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Liquid Cooling

GPU Cluster Datacenters Barocal Integrated Design-Build Thermal Management

Snapshot

Liquid Cooling for Data Centers is the infrastructure category that replaces or supplements air cooling with liquid-based heat removal for increasingly dense AI, high-performance-computing, and cloud workloads. Its center of gravity is shifting from specialist deployments to a mainstream data-center design requirement as rack densities exceed what conventional air systems can economically and physically support.

“The data center liquid cooling market size was valued at USD 5.52 billion in 2025 and is estimated to reach USD 18.79 billion by 2031, at a CAGR of 22.65%.” [1]

The profile captures the category as of October 2026, when AI infrastructure demand, GPU thermal density, water and power constraints, and hyperscaler deployment plans are converging. The category is worth tracking because it is no longer limited to cooling hardware: it increasingly includes cold plates, coolant-distribution units, immersion tanks, fluids, heat exchangers, monitoring software, services, and facility-level integration.

What is this Market Category?

Liquid Cooling for Data Centers comprises technologies that use a liquid to collect and transport heat from servers, processors, memory, or entire racks to a heat-rejection system. The principal approaches are direct-to-chip cooling, in which coolant flows through cold plates attached to processors; single-phase Immersion Cooling, in which servers are submerged in a dielectric liquid that remains liquid; and two-phase immersion cooling, in which the fluid boils and condenses inside a sealed tank. Direct to Chip Liquid Cooling is currently described as the leading technology by deployment volume, while immersion is growing rapidly as rack densities rise. [2]

The category sells primarily to hyperscalers, colocation providers, enterprise data-center operators, high-performance-computing laboratories, AI-cloud providers, server OEMs, and data-center engineering and construction firms. The product stack can include cold plates, manifolds, pumps, coolant-distribution units, tanks, dielectric fluids, facility heat exchangers, controls, commissioning, maintenance, and retrofit services. [2]

The category excludes ordinary computer-room air-conditioning, conventional air-cooled server racks, generic building HVAC without a data-center liquid interface, and industrial process cooling that is not designed for computing infrastructure. It also excludes most chip-level thermal-management products used only inside consumer devices unless they are adapted for data-center server or rack deployment.

The boundary is disputed at the facility edge: some market definitions include chillers, cooling towers, and broader thermal-management infrastructure, while others count only liquid-contact equipment; it is also contested whether coolant fluids, services, and hybrid air/liquid systems should be counted as part of the core category.

Why Now?

  • AI rack density has crossed the practical limits of air cooling. Market coverage identifies direct-to-chip liquid cooling as the leading deployed technology and immersion as the fastest-growing approach as extreme rack densities become more common. [2] The enabling shift is not simply greater compute demand: it is the concentration of heat in GPU and accelerator systems, which makes liquid heat transfer increasingly necessary at the rack level.

  • Liquid cooling is becoming an architectural requirement rather than an optional efficiency upgrade. One market estimate projects the category from $5.52 billion in 2025 to $18.79 billion in 2031, implying a 22.65% CAGR. [1] That trajectory reflects customers designing new AI facilities around liquid-ready power, piping, distribution, and heat rejection rather than attempting to bolt cooling onto air-first buildings.

  • The retrofit market is expanding because direct-to-chip systems can fit existing server architectures. Market Research Future reports that direct-to-chip represented approximately 46% of category share in 2025 and attributes its position to integration with standard server form factors and comparatively limited facility redesign. [3] This lowers adoption friction for enterprise and colocation operators that cannot immediately rebuild entire facilities.

  • Water, power, and sustainability constraints are making thermal efficiency a procurement issue. Market coverage links growth to sustainability, AI and HPC workloads, and GPU-as-a-service adoption. [4] The force is broader than regulation: operators increasingly evaluate cooling as part of power availability, operating cost, water use, and the usable compute density of a site.

  • Incumbent recognition is reducing perceived deployment risk. Vertiv launched a liquid-cooling services offering in February 2025, while Carrier announced an investment and technology partnership with ZutaCore for waterless two-phase direct-to-chip cooling. [5] [6] These moves give buyers access to established infrastructure and service channels, helping move liquid cooling from specialist procurement toward standard data-center sourcing.

What’s Happening?

