Two years ago data center liquid cooling was a market of specialists. In 2026 it belongs mostly to industrial companies. Ecolab paid about $4.75 billion for CoolIT Systems and closed the deal on July 2. Trane closed its LiquidStack purchase in March. Schneider Electric has owned Motivair since early 2025. The independents that are left are raising money from the companies that build AI servers. This roundup sorts the vendors by who owns them and what they sell, and covers what changed between September and October 2026.
Why AI racks made cooling a board-level purchase
A GB200 NVL72 rack draws roughly 120 to 132 kW, while the average enterprise rack is around 8 kW. Air cannot remove that much heat, so NVIDIA designs its rack-scale systems for direct-to-chip liquid cooling. The next generation raises the stakes. NVIDIA specifies 45°C supply water for Vera Rubin, and at CES 2026 Jensen Huang said that at that temperature data centers need no water chillers. The technical trade-offs between direct-to-chip, immersion and rear-door heat exchangers are covered in ctaio.dev's liquid cooling guide. This page is about the companies.
What happened in September and October 2026
- Sep 3: LITEON Technology announced a strategic investment of about $176 million for roughly a 25% stake in DCX Liquid Cooling Systems, the Polish CDU and immersion maker, to pair DCX's cooling with LITEON's AI server power and 800VDC architectures.
- Oct 16: Vertiv said it had completed a direct-to-chip deployment supporting 30 MW of AI workloads at CapitaLand's CLDC Mumbai 01 data center for an unnamed hyperscale customer (vendor-reported).
- November (announced): Ecolab plans to launch an end-to-end 3D TRASAR cooling platform built on CoolIT at the SC26 Supercomputing conference in Chicago; Schneider's Motivair is also exhibiting there.
The pattern is the same as in power. Power electronics and thermal management are being sold as one package, and the companies that supply the rack are buying into the companies that cool it.
The industrial owners
Vertiv
Vertiv sells the full thermal chain: CDUs, cold-plate integration, rear-door heat exchangers, chillers and heat rejection, plus power distribution. It bought CoolTera, a CDU specialist, in 2023, and reported Q2 2026 revenue of $3.3 billion, up 24%. Choose Vertiv when you want one vendor accountable for power and cooling across a large build.
Schneider Electric (Motivair)
Schneider completed its purchase of a 75% stake in Motivair in February 2025, after agreeing to it in October 2024 at a reported $850 million. Motivair makes CDUs, cold-plate loops and rear-door coolers and supports 45°C designs. Schneider's strength is the electrical side: switchgear, grid and building automation. That makes it the natural pairing when the power design is the hard part of the project.
Ecolab (CoolIT Systems)
CoolIT makes cold plates and CDUs and has a long record of OEM integration with server makers. Ecolab agreed to buy it from KKR-managed funds in March 2026 and closed early, on July 2. Ecolab said CoolIT's year-to-date sales had grown more than 100%. The business now sits in Ecolab's Global Water segment, and the strategic bet is water chemistry and monitoring across the cooling loop. Choose it when water quality and loop reliability are what worry you most.
Trane Technologies (LiquidStack and Stellar Energy)
Trane held a minority stake in LiquidStack from 2023 and completed the acquisition on March 3, 2026. LiquidStack sells direct-to-chip CDUs and two-phase immersion. Trane also bought Stellar Energy, a turnkey data center cooling provider, for $553.4 million gross in February 2026. Trane's pitch is a single thermal vendor from chiller to chip.
nVent, Flex (JetCool), Delta
nVent supplies CDUs, manifolds and enclosures. Flex bought JetCool, a microconvective cold-plate maker, in 2024. Delta Electronics sells CDUs alongside its power products. All three are frequent second sources in hyperscale and OEM supply chains.
The independents still raising
| Company | Technology | Latest capital | Strategic backers |
|---|---|---|---|
| ZutaCore | Waterless two-phase direct-to-chip | $100M Series C (June 2026), ~$200M total | Mitsubishi Electric, Carrier, Samsung Ventures |
| DCX Liquid Cooling Systems | CDUs (including an 8 MW unit for 45°C), facility units, cold plates, immersion | ~$176M for a 25% stake (announced Sep 2026) | LITEON Technology |
| Iceotope | Precision (chassis-level) immersion | $26M Series B (May 2026) | Two Seas Capital, Barclays Climate Ventures |
| Accelsius | Two-phase direct-to-chip and CDUs | Series B reported January 2026 | n/a |
| Submer | Single-phase immersion | Growth round (2024) | n/a |
| GRC | Single-phase immersion | Private | n/a |
| Corintis | Microfluidic cold plates designed per chip | Series A (2025) | n/a |
Two-phase and waterless designs (ZutaCore, Accelsius) are the main technical alternative to single-phase cold plates. They promise higher heat flux and no water at the chip, but they need GPU-vendor qualification for each new platform. That qualification is the real barrier to entry, and it is why ZutaCore's round named B300 support as a use of funds.
