Schneider acquisition signals liquid cooling to go mainstream

The ongoing trend of increasing consolidation in data center suppliers took another step forward with Schneider Electric’s acquisition of cooling specialist Motivair Corporation (not to be confused with Motivair Compressors, that also trade as Motivair). As one of the largest global suppliers of data center facility equipment, Schneider Electric has bought a controlling 75% stake in Motivair Corporation, which is privately held and based out of Buffalo, New York state, pending regulatory approval. The remaining 25% is planned to be bought by 2028. The transaction gives Schneider the capability to offer complete end-to-end water cold plate systems.

The transaction is the latest signal that the data center industry has entered a phase of rapid power densification and scaled liquid cooling rollouts, driven largely by the infrastructure build-out demands to accommodate AI model development. Although most current generation GPUs deployed for AI training are still air-cooled for speed and ease of deployment, the next generation of chips (spearheaded by Nvidia’s Blackwell series) will typically be liquid cooled.