CAGR and TAM

  • Mordor Intelligence, “Data Center Liquid Cooling Market Size & Share Analysis,” 2026: the market was valued at $5.52 billion in 2025, estimated at $6.77 billion in 2026, and forecast to reach $18.79 billion by 2031, representing a 22.65% CAGR for 2026–2031. [1] This is a global market estimate covering data-center liquid-cooling systems across the forecast period.

  • Grand View Research, “Data Center Liquid Cooling Market,” 2026: the market was estimated at $6.7 billion in 2025 and forecast to reach $29.5 billion by 2033, with a 20.1% CAGR from 2026 to 2033. [7] The estimate is higher than Mordor’s 2025 base and extends the forecast through 2033.

  • Research and Markets / The Business Research Company, “Data Center Liquid Cooling Market Report 2026”: the market is forecast to reach $16.16 billion in 2030, growing at a 26.0% CAGR. [8] The spread among estimates—from approximately 20% to more than 50%—shows that market size is highly sensitive to category scope, treatment of facility infrastructure, inclusion of services and fluids, and the starting-year definition.

Category creation events

  • The category is being crystallized around AI data-center cooling rather than generic thermal management. MarketsandMarkets forecasts the AI data-center cooling market at $8.0 billion in 2025, rising to $30.0 billion by 2032 at a 23% CAGR from 2026 to 2032. [2] Its named competitive set includes Vertiv, Schneider Electric, nVent, Ecolab/CoolIT Systems, Trane Technologies/LiquidStack, Eaton/Boyd Thermal, Asetek, ZutaCore, Super Micro Computer, Modine, Rittal, JetCool, and Chilldyne. [2]

  • Vertiv’s move into dedicated liquid-cooling services signaled that deployment and lifecycle support are becoming part of the category. The company introduced Vertiv Liquid Cooling Services in February 2025 to address system availability, operational efficiency, and the complexity of advanced liquid-cooling systems. [5]

  • Carrier’s partnership with ZutaCore gave waterless two-phase direct-to-chip cooling an incumbent validation event. Carrier announced an investment and technology partnership on February 18, 2025, focused on ZutaCore’s HyperCool technology. [6] The event matters because it connected an early liquid-cooling architecture with a major HVAC and building-systems channel.

Capital concentration

  • Capital is concentrating around liquid-cooling specialists with differentiated architectures. LiquidStack obtained $20 million from Tiger Global Management in September 2024, according to market coverage of the two-phase immersion segment. [5]

  • Strategic capital is increasingly coming from industrial and infrastructure incumbents rather than only venture investors. Carrier’s investment in ZutaCore paired financing with a technology partnership, indicating that established thermal and HVAC companies view liquid cooling as strategically adjacent to their core businesses. [6]

  • The largest pool of capital is flowing indirectly through AI infrastructure and hyperscale deployment. The AI data-center cooling market is forecast at $8.0 billion in 2025 and $30.0 billion in 2032, with liquid cooling identified as a leading technology within that market. [2] This suggests that vendors can capture value not only through standalone cooling-system sales but also through server, rack, facility, and managed-infrastructure contracts.

Market Incumbents

  • Vertiv — Global critical-digital-infrastructure provider offering liquid-cooling systems, thermal management, services, and hybrid air/liquid solutions for data centers. [2] [5]

  • Schneider Electric — Enterprise power and cooling incumbent with data-center liquid-cooling infrastructure and facility-integration capabilities. [2]

  • Ecolab / CoolIT Systems — CoolIT supplies direct-to-chip liquid-cooling technology, while Ecolab provides the large industrial-services platform around it. [2]

  • Trane Technologies — Industrial HVAC incumbent associated with LiquidStack and liquid-cooling solutions for high-density computing. [2]

  • Eaton — Electrical-infrastructure incumbent associated with Boyd Thermal and data-center thermal-management systems. [2]

  • Carrier — HVAC giant investing in and partnering with ZutaCore on waterless two-phase direct-to-chip cooling. [6]

  • Supermicro — Server and rack-scale infrastructure company included among leading AI data-center cooling players, with liquid-cooled server platforms for dense GPU deployments. [2]

  • Daikin Applied — HVAC and applied-systems provider associated with liquid-cooling and data-center thermal infrastructure. [2]

