Data Center Liquid Cooling: Companies, Startups & Research

Nvidia, Schneider Electric, Dell, Vertiv and Hewlett Packard Enterprise are among the companies named in the facts. Nvidia uses direct-to-chip cooling in accelerated-computing systems. Schneider Electric supplies coolant distribution and direct-to-chip infrastructure, while Dell and Hewlett Packard Enterprise integrate liquid cooling into server and rack systems. Vertiv supplies cooling equipment for high-density computing.

EMM Labs and Fabric8Labs are two startups associated with distinct liquid-cooling approaches. EMM Labs has patents for a two-phase shower immersion system that vaporizes coolant around server boards. Fabric8Labs applies electrochemical metal additive manufacturing to high-performance cold-plate designs. The facts identify their technologies but do not provide comparative performance data or a basis for ranking them.

Xi'an Jiaotong University, the University of Texas at Arlington and Hanbat National University are among the research organizations active in this field. Xi'an Jiaotong University studies immersion-cooling models and coolant circulation. The University of Texas at Arlington investigates immersion and direct-to-chip systems, while Hanbat National University studies cold plates, coolant supply temperatures and system efficiency.

The facts record $9,513,380 across 11 grants since 2020. This figure is the grant total reported for the topic, not a complete measure of private investment. The listed funding-round data includes large infrastructure and company financing entries that are not consistently specific to liquid cooling, so those amounts should not be combined into a sector funding total.

Ovhcloud leads the listed patent holders with 36 patents. MTS IP Holdings Ltd has 13, Vertiv Co. has 12, and EMM Labs has 11. Nvidia is also listed, with 9 patents. These figures identify the leading holders in the patent-holder data; they do not establish the scope, legal status or commercial value of each patent.

Patent activity declined 27.6% in the latest 12 months compared with the previous 12 months, while the 24-month window contains 281 patents. That contraction contrasts with the broader activity-growth figure of 5.3%, which combines different activity types. Patent counts alone do not show whether technologies are being deployed or which designs will become commercial standards.

Green Revolution Cooling launched its ReliaSys IR500 coolant distribution unit in October 2026, and a Supermicro immersion-cooling patent published that month describes reducing coolant flow resistance. Research from September 2026 also evaluated a heat-pipe-integrated, two-phase immersion system using Opteon SF33. Together, these developments address coolant distribution, immersion-system design and heat transfer.

The main approaches are direct-to-chip cold plates, two-phase direct-to-chip cooling, single-phase immersion, two-phase immersion and rear-door heat exchangers. Cold plates remove heat at processors; immersion surrounds server components with dielectric fluid. Two-phase designs use boiling and condensation, while rear-door exchangers capture heat at the rack exhaust. Each choice brings different integration, fluid-management and service requirements.

The United States leads the country-associated data in the facts, with 7,939 documents and a 77.1% share. The United Kingdom follows with 2,067 documents, Germany with 1,909 and China with 1,857. These country figures describe the dataset's associated documents; they are not a measure of installed cooling capacity or market share.

AI and accelerated computing is a fast-growing application, with 996 documents and 60.1% growth in the latest 12 months versus the previous 12 months. The facts also identify HPC and supercomputing, hyperscale cloud, colocation and enterprise, and edge computing. These uses apply liquid cooling to workloads and facilities with different density and infrastructure requirements.