon quantum-chips at HZDR. Bosch is also a partner in joint experiments. 

Minister of Science Sebastian Gemkow underscores the importance of funding for both the Free State and Europe: “With funding from the European Union and the Saxon Ministry of Science, the MagKI and Magnon4KI projects can now be realized, further strengthening Saxony’s leading role in the development of cutting-edge AI technologies. This will lay the foundation for the next generation of robust and adaptable AI systems. These innovations will create entirely new possibilities for information processing, which will become even more powerful when linked with quantum technology. This funding also represents an investment in Europe’s digital sovereignty.”

Further Information:

Dr. Helmut Schultheiß I Institute of Ion Beam Physics and Materials Research at HZDR
Phone: +49 351 260 3243 | Email: h.schultheiss@hzdr.de

Dr. Jürgen Lindner I Institute of Ion Beam Physics and Materials Research at HZDR
Phone: +49 351 260 3221 | Email: j.lindner@hzdr.de

Media contact:
Simon Schmitt | Head
Communications and Media Relations at HZDR
Phone: +49 351 260 3400 | Mob.: +49 175 874 2865 | Email: s.schmitt@hzdr.de