Data center liquid cooling vendors, spec by spec

Shipping coolant distribution units run from 13 kW to 8,150 kW. At the small end sit liquid-to-air units: GRC’s ICEraQ NANO at 13 kW, Boyd’s RAA15 at 15 kW and Cooler Master’s 25 kW unit. In-rack CDUs cover 100–300 kW (Supermicro 250 kW, JetCool SmartSense 300 kW). For 17 of the 22 vendors that publish a largest CDU, it sits at 1–3 MW: Vertiv CDU 2300, Motivair up to 2.5 MW, Nidec NIR 2.5 at 2 MW and CoolIT CHx3000 at 3 MW. Above that, Carrier QuantumLeap and Supermicro’s in-row CDU reach 5 MW and DCX’s FDU V2AT2 8.15 MW.

Sources: GRC ICEraQ, Vertiv CoolChip CDU, CoolIT CDUs, DCX 8 MW FDU (Business Wire), Supermicro liquid cooling

Use a liquid-to-air CDU, often called a sidecar. It rejects the heat from the cold plate loop into room air, so you can run direct-to-chip cooling without chilled-water piping. Vertiv’s CoolChip CDU 70 handles 70 kW in-row, Motivair’s HDU rejects 100 kW from a 600 mm wide cabinet, Boyd’s 10U unit does 32 kW and ZutaCore sells a 20 kW air-based CDU. Liquid-to-air units top out far below liquid-to-liquid CDUs, so they suit pilots, labs and single racks.

Sources: Schneider Electric and Motivair portfolio, Boyd 10U CDU datasheet, Vertiv CoolChip CDU

CoolIT says its CHx2000 cools up to twelve 120 kW GB200 NVL72 racks and built the CHx3000 for Vera Rubin and AMD Helios. Nidec’s NIR 2.5 serves up to six Vera Rubin NVL72 racks. DCX’s 8 MW FDU runs on 45 °C warm water for GB200, GB300 and Vera Rubin. Delta cools an MGX GB200/GB300 rack at 250 kW. NVIDIA publishes no CDU supplier list, so ask each vendor for the test report at your own rating point.

Sources: DCD: CoolIT 2 MW CDU, Nidec in-row CDUs, DCX 8 MW FDU (Business Wire)

Yes, in many climates. Supermicro’s in-rack CDU runs on facility water up to 45 °C, Lenovo Neptune takes coolant up to about 45 °C, Accelsius rates the MR250 for facility water up to 45 °C and DCX built its 8 MW FDU for 45 °C. STULZ rates the CyberCool CDU at 32 °C facility water (ASHRAE W32). Warmer water lowers the rated capacity of the same unit, so compare CDUs at the same approach temperature.

Sources: Supermicro in-rack CDU datasheet, Accelsius NeuCool MR250, STULZ CyberCool CDU

Direct-to-chip is what the server makers ship: Dell, HPE, Lenovo, Supermicro, Wiwynn and GIGABYTE all sell direct-to-chip cold plates, while Hypertec builds servers for immersion, and Dell rates its IR7000 ORv3 rack at up to 504 kW with direct liquid cooling. Single-phase immersion still publishes big numbers per tank: GRC ICEraQ systems run a CDU up to 368 kW and Submer lists its SmartPod EXO at 280 kW+. Two-phase immersion lost its main fluid when 3M exited Novec; Chemours’ Opteon 2P50 replacement is still labelled developmental, and LiquidStack, a two-phase pioneer, now sells only direct-to-chip CDUs.

Sources: Dell IR7000, GRC ICEraQ, Submer SmartPod EXO, Opteon 2P50

Most of them changed hands in the last two years. Ecolab closed its purchase of CoolIT Systems on 2 July 2026. Eaton closed its $9.5 billion purchase of Boyd Thermal on 12 March 2026. Trane Technologies completed its acquisition of LiquidStack in March 2026. Schneider Electric holds 75% of Motivair and has the right to buy the rest in 2028. Flex has owned JetCool since November 2024 and plans to spin its cloud and power business, JetCool included, off as Axiom in early 2027. Vertiv bought CoolTera in December 2023.

Sources: Ecolab Form 10-Q, Q3 2026, Eaton completes Boyd Thermal acquisition, Trane completes LiquidStack deal, Schneider completes Motivair stake, DCD: Flex acquires JetCool, Flex 8-K: Axiom spin-off