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Asetek

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Not to be confused with ASUSTeK.
Asetek A/S
Company typePublic
OSE: ASETEK
OSEBX [1]
ISINDK0060477263[1]
IndustryComputer hardware
GenreComputer liquid cooling
Founded1997; 27 years ago (1997)[2]
FounderAndré Sloth Eriksen [3]
HeadquartersAalborg, Denmark
Area served
Worldwide
Key people
  • André Sloth Eriksen (CEO)

    Peter Dam Madsen (CFO)

    John Hamill (COO)[4]
RevenueIncrease 58.194 million (2017) [5][6]
Decrease 2.757 million (2017) [5][6]
Decrease 4.475 million (2017) [5]
Total assetsIncrease 49.176 million (2017) [5]
Total equityIncrease 33.394 million (2017) [5]
Owners
Number of employees
93 (2017) [5]
Websitewww.asetek.com

Asetek A/S is a Danish company (with operations in the United States, Denmark, Taiwan, and China) that designs, develops and markets phase-change cooling and liquid cooling solutions for computer systems. The company has two segments - the desktop segment and the data center segment. Asetek was founded in 1997[2] and is based in Aalborg, Denmark.[8] The company is known for supplying desktop water coolers for companies like Corsair and NZXT.[9] It has been credited for "taking liquid cooling mainstream".[10][11]

History

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Asetek was founded by André Eriksen in 1997. Its first product was the Vapochill line of phase-change coolers. A year into its existence, Asetek's network of VapoChill re-sellers grew to over 35. In 2000, Asetek received an award from the Danish Ministry of Trade and Industry for being Denmark's most innovative company that year. The company was officially incorporated in the same year. In 2001 Asetek released the first 2-GHz personal computer and started a business partnership with Asus. In 2002, the new generation of VapoChill was released. In 2003, Asetek branched out into liquid cooling with its WaterChill brand of liquid coolers. In 2005, they released the first 12-volt pump system.[2]

In the early 2000s, Chip-Con/nVENTIV and its Prometeia line of coolers emerged as the primary competitor to the Asetek Vapochill line.

Gen 1/2

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In 2007, Asetek announced its first OEM design to be used by HPs Blackbird Gaming PC.[2] In 2008 Acer used Asetek to cool its new Predator Gaming PCs. In 2009, Dell made liquid cooling a standard feature on its Alienware computers.[2]

Gen 3

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The gen 3 pump was released in 2010. It offered a reduced size when compared to their gen 2 but without compromising performance. The reduced height aimed to facilitate the cooling of GPUs such as the GTX 580 from PNY Technologies. These pumps are used by Corsair, PNY and Antec. They can be identified by the exposed motor portion on the cap.[12]

Gen 4

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The gen 4 pump platform was released in 2012. It brought advances in the liquid flow and thermal performance compared to gen 3. The exposed section of the motor was removed from the top of the pump. It was the most-used platform in the company's history, being used by Corsair, NZXT, Thermaltake, Dell, HP, Intel and other companies.[12]

Gen 5

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The gen 5 pump was released in 2015. It offered reduced noise and increased thermal performance. It achieved this through material and chamber optimizations. Gen 5 also brought a more efficient motor. The side inlets/outlets of the previous generations were replaced with a vertical inlet and outlet.[12]

Gen 6

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The Corsair H115i liquid cooler uses the Asetek 6 gen pump

First revealed at Computex by Corsair in 2017 and released in 2018 by Corsair with the release of the H150i and the H115i.[13][14] As of yet Asus,[15] Corsair and Gigabyte[16] have released gen 6 Asetek pumps. Gen 6 pumps go back to the side-mounted inlet and outlet like gen 4 pumps. They also have a smaller cold-plate, the first change to the cold-plate in years.[14]

Products

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Asetek manufactures and designs many OEM liquid cooling pumps for computers, both for data centers and desktop computers. The water coolers are used to cool central processing units (CPUs) and graphics processing units (GPUs).

