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The deal will strengthen the energy management company’s portfolio of cooling solutions.
Schneider Electric will acquire a controlling stake in Motivair in an $850m all-cash deal. The France-based company expects to acquire the remaining 25pc stake by 2028.
Founded in 1988, Motivair specialises in liquid cooling and thermal management solutions for high-performance computing systems, such as that within data centres.
The US-based company’s offerings include coolant distribution units, rear door heat exchangers, cold plates and heat dissipation units.
The deal will strengthen Schneider’s portfolio of “direct-to-chip liquid cooling and high-capacity thermal solutions”. In a statement, the energy management company said Motivair has years of “unrivalled experience in cooling the world’s fastest supercomputers”.
Peter Herweck, chief executive officer of Schneider Electric, said the acquisition represents an important step for Schneider’s position in the data centre value chain.
“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 and CEO of Motivair, said: “Joining forces with Schneider will enable us to further scale our operations and invest in new technologies that will drive our mission forward and solidify our position as an industry leader. We are thrilled to embark on this exciting journey together.”
The need for cool solutions
Advances in cooling techniques are becoming increasingly important in data centre design, both to reduce energy waste and to optimise the advanced computing needs of AI and machine learning.
Last year, in an interview with SiliconRepublic.com, Verne Global’s Tate Cantrell spoke about this challenge. While traditional data centres rely on widely spaced server racks to help with cooling, machine learning applications require racks that are placed close together, as it optimises the latency and bandwidth capacity between servers, while minimising the overall cost of deployment.
“To add to the complexity, air-cooled systems that are positioned too closely together can result in cooling deficiencies as the extreme airflow requirements of high-capacity servers can blow against each other and create backpressure on the cooling fans within the equipment,” Cantrell said.
“Data centres must therefore balance the financial pressures of reducing the footprint of the data hall with the need to provide sufficient space for proper cooling.”
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