Schneider Electric buys data centre cooling firm in billion dollar deal

French power giant Schneider Electric has bought a majority stake in US liquid cooling firm Motivair for $850m, and will buy the remainder in 2028 in a billion dollar deal.

Motivair now specialises in liquid cooling and advanced thermal management solutions for high performance computing systems for data centres and the deal is part of a growing consolidation in the industry.

The growth in Generative-AI and the introduction of Large Language Models (LLMs) have been additional catalysts driving enhanced power needs to support increased digitization across end-markets. This shift to accelerated computing is resulting in new data centre architectures requiring more efficient cooling solutions, particularly liquid cooling, as traditional air cooling alone cannot mitigate the higher heat generated as a result.

This is highlighted by the Nvidia liquid cooled GB200 rack for AI in data centres with 120kW power requirements in a single rack. This higher compute and power density is driving the need for effective cooling.

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The deal to buy 75% of Motivair for $850m will see the operation reported within the Energy Management business, and Schneider expects to acquire the remaining 25% of noncontrolling interests in 2028. Schneider’s business in data centres and networking is 21% of the turnover and is a key driver of growth.

Motivair has recently pivoted to provide end-to-end liquid cooling solutions to several of the largest data centre and AI customers, strengthens Schneider’s portfolio of direct-to-chip liquid cooling and high-capacity thermal equipment for data centres. This includes Coolant Distribution Units (CDUs), Rear Door Heat Exchangers (RDHx), Cold Plates and Heat Dissipation Units (HDUs), alongside Chillers for thermal management.

“The acquisition of Motivair represents an important step, furthering our world leading position across the Data Centre value chain,” said Peter Herweck, Chief Executive Officer of Schneider Electric. “The unique liquid cooling portfolio of Motivair complements our value proposition in data centre cooling and further strengthens our prominent position in data centre build out from Grid to Chip and from Chip to Chiller.”

Rich Whitmore, President & CEO of Motivair, will continue to run the business out of Buffalo, NY, after the closing of the deal in the coming quarters subject to regulatory approvals.