Patents and lawsuits

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The company is well known for its patents and for its practice of pursuing ongoing litigation. It holds patents to many OEM liquid cooling systems and many liquid cooling pumps. The company also holds the patent for having the pump within the water block (the part that goes over the CPU or GPU). Many companies have also released models of liquid cooling AIO (all-in-ones) with this design. As such, Asetek has taken many companies to court on such charges.[17] Asetek has successfully sued Cooler Master, Corsair and CoolIT Systems over these charges.[17][18][10][19]

Patent losses

[edit]

On October 12, 2020 the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (PTAB) issued a Final Written Decision rejecting Asetek’s challenge all 21 claims of the CoolIT Systems ‘200 patent were invalid in light of certain combinations of prior art.[20] As a result, all 21 claims of the CoolIT Systems ‘200 patent survived without amendment.[21] [22][23]

See also

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References

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  1. ^ a b "Share Facts - Asetek". www.asetek.com. Retrieved 2018-10-06.
  2. ^ a b c d e "Milestones - Asetek". www.asetek.com. Retrieved 2018-10-06.
  3. ^ "About Asetek - Asetek". www.asetek.com. Retrieved 2018-10-06.
  4. ^ "Bloomberg". www.bloomberg.com. Retrieved 2018-10-06.
  5. ^ a b c d e f "ASETEK ANNUAL REPORT 2017". issuu. Retrieved 2018-10-06.
  6. ^ a b "asetek_q4_2017_report.pdf" (PDF). www.asetek.com.
  7. ^ "Largest Shareholders - Asetek". www.asetek.com. Retrieved 2018-10-06.
  8. ^ "Bloomberg". www.bloomberg.com. Retrieved 2018-10-06.
  9. ^ Burke, Steve. "OEMs & Brands: Who Actually Makes Your Liquid Coolers?". Retrieved 2018-10-06.
  10. ^ a b "The Battle for Liquid Cooling: Asetek Sues CoolIT, is Corsair in Danger?". 2012-08-30. Archived from the original on 2018-10-08. Retrieved 2018-10-08.
  11. ^ "Asetek LCLC Takes Liquid Cooling Mainstream - Slashdot". hardware.slashdot.org. Retrieved 2018-10-08.
  12. ^ a b c "How Liquid Cooling Works - Asetek". www.asetek.com. Retrieved 2018-10-06.
  13. ^ "Computex: Corsair unveils new cases, peripherals, watercooling gear and more | KitGuru". www.kitguru.net. 2017-05-31. Retrieved 2018-10-06.
  14. ^ a b Burke, Steve. "Corsair H150i Review: The First 6th Gen Asetek Pump". Retrieved 2018-10-06.
  15. ^ Asetek. "Asetek Gen6 Liquid Cooling Technology Powers Republic of Gamers Strix LC RGB Series of CPU Coolers". www.prnewswire.com. Retrieved 2019-12-28.
  16. ^ "GIGABYTE Goes All-In-One With AORUS LIQUID COOLER Series". Retrieved 2019-11-29.
  17. ^ a b "Asetek wins injunction against Cooler Master liquid coolers". The Tech Report. Retrieved 2018-10-08.
  18. ^ "Asetek gets liquid cooling patents, sues CoolIT". The Tech Report. Retrieved 2018-10-08.
  19. ^ "Asetek Sues Cooler Master Over Multiple Patent Infringements". TechPowerUp. Retrieved 2018-10-08.
  20. ^ "CoolIT Prevails Against Asetek, PTAB Determines No Challenged Claims Unpatentable". 14 October 2020.
  21. ^ "CoolIT Prevails Against Asetek, PTAB Determines No Challenged Claims Unpatentable".
  22. ^ "Do-It-Yourself - Asetek". www.asetek.com. Retrieved 2018-10-06.
  23. ^ "Workstations - Asetek". www.asetek.com. Retrieved 2018-10-06.
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