How to choose a cooling vendor
| If your priority is… | Shortlist | Why |
|---|---|---|
| One accountable vendor for power and cooling | Vertiv, Schneider | Broadest portfolios across electrical and thermal |
| Water quality and loop reliability | Ecolab/CoolIT | Chemistry and monitoring are the parent's core business |
| Chiller-to-chip from an HVAC vendor | Trane/LiquidStack | Heat rejection and CDUs from one owner |
| Highest density or no water at the chip | ZutaCore, Accelsius | Two-phase, but check platform qualification |
| Heat reuse, edge or non-standard sites | Iceotope, Submer, GRC | Immersion handles harsh or heat-recovery sites well |
| Second source for CDUs | nVent, DCX, Delta | Reduces lead-time risk on the critical component |
The consolidation cuts both ways. Industrial parents bring balance sheets and service networks. They also tie lead times to the same factories everyone else is waiting on, and each one has an incentive to sell you its own chillers. Ask every vendor which GPU platforms its CDU is validated for, what facility water temperature it needs, and who answers the phone when a loop leaks at 3 a.m.
If you rent capacity instead of building it
Cooling reaches cloud and colocation customers as a density limit. Ask your provider which hall supports liquid-cooled racks today, at what kW per rack, and whether the CDU is theirs or yours. A provider that can only offer air-cooled halls cannot host current NVIDIA rack-scale systems, whatever its GPU price list says. The neocloud providers guide covers which GPU clouds have liquid-cooled capacity, and the data center power companies guide covers the other half of the facility problem.
Sources
- Ecolab, Ecolab to acquire CoolIT Systems (Mar 2026); closing coverage (Jul 2026).
- Trane Technologies, Trane completes acquisition of LiquidStack (Mar 3, 2026).
- SiliconANGLE, ZutaCore raises $100M (Jun 2026); Iceotope raises $26M (May 2026).
- Unite.AI, LITEON invests $176M for 25% stake in DCX (Sep 2026).
- TechNode Global, Vertiv deploys 30 MW liquid cooling in Mumbai (Oct 16, 2026).
- Network World, Raising the temp on liquid cooling.
Related reading: data center power companies 2026, neocloud GPU providers 2026, liquid cooling technologies compared (ctaio.dev).
Who are the biggest data center liquid cooling companies?
Vertiv and Schneider Electric (through Motivair) are the largest by installed base and product range. Ecolab became a major player when it closed its $4.75 billion purchase of CoolIT Systems on July 2, 2026, and Trane Technologies did the same with LiquidStack in March 2026. nVent, Flex (JetCool) and Delta also sell cold plates, manifolds or CDUs at scale.
Which liquid cooling startups are still independent?
ZutaCore (waterless two-phase direct-to-chip, $100M Series C in June 2026), Iceotope (precision immersion, $26M Series B in May 2026), DCX Liquid Cooling Systems (CDUs and immersion, with LITEON agreeing to take a 25% stake in September 2026), Accelsius (two-phase), Submer and GRC (immersion), and Corintis (microfluidic cold plates). Most now have a strategic investor from the server or HVAC supply chain.
Is immersion cooling or direct-to-chip better for AI?
Direct-to-chip is the default for AI racks because NVIDIA's rack-scale systems ship with cold plates, so warranties, spare parts and integrators all assume it. Immersion has advantages for density and heat reuse, but it is a smaller market. The ctaio.dev liquid cooling guide compares the two technically.
Why does 45°C warm-water cooling matter?
NVIDIA specifies 45°C supply water for its Vera Rubin generation. Water that warm can be cooled by outdoor dry coolers in most climates without mechanical chillers, which cuts energy and often water use. It also means existing chilled-water plants are overbuilt for the new racks, and the coolant distribution unit becomes the critical component.
What should I ask a liquid cooling vendor?
Ask which GPU platforms the CDU and cold plates are validated for, what facility water temperature the system needs, what the lead time is, who services leaks and on what response time, and whether the vendor's parent company also sells the chillers or heat rejection it recommends. After the 2026 acquisitions, that last answer is often yes.
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