To prevent local overheating of the workpiece material in hot aluminum extrusion the influence of die cooling was investigated. Numerical simulations of extrusion revealed an advantage of the die bearing cooling, which can be accomplished by locating the cooling channels close to the die/bearing surface. Since the fabrication of especially geometric complex cooling channels located near the die surface is not possible by conventional manufacturing technologies, the technology of rapid tooling was introduced into hot aluminum extrusion and experimentally tested. Cooling channels near to the bearings show promising results allowing extensions of extrusion limits, especially the extrusion speed and therefore productivity.