Schneider Electric has unveiled its world-leading portfolio of end-to-end liquid cooling solutions for hyperscale, colocation and high-density data centre environments, engineered to enable the AI factories of the future.
Available globally, the Motivair by Schneider Electric cooling solutions meet the power and GPU-intensive demands of high-density data centres reliably and at scale. The complete liquid- and air-cooled portfolio comprises data centre physical infrastructure, including CDUs, RDHx, HDUs, dynamic cold plates and chillers, as well as software and services. All are designed to handle the thermal management requirements of next-generation high performance computing, AI and accelerated computing workloads. The announcement provides the first comprehensive look at Schneider Electric’s complete liquid cooling capabilities since acquiring a controlling interest in Motivair in February 2025.
As the industry drives past densities of 140 kW per rack, and provisions for future power densities of 1 MW and more, AI chips get hotter and denser. Data centres require liquid cooling to effectively cool hotter workloads and keep critical infrastructure running at peak uptime and efficiency.
Cooling can consume up to 40% of a data centre’s power budget. Direct liquid cooling is up to 3000 times more effective and more efficient at removing heat than air, because it captures heat directly at chip level. Deploying liquid cooling technology is complex and requires a true end-to-end approach that accounts for technology sourcing and installation, and ongoing maintenance.
To address these challenges, Schneider Electric and Motivair are providing customers with the most comprehensive data centre and liquid cooling portfolio available in the market, inclusive of all core cooling infrastructure, alongside a supply chain capable of serving global demands.
“As data centre cooling has grown more complex in the AI era, our portfolio has consistently evolved to remain capable of serving the infrastructure demands of today and tomorrow,” said Richard Whitmore, CEO of Motivair by Schneider Electric. “Today, we are the only liquid cooling provider to demonstrate proven expertise at the silicon level by co-developing our solutions in collaboration with NVIDIA and other leading GPU manufacturers. In collaboration with Schneider Electric, we have created an unmatched portfolio that not only compresses time-to-market, but increases ROI for customers worldwide.”
Complete liquid cooling portfolio for AI data centres
Motivair by Schneider Electric’s liquid and air-cooled solutions include megawatt-class coolant distribution units, ChilledDoor rear door heat exchangers, and Dynamic cold plates which deliver precise thermal control for 100 kW+ AI racks. The solutions also safeguard peak performance, while enhancing energy efficiency and uptime for data centre operators. The portfolio includes:
• Coolant distribution units (CDUs): Motivair’s CDUs are designed in collaboration with top silicon manufacturers for seamless integration with next-gen processors and accelerators. The CDU family scales from 105 kilowatts to 2,5 megawatts, placing the technology ahead of market demand by several years. Today, Motivair’s CDU technology also enables thermal performance for 6 of the world’s top 10 supercomputers and is certified for NVIDIA’s latest hardware, while being well-equipped for future increases in rack density.
• ChilledDoor rear door heat exchanger: This rear-door heat exchanger cools rack densities up to 75 kW, making it ideal for power-intensive GPUs. Its rack-agnostic design also makes it a versatile solution for any HPC environment.
• Liquid-to-air heat dissipation unit (HDU): Perfect for AI accelerators, colocation environments or labs where water is not readily available, the Motivair HDU is the highest-performing unit on the market. It delivers 100 kilowatts of heat rejection in a footprint just 600 millimetres wide. It is also capable of creating a water loop to cool up to 132 kilowatts of cooling capacity, a 1:1 ratio with NVIDIA’s NVL144 computing architecture.
• Chillers and technology cooling system loops: Motivair and Schneider Electric’s closed loop air cooled chillers enable operators to save millions of litres of water usage each year for every megawatt of cooling requirement, while delivering up to 20% more performance than other solutions in the market.
• Software: Backed by over 50 years of proven, multi-domain expertise, Schneider Electric’s EcoStruxure software is purpose-built to tackle the air and liquid cooling challenges of data centres, providing optimal thermal management, performance and efficiencies for mission-critical environments.
• Services: Motivair possesses over a decade of field-proven cooling deployment and maintenance experience. The company oversees the largest installed base of high-density liquid cooling solutions in the world, with trained technicians available in every major geography. We are now training more than 600 cooling field service technicians and EcoXpert cooling partners worldwide.
Global manufacturing, technical expertise and rigorous testing
Schneider Electric’s comprehensive portfolio is backed by global manufacturing and supply chain capabilities, together with technical expertise and extensive testing and validation of all solutions.
Motivair recently opened its fourth production facility in Buffalo, New York and the company is also expanding its production capabilities in Italy and India, tripling manufacturing output and reducing lead times for customers everywhere.
All liquid cooling models undergo performance testing to simulate real-world heat loads. This validates both thermal and mechanical performance before products are shipped. During product development, product performance is validated in-house, and every unit is flushed for cleanliness prior to deployment to help prevent onsite issues.
“AI is the next technological revolution, and it has undoubtedly made liquid cooling a strategic imperative for data centres and AI factories,” said Andrew Bradner, senior vice president, cooling business at Schneider Electric. “By combining our multi-domain expertise with Motivair, we are charting a new frontier for accelerated computing, with an unrivalled liquid cooling portfolio featuring global scale, production and reach, and a commitment to rigorously test and validate every solution we deliver to mitigate risk and deliver peace of mind for our customers.”
“Liquid cooling has transitioned from a performance enhancer to a fundamental element of modern high-density computing environments,” said Olga Yashkova, research manager, enterprise workloads and datacentre infrastructure, for IDC. “The acquisition of Motivair by Schneider Electric significantly strengthens its position in data centre power, electrical and cooling infrastructure and supporting services space. As a single vendor capable of designing and supplying all critical infrastructure and data centre power and cooling, Schneider Electric’s approach also simplifies deployment and reduces the operational complexity of AI data centres.”
| Tel: | +27 11 254 6400 |
| Email: | za-ccc@se.com |
| www: | www.se.com/za/en/ |
| Articles: | More information and articles about Schneider Electric South Africa |
© Technews Publishing (Pty) Ltd | All Rights Reserved
printer friendly version