Vertiv

Stage: public (NYSE: VRT)
Funding: Public-company financing; private funding-round data is not applicable. The supplied market coverage identifies Vertiv as a leading AI data-center cooling provider and reports its February 2025 launch of Vertiv Liquid Cooling Services. [2] [5]
Footprint: Vertiv is a global critical-digital-infrastructure provider with a legacy data-center customer base spanning power, thermal management, racks, monitoring, and services; the company’s breadth is the key incumbent advantage in liquid cooling. [2] [5]
Why they're in this category: Vertiv sells liquid-cooling systems and lifecycle services, including a hybrid liquid/air approach designed for high-density computing and operational continuity. [5]
Coverage: Fortune Business Insights, “Regional Outlook” — coverage of Vertiv’s liquid-cooling services launch and hybrid cooling collaboration. [5]

Schneider Electric

Stage: public (EPA: SU)
Funding: Public-company financing; private funding-round data is not applicable. Schneider is listed by MarketsandMarkets among the key AI data-center cooling participants. [2]
Footprint: Schneider’s incumbent footprint spans data-center power, infrastructure management, racks, facility systems, and enterprise procurement relationships, allowing liquid cooling to be sold as part of a broader electrical and physical-infrastructure stack. [2]
Why they're in this category: Schneider participates in liquid cooling through integrated data-center thermal and infrastructure systems rather than as a standalone specialist supplier. [2]
Coverage: MarketsandMarkets, “AI Data Center Cooling Market” — places Schneider among the named leaders in AI data-center cooling. [2]

Carrier

Stage: public (NYSE: CARR)
Funding: Carrier announced an investment and technology partnership with ZutaCore on February 18, 2025, focused on HyperCool waterless two-phase direct-to-chip cooling. [6]
Footprint: Carrier brings a global HVAC, building-systems, and service footprint to a category that increasingly requires facility-level integration rather than isolated server components. [6]
Why they're in this category: Carrier is using its HVAC and thermal-management channel to commercialize ZutaCore’s waterless two-phase direct-to-chip architecture. [6]
Coverage: Global Market Insights, “Data Center Liquid Cooling Market Size & Share 2026–2035” — reports Carrier’s investment and partnership with ZutaCore. [6]6psz]

Market Challengers

  • LiquidStack — Liquid-immersion cooling specialist with two-phase technology and a reported $20 million investment from Tiger Global. [5]

  • ZutaCore — Waterless two-phase direct-to-chip cooling company commercializing HyperCool with Carrier. [6]

  • Asetek — Liquid-cooling technology company listed among the leading AI data-center cooling players, with roots in high-performance thermal systems. [2]

  • Modine — Thermal-management manufacturer expanding into data-center cooling and included among named market participants. [2]

  • Rittal — Enclosure and infrastructure provider offering data-center cooling systems and liquid-cooling-related solutions. [2]

  • nVent — Electrical-connection and enclosure company listed as a significant AI data-center cooling participant. [2]

  • Boyd — Thermal-management specialist associated with Eaton and supplying advanced cooling components for electronics and data centers. [2]

  • Chilldyne — Negative-pressure liquid-cooling specialist associated with Daikin and focused on reducing leak risk in direct liquid cooling. [2]

LiquidStack

Stage: late-stage private / scale-up
Funding: LiquidStack raised $20 million from Tiger Global Management in September 2024, according to coverage of the two-phase immersion-cooling market. [5]
Footprint: LiquidStack’s footprint is concentrated in high-density data-center and HPC cooling, with the company positioned as a specialist rather than a broad electrical-infrastructure supplier. [2] [5]
Why they're in this category: LiquidStack’s core proposition is two-phase immersion cooling, a high-density architecture in which dielectric fluid changes phase to remove heat from submerged computing equipment. [2] [5]
Coverage: Fortune Business Insights, “Regional Outlook” — reports LiquidStack’s $20 million Tiger Global financing and its role in two-phase immersion cooling. [5]

ZutaCore

Stage: scale-up / strategic-backed private company
Funding: Carrier announced an investment and technology partnership with ZutaCore in February 2025; the supplied source does not disclose the investment amount. [6]
Footprint: ZutaCore’s commercial footprint is built around HyperCool waterless two-phase direct-to-chip cooling for high-density data-center applications. [6]
Why they're in this category: ZutaCore differentiates through a waterless, two-phase, direct-to-chip system intended to remove heat at the processor while reducing dependence on conventional water-based cooling loops. [6]
Coverage: Global Market Insights, “Data Center Liquid Cooling Market Size & Share 2026–2035” — reports Carrier’s investment and partnership with ZutaCore. [12]

