Motivair
Motivair designs and manufactures end-to-end liquid cooling systems (cold plates, CDUs up to 2.5MW, rear door heat exchangers) for AI data centers, HPC, and exascale supercomputers, now operating as a 75%-owned subsidiary of Schneider Electric.
- Company typePrivate
- Founded1988
- HeadquartersAmherst, United States
- Headcount11–50
- GTM typeB2B
- OfferingHardware or Manufacturing
What Motivair does
Motivair Corporation, founded in 1988 and headquartered in Lancaster (Buffalo), New York, designs and manufactures end-to-end liquid cooling systems for high-density AI data centers, high-performance computing environments, and exascale supercomputers. Its core product portfolio spans Direct-to-Chip components (Dynamic Cold Plates custom-engineered for NVIDIA SXM5, AMD SP3/SP5/Instinct MI300, and Intel Ice Lake/Sapphire Rapids processors; In-Rack Manifolds), Coolant Distribution Units scaling from 105kW to 2.5MW (with 10MW+ scalability via the MCDU-70), the ChilledDoor rear door heat exchanger for hybrid air-to-liquid transitions up to 75kW, and Heat Dissipation Units plus a full chiller family. Supporting services include the Client Services Group, preventative maintenance, factory-certified training, and the Centurion monitoring system.
Motivair serves hyperscale AI infrastructure operators (including the TeraWulf Lake Mariner campus with Core42 and Fluidstack anchor tenants), supercomputing and government labs (Oak Ridge National Laboratory's Frontier exascale system), automotive AI labs (Tesla Dojo), server OEMs (Giga Computing/GIGABYTE), and colocation providers. Technology currently powers 6 of the world's top 10 supercomputers and Motivair is recognized by Dell'Oro Group as one of three frontrunners in the data center liquid cooling market alongside Eaton and Vertiv.
Revenue is generated primarily through project-based hardware sales of CDUs, cold plates, and ancillary thermal management equipment, supplemented by recurring services contracts and maintenance. GTM combines direct enterprise field sales, OEM co-development (Giga Computing), and technology partnerships with NVIDIA, AMD, and Intel for validated reference designs. Since October 2024, Motivair has operated as a 75%-controlled subsidiary of Schneider Electric (remaining 25% to be acquired by 2028), gaining access to a global manufacturing and distribution network spanning the US, Italy, and India.
Motivair firmographics
Firmographics- Name
- Motivair
- Legal name
- Motivair Corporation
- Website
- https://motivaircorp.com
- Company type
- Private
- Founded year
- 1988
- Operating status
- Operating
- Headcount range
- 11–50 employees
- Short description
- Motivair designs and manufactures end-to-end liquid cooling systems (cold plates, CDUs up to 2.5MW, rear door heat exchangers) for AI data centers, HPC, and exascale supercomputers, now operating as a 75%-owned subsidiary of Schneider Electric.
- Ownership category
- akta.pro rank
Motivair industry classification
Industry- Product category
- Data Center Liquid Cooling Systems
- NAICS
- Ventilation, Heating, Air-Conditioning, and Commercial Refrigeration Equipment Manufacturing (33341), Air-Conditioning and Warm Air Heating Equipment and Commercial and Industrial Refrigeration Equipment Manufacturing (333415)
- SIC
- Air-Cond & Warm Air Heatg Equip & Comm & Indl Refrig Equip (3585)
- akta.pro primary industry
- Cooling Systems & Thermal Management (CRAC/CRAH, Chillers, Liquid Cooling) (HDABAKAD)
- akta.pro secondary industries
- AI Datacenter Power, Cooling & Racks (liquid cooling, power delivery) (HDAAAAAH), HPC Cooling, Power & Infrastructure (Liquid Cooling, Racks, Power Delivery) (HDACAOAI), Chillers & Cooling Plant Equipment (IMAHAKAE)
Keywords
Where Motivair is headquartered
LocationHeadquarters
- HQ city
- Amherst
- HQ country
- United States
- HQ region
- North America
Offices4 records
Markets served
Motivair business model
Business model- GTM type
- B2B
- Offering type
- Hardware or Manufacturing
- Cost components
- Personnel, Operations, Supply Chain, Technology or R&D, Infrastructure, Marketing or Sales
Revenue model
- Liquid Cooling Hardware Sales: Sale of cooling hardware including Coolant Distribution Units (CDUs), Dynamic Cold Plates, In-Rack Manifolds, ChilledDoor rear door heat exchangers, Heat Dissipation Units, and thermal management systems. Hardware sales represent the primary revenue stream, with CDUs scaling from 105kW to 2.5MW.
- Preventative Maintenance & Services: Global Client Services Group providing preventative maintenance programs, factory-certified training, technical support, warranty repairs, and critical spare parts. Services include startup, commissioning, and extended life product support.
- Integrated Cooling Solutions: End-to-end liquid cooling solutions combining hardware, software, and services for hyperscale, colocation, and high-density data centers. Addresses rack densities beyond 140 kilowatts today and scaling to 1 megawatt.
Pricing tiers
| Model | Billing | Price |
|---|---|---|
| Other | Multi-year contract | Custom enterprise pricing through direct sales |
Go-to-market motion3 records
Distribution channels4 records
Marketing channels5 records
Motivair product offering
Product offeringCore offering
Motivair designs, manufactures, and services an end-to-end liquid cooling portfolio for AI data centers and high-performance computing environments. Its offering spans direct-to-chip cold plates, coolant distribution units (CDUs) from 105kW to 2.5MW, in-rack manifolds, rear door heat exchangers (ChilledDoor), heat dissipation units, complementary chillers, and a global services group for installation, training, and preventative maintenance. The portfolio targets hyperscalers, colocation operators, government labs, and server OEMs running AI and HPC workloads at high power densities.
