Home topics news News News AI is devouring electricity at the scale of entire nations. This Brisbane startup has a solution Yajush Gupta February 3, 2026 Brisbane’s Cortisonic uses sound waves instead of electrons for AI computation, backed by $3.2m defence contract as edge computing market approaches $270bn. Academic researchers have studied phononic computing in laboratory settings for years. Cortisonic says it has developed a commercially scalable version using standard semiconductor fabrication processes. “AI’s energy consumption is rising sharply, creating a major bottlenome for deployment,” said Dr Glen Harris, CEO of Cortisonic. “Data centres are consuming power at the scale of entire nations. We’re not pursuing incremental improvements to existing chips. We’re introducing an entirely new computational element to the mix.” The technology uses guided sound waves in silicon for computation. The company states this approach offers lower energy consumption than electronic or photonic chips for specific computations, whilst working with existing semiconductor manufacturing. Crowded competitive field The low-power AI chip sector has attracted significant investment across multiple technology approaches. AI chip startups secured $7.6 billion in venture capital funding globally during the second, third and last quarter of 2024, with 2025 maintaining this momentum. Neuromorphic computing, which mimics brain architecture, has emerged as a prominent alternative. BrainChip raised $25 million in December 2025 to advance its Akida chips, whilst neuromorphic chip sales are projected to reach $0.5 billion by 2025. Other neuromorphic players include Intel, IBM and startups SynSense and Innatera. Photonic computing represents another competing technology. Q.ANT announced