Asetek

Stage: public (CPH: ASTK)
Funding: Public-company financing; private funding-round data is not applicable. Asetek is listed among the key participants in the AI data-center cooling market. [2]
Footprint: Asetek combines liquid-cooling experience in performance computing with data-center thermal-management offerings, positioning it between component specialization and enterprise infrastructure. [2]
Why they're in this category: Asetek supplies liquid-cooling technology for high-performance computing and is included in market coverage of direct-to-chip and AI infrastructure cooling. [2]
Coverage: MarketsandMarkets, “AI Data Center Cooling Market” — names Asetek among the leading companies in the category. [2]

Market Innovators

  • JetCool — Liquid-cooling specialist associated with Flex and focused on advanced direct-to-chip and thermal-management systems. [2]

  • Chilldyne — Early specialist using negative-pressure coolant distribution to address leakage and retrofit concerns. [2]

  • Submer — Immersion-cooling company focused on modular, high-density data-center deployments and edge/HPC use cases. [2]

  • GRC — Immersion-cooling specialist developing rack- and facility-level solutions for dense computing. [2]

  • LiquidCool Solutions — Specialist provider of immersion and liquid-cooling systems for high-density computing environments. [2]

  • Iceotope — Precision liquid-cooling company focused on chassis-level sealed systems and deployments where contamination control and retrofit compatibility matter. [2]

  • CoolIT Systems — Although now associated with Ecolab and therefore structurally close to an incumbent, CoolIT remains an important specialist innovator in direct-to-chip cold plates and coolant-distribution systems. [2]

  • ZutaCore — Its early-stage waterless two-phase thesis warrants innovator attention even though its Carrier relationship places it near the challenger tier. [6]

JetCool

Stage: early-stage / growth-stage private company
Funding: The supplied search results identify JetCool as a named AI data-center cooling company and associate it with Flex, but they do not provide a verified round size, lead investor, or total funding figure. [2]
Footprint: JetCool’s footprint is focused on advanced liquid-cooling technology for high-density electronics and data-center systems rather than broad facility infrastructure. [2]
Why they're in this category: JetCool is included for its specialist direct-to-chip and thermal-management approach, with Flex providing a route toward scaled manufacturing and deployment. [2]
Coverage: MarketsandMarkets, “AI Data Center Cooling Market” — lists JetCool among the named category participants. [2]

Chilldyne

Stage: early-stage / growth-stage private company
Funding: The supplied search results identify Chilldyne as a liquid-cooling participant associated with Daikin but do not provide a verified funding total, latest round, or lead investor. [2]
Footprint: Chilldyne focuses on direct liquid cooling for data-center deployments, with its technology positioned around system-level leak-risk management. [2]
Why they're in this category: Chilldyne’s negative-pressure approach is intended to make direct liquid cooling more deployable by reducing the risk that a leak pushes coolant into sensitive electronics. [2]
Coverage: MarketsandMarkets, “AI Data Center Cooling Market” — identifies Chilldyne as a named participant and links it with Daikin. [2]

Submer

Stage: early-stage / growth-stage private company
Funding: The supplied search results mention Submer only as a representative immersion-cooling company category, without a verified funding figure or round detail. [2]
Footprint: Submer’s role is concentrated in immersion-cooling deployments for high-density computing, including modular and specialized data-center environments. [2]
Why they're in this category: Submer represents the immersion-first thesis that entire computing systems—not only processors—can be placed in dielectric fluid to simplify heat removal at extreme densities. [2]
Coverage: MarketsandMarkets, “AI Data Center Cooling Market” — provides the broader market framing in which immersion cooling is identified as the fastest-growing technology. [2]

Industry Coverage and Market Data

Market Reports

Industry Articles

Financial News Sources

Frontier and Open Questions

  • Will direct-to-chip remain the default architecture, or will immersion capture the highest-density AI clusters? MarketsandMarkets identifies direct-to-chip as the current deployment leader and immersion as the fastest-growing technology. [2] Incumbents such as Vertiv and Schneider are best positioned to make direct-to-chip the enterprise default, while LiquidStack and Submer are positioned to prove the immersion case.

