Vertiv Data Center Liquid Cooling Deals, $20 B Data Volt Agreement, $15 B AI Backlog, and 2 OEM Partnerships (2021 to 2026)

Broadening Market for Data Center Liquid Cooling Projects Beyond Hyperscalers

The adoption of data center liquid cooling has transitioned from niche, hyperscaler-led initiatives to broad-based commercial deployments across colocation, sovereign AI, and enterprise sectors, driven by the standardization of high-density AI hardware. This shift marks the industrialization of liquid cooling, making it a required component for new AI infrastructure rather than a custom upgrade. The customer base has diversified significantly, with contracts and partnerships now extending far beyond the original early adopters like Meta and Google.

• Prior to 2025, market adoption was concentrated among hyperscalers who developed custom solutions and colocation providers like Equinix, which began offering liquid cooling as a service to attract enterprise AI clients. This period was defined by pilot projects and early-stage deployments to test the technology’s viability and operational impact.
• Starting in 2025, a clear expansion into new customer segments emerged. The most significant signal was Vertiv securing a deal with Data Volt in Saudi Arabia, part of a massive $20 billion sovereign AI initiative, demonstrating the technology’s critical role in national strategic infrastructure outside of the US tech corridor.
• Colocation providers have evolved from being end-users to critical market channels. In March 2025, STT GDC Philippines partnered with Vertiv to open a liquid cooling showroom, while in June 2025, LG Uplus in South Korea launched a demonstration facility featuring both Vertiv and Cool IT Systems, highlighting the technology’s pull in major Asian enterprise markets.
• Partnerships with original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) became a primary scaling strategy in the 2025-2026 period. Vertiv partnered with Dell Technologies to deliver prefabricated AI-ready data centers, while Cool IT Systems teamed with GIGABYTE for factory-installed liquid-cooled servers, embedding the technology directly into the server supply chain.

$4.75 B Ecolab Acquisition and Other Vertiv Cooling Investments

Capital allocation in the liquid cooling market has decisively shifted from early-stage venture funding to large-scale strategic acquisitions by major industrial companies, validating the technology’s long-term market potential and triggering a consolidation phase. These multi-billion-dollar transactions are aimed at capturing entire technology portfolios and market access, representing a fundamental change from the smaller, growth-oriented investments seen before 2025.

• Before 2025, the investment climate was characterized by private equity and venture capital. A key event was KKR‘s acquisition of Cool IT Systems for a reported $270 million in May 2023, which signaled strong investor confidence in the growth of specialized direct-to-chip cooling firms.
• The market’s maturation was confirmed in March 2026 when Ecolab, a global leader in water and sustainability services, acquired Cool IT Systems for $4.75 billion. This acquisition at a much higher valuation transformed Cool IT from a standalone hardware specialist into a core component of an integrated fluid management platform for AI data centers.
• Established power and thermal management incumbents are using M&A to defend and expand their market positions. Schneider Electric strengthened its direct-to-chip offerings through the acquisition of Motivair, a company that recently launched a 2.5 MW Coolant Distribution Unit (CDU), while Eaton also made a major acquisition to aggressively enter the market.

Table: Data Center Liquid Cooling Investments & Acquisitions

Vertiv 11 Partnerships with NVIDIA, Caterpillar, and Dell

Partnerships in the liquid cooling sector have evolved from simple vendor-client sales to deep ecosystem integrations where cooling providers, chipmakers, server OEMs, and energy companies co-develop solutions. This collaborative approach is essential to address the systemic challenges of deploying high-density AI infrastructure at scale, focusing on performance, speed, and holistic energy management rather than just component sales.

• Before 2025, partnerships were primarily focused on market access, such as Equinix supporting direct liquid cooling to enable its customers to deploy advanced NVIDIA DGX systems within its data centers.
• The period from 2025 forward is defined by co-development and standardization. Both Vertiv and Cool IT Systems maintain close collaborations with NVIDIA, with Vertiv creating reference designs for AI infrastructure and Cool IT‘s systems being validated for cooling high-capacity platforms like Blackwell.
• In a significant strategic move beyond the IT rack, Vertiv announced a collaboration with Caterpillar in November 2025. This partnership aims to integrate on-site energy solutions with power and cooling, specifically targeting the development of gigawatt-scale AI data centers and addressing the entire power chain.
• OEM integration has become a primary route to market. Cool IT Systems provides factory-installed direct liquid cooling solutions for GIGABYTE servers, while Vertiv has partnered with Dell to offer complete AI-ready prefabricated modular data center solutions for enterprise and government clients.

Table: Vertiv and Cool IT Strategic Partnerships

SWOT Analysis, Vertiv Strengths and Supply Chain Risks

The strategic position of the data center liquid cooling market has strengthened considerably, moving from a niche technology with uncertain adoption to a critical enabler of the AI economy. However, this rapid growth has also introduced new challenges related to scaling manufacturing, managing the supply chain, and fending off competition from both new entrants and powerful customers developing in-house solutions.

Table: SWOT Analysis for Data Center Liquid Cooling (2021-2026)

Scenario Modeling for Vertiv and Data Center Cooling Supply Chain

The most critical variable for the data center liquid cooling market in the next 18 months is the supply chain’s ability to scale manufacturing and deployment to meet a demand backlog measured in the tens of billions of dollars. Execution on industrial-scale production and installation will determine market share leadership and whether growth forecasts are met or deferred.

• If manufacturing expansions, such as Boyd Corporation more than doubling its capacity, can keep pace with the demand signaled by Vertiv‘s $15 billion backlog, the market will meet its aggressive growth projections. Watch for further announcements of new factory builds and supply agreements for components like CDUs and cold plates.
• If supply chain bottlenecks for critical components or a shortage of skilled technicians for installation emerge, project timelines for new AI data centers will be delayed. This could force some customers to adopt less efficient hybrid or air-cooling solutions in the short term, potentially fragmenting the market.
• Watch for the success of holistic partnerships like the one between Vertiv and Caterpillar. If these integrated power and cooling solutions are deployed successfully in 2026, it will validate the industry’s ability to build gigawatt-scale AI campuses and will create a significant competitive advantage for companies that can deliver such turnkey systems.

The questions your competitors are already asking

This report covers one angle of the commercial race for data center liquid cooling contracts as AI workloads drive market expansion. The questions that matter most depend on your work.

• Which companies, like Vertiv and CoolIT Systems, are gaining or losing ground in the data center liquid cooling market?
• What is the outlook for liquid cooling deployment in sovereign AI and colocation sectors by 2026?
• What is actually happening with the Vertiv and Data Volt $20 billion sovereign AI deal since the announcement?
• Which colocation operators, beyond STT GDC and LG Uplus, are adopting direct-to-chip liquid cooling solutions?

This report does not answer these. Enki Brief Pro does.

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