Abstract: The HTS current leads of superconducting magnets for large scale fusion devices and high energy particle colliders can reduce the power consumption for cooling by 2/3 compared with conventional leads. The resistive sections of high-rated current leads are usually made of a heat exchanger cooled by gas flow. The supply of the cooling mass flow incurs more than 90 % of the cooling cost for the HTS leads. The mass flow rate requirement depends not only on the length and material of the resistive heat exchanger, but also on the heat transfer coefficient and HEX surface, the joint resistance at the cold end and its cooling approach. The design and operation of a sheet-stack HEX with a larger specific surface and a much smaller hydraulic diameter are presented in the paper. The test results of an HTS lead optimized for 8 kA show that a 98.4% efficiency can be achieved.