  • Can waterless two-phase cooling scale beyond specialist deployments? Carrier’s investment and partnership with ZutaCore gives waterless two-phase direct-to-chip cooling industrial validation, but the supplied sources do not establish broad production scale. [6] ZutaCore and Carrier will drive resolution through deployment economics, serviceability, fluid management, and compatibility with standard server platforms.

  • Will customers buy liquid cooling as a component, a rack, or a complete facility system? The arrival of Vertiv Liquid Cooling Services indicates that lifecycle operations and availability are becoming part of the purchase decision. [5] Incumbents such as Vertiv, Schneider, Eaton, and Carrier are likely to push the category toward integrated infrastructure contracts, while specialists will try to preserve component-level margins.

  • How much of the reported market size is genuinely liquid-contact equipment rather than adjacent thermal infrastructure? Forecasts range from a 20.1% CAGR and $29.5 billion by 2033 to a 51.93% CAGR and $10.70 billion by 2030, showing substantial scope variation. [7] [4] Analysts and buyers need a common taxonomy separating cold plates, CDUs, tanks, fluids, chillers, services, and facility construction.

  • Will retrofit compatibility determine the winning architecture? Direct-to-chip is reported to have captured approximately 46% of 2025 share partly because it can integrate with standard server form factors and require less facility redesign. [3] Chilldyne, Iceotope, JetCool, and Vertiv are positioned to resolve the retrofit question, while immersion vendors must demonstrate lower total cost and manageable equipment reconfiguration.

  • Will liquid cooling become a standard feature of server and rack platforms rather than a separate market? Supermicro is already included among the named AI data-center cooling participants, indicating that server OEMs are moving into the thermal stack. [2] Supermicro and other server manufacturers could compress specialist margins by bundling cooling into complete GPU and rack-scale systems.

Adjacent Concepts and Categories

  • AI Data Centers — The primary demand engine creating extreme rack densities and making liquid cooling economically necessary.

  • High-Performance Computing — A long-standing workload category in which thermal density and uptime make advanced cooling valuable.

  • Data-Center Infrastructure — The broader category containing power, racks, monitoring, thermal systems, and facility integration.

  • Direct-to-Chip Cooling — The dominant liquid-cooling architecture in which cold plates remove heat directly from processors.

  • Immersion Cooling — An alternative architecture that submerges servers in dielectric liquid, either in single-phase or two-phase systems.

  • Coolant Distribution Units — The rack- or row-level equipment that circulates and conditions liquid between facility loops and server cold plates.

  • Dielectric Fluids — Electrically nonconductive liquids used in immersion systems and some specialized liquid-cooling architectures.

  • Data-Center Power and Water Efficiency — The operating and sustainability lens through which cooling performance is increasingly evaluated.

Sources

Sources

  1. [1]
    Data Center Liquid Cooling Market Size & Share Analysismordorintelligence.com
  2. [2]
    AI Data Center Cooling Marketmarketsandmarkets.com
  3. [3]
    Data Center Liquid Cooling Market (2025 - 2035)marketresearchfuture.com
  4. [4]
    Data Center Liquid Cooling Market Outlook Report 2025businesswire.com
  5. [5]
    Regional Outlookfortunebusinessinsights.com
  6. [6]
    Data Center Liquid Cooling Market Size & Share 2026-2035gminsights.com
  7. [7]
    Data Center Liquid Cooling Market | Industry Report, 2033grandviewresearch.com
  8. [8]
    Data Center Liquid Cooling Market Report 2026thebusinessresearchcompany.com
  9. [9]
    Data Center Liquid Cooling Market Outlook and Forecast ...marknteladvisors.com
  10. [10]
    Data Center Liquid Immersion Cooling Market Report, 2030grandviewresearch.com
  11. [11]
    Data Center Liquid Cooling Market Report 2026researchandmarkets.com
  12. [12]
    Data Center Liquid Cooling Market Report 2026: $16.16 Bn Opportunities, Trends, Competitive Landscape, Strategies, and Forecasts, 2020-2025, 2025-2030F, 2035Ffinance.yahoo.com

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