Can Vertiv Alleviate AI Workloads by Acquiring ThermoKey?

Vertiv has entered into an agreement to acquire ThermoKey, placing heat rejection and heat exchange technologies at the heart of data centre design.

In doing so, Vertiv has set out plans to build out cooling capacity for its high-density AI data centres, where operators are facing rising compute density and pressure on energy efficiency.

Vertiv is positioning the deal as part of a wider investment in advanced cooling. ThermoKey, which is based in Italy, develops systems that remove heat from data centre environments, a process known as heat rejection.

The global infrastructure leader expects the acquisition to extend its thermal management portfolio and manufacturing footprint, with a particular focus on Europe, the Middle East and Africa (EMEA).

The company also aims to strengthen its ability to deliver what it describes as an end-to-end thermal chain, which is the full sequence of cooling processes from heat capture at the chip level through to heat discharge outside the facility.

Cooling demand rises with AI infrastructure

As AI workloads are increasing rack density, cooling systems are becoming a limiting factor in data centre performance.

As higher compute intensity produces more heat, more efficient removal is required in order to avoid system throttling or downtime.

"Heat rejection is becoming increasingly critical for data centres and AI factories as the industry seeks new ways to unlock capacity, improve energy efficiency and scale with confidence," says Giordano Albertazzi, CEO at Vertiv.

"Through our work with ThermoKey, we have come to value its differentiated heat-exchange technologies, engineering depth and relationships across OEMs and system integrators.

"This acquisition is expected to expand the options available to our customers as they adopt more efficient cooling strategies and build infrastructure designed to stay ahead of rapidly evolving compute demands."

The flexible cooling approaches that Giordano discusses are designed to support multiple generations of compute hardware. These include liquid cooling, where fluid absorbs heat directly from components, and air cooling, which relies on airflow and heat exchangers to regulate temperature.

ThermoKey’s technology functions using microchannel heat exchangers. The systems use small channels to increase surface area, allowing more efficient heat transfer compared with traditional designs.

The company also produces dry coolers, which dissipate heat using ambient air without water consumption, which is an approach that supports sustainability goals in water-constrained regions.

Expanding thermal integration across sites

The acquisition supports Vertiv’s converged physical infrastructure approach. This model integrates power, cooling and IT systems into a unified framework, enabling operators to manage facilities more efficiently at scale.

ThermoKey’s engineering expertise and relationships with original equipment manufacturers and system integrators add another layer to this strategy. OEMs design and produce hardware components and system integrators combine these elements into operational data centre environments.

ThermoKey's systems are also compatible with low global warming potential refrigerants, which are substances used in cooling systems that reduce a negative environmental impact, as well as natural refrigerants such as CO2.

Manufacturing scale and regional growth

Vertiv highlights the importance of manufacturing flexibility as operators scale data centre deployments to meet AI demand.

For customers, Vertiv outlines several expected benefits, one of which is the stronger support for high-efficiency cooling in AI environments. The other benefits that Vertiv claims the acquisition will lead to are improved system-level integration and greater flexibility to optimise thermal performance across different technologies.

The addition of ThermoKey’s heat rejection systems aims to improve power usage by reducing the energy required for cooling. Power usage effectiveness (PUE) is a key metric in data centre operations, measuring how efficiently energy is used beyond IT loads.

The transaction remains subject to regulatory approvals and other conditions, and is expected to close in the second quarter of 2026.