Product overview
Motivair by Schneider Electric offers a comprehensive end-to-end liquid cooling portfolio for AI and high-performance computing environments. The product architecture consists of core cooling hardware components (Dynamic® Cold Plates, Coolant Distribution Units, In-Rack Manifolds, ChilledDoor® RDHx, Heat Dissipation Units) that work together as an integrated system to cool processors and data center infrastructure. Supporting the core products are thermal management chillers (Free Cooling, Low Temperature, Industrial Process, Medical, Water-Cooled, Air-Cooled, and Scroll Chillers) and comprehensive services (Client Services Group, Preventative Maintenance, Factory-Certified Training, Project Management, and Centurion™ Monitoring). The portfolio scales from individual processor cold plates handling +1,500W per chip to multi-megawatt CDU systems supporting gigawatt-scale AI Factory deployments, with manufacturing across the USA, Italy, and India.
Differentiator
Problem solved
Functional benefit
Brands
- MCDU-70: 2.5MW Coolant Distribution Unit designed for high-density data centers, scalable beyond 10MW for next-generation AI and HPC environments
- MCDU-45
- MCDU-55
- ChilledDoor
- Dynamic Cold Plates
- HDU (Heat Dissipation Unit)
Products and services
- Dynamic® Cold Plates
Quantifiable outcome
- Liquid cooling is up to 3,000 times more effective than air cooling for heat removal
- +6 more outcomes
Companies that use Motivair
Customer profileNamed customers6 records
Segments6 records
Ideal customer profiles3 records
Motivair technology and API
TechnologyTechnology focussed Yes
API detail
- Has API
- No
- API docs
- API detail
Core technology
AI maturity
App detail
Feature5 records
Motivair partnerships and signals
Strategic signalPartnerships
Five partnerships are on record, tiered core.
- AMDcoreMotivair develops Dynamic® Cold Plates specifically for AMD processors including SP3 Milan, SP5 Genoa, and Instinct MI300A/MI300X accelerators. Partnership enables cooling solutions optimized for AMD's AI and HPC processor roadmap.
- IntelcoreMotivair provides Dynamic® Cold Plates for Intel processors including Ice Lake and Sapphire Rapids, ensuring compatibility with Intel's data center processor lineup for enterprise and HPC deployments.
- NVIDIAcoreSchneider Electric and Motivair collaborate with NVIDIA to create reference designs combining liquid cooling with advanced power management systems supporting racks up to 142 kilowatts. Partnership includes co-development of AI Factory reference designs (RD110 and RD111) for Grace Blackwell GB300 NVL72 systems.
- Schneider ElectriccoreSchneider Electric acquired 75% controlling interest in Motivair for $850 million in October 2024, with remaining 25% expected to be acquired in 2028. Motivair joins Schneider Electric's Energy Management business, enhancing its liquid cooling portfolio for AI data centers. The acquisition strengthens Schneider's end-to-end infrastructure solutions for high-density AI workloads.
- Giga Computing (GIGABYTE)coreStrategic partnership announced November 2023 where Motivair provides direct liquid cooling technology and global support services for Giga Computing's CPU and GPU liquid-cooled enabled server platforms. Partnership enables seamless integration of cooling solutions with GIGABYTE hardware across multiple regions.
Scale indicators8 records
Recent moves6 records
Expansion highlights5 records
Motivair competitors and assessment
Company assessmentDirect peers
- Asetek: Asetek is a direct peer in liquid cooling, originally focused on PC/gaming and now expanding into data center and AI server cooling with direct-to-chip and rack-level solutions. Competes with Motivair in the enterprise liquid cooling segment.
- Vertiv: Vertiv is a direct competitor in data center liquid cooling infrastructure, offering coolant distribution units, direct-to-chip solutions, and end-to-end thermal management for AI and HPC environments. Identified alongside Motivair and Eaton as one of three Dell'Oro top vendors in liquid cooling.
- CoolIT Systems: CoolIT Systems is a direct peer in direct liquid cooling (DLC) for data centers, specializing in cold plates, CDUs, and rack-level cooling solutions for AI, HPC, and enterprise workloads. Highlighted alongside Motivair in Dell'Oro's 2023 leading vendor analysis.
- Boyd (Aavid): Boyd is a direct peer in thermal management and liquid cooling for data centers, HPC, and AI applications, offering cold plates, CDUs, and integrated cooling solutions. Named alongside Motivair in Dell'Oro's 2023 leading liquid cooling vendor list.
Broad incumbents
- Eaton: Eaton is a broad incumbent in data center power and cooling infrastructure, with a growing liquid cooling portfolio targeting AI workloads. Identified by Dell'Oro as one of three top vendors alongside Motivair and Vertiv, leveraging a much larger power management portfolio.
- Rittal: Rittal (a Friedhelm Loh Group company) is a broad incumbent in IT infrastructure, offering data center racks, enclosures, and increasingly liquid cooling solutions for HPC and AI. Competes with Motivair in integrated IT cooling deployments.
- nVent (Schroff / ERIFLEX): nVent is a broad incumbent in electrical connection and protection solutions for data centers, including liquid cooling enclosures and infrastructure for AI/HPC. Competes in adjacent cooling infrastructure categories where Motivair also operates.
Emerging players
- Submer: Submer is an emerging player in immersion cooling for hyperscale data centers and AI workloads, offering a competing architecture (single-phase immersion) for high-density deployments where Motivair's direct-to-chip solutions are also deployed.
- ZutaCore: ZutaCore is an emerging player specializing in two-phase direct liquid cooling for high-density AI and HPC workloads. Represents a competing architecture (two-phase) to Motivair's single-phase DLC focus for the most extreme thermal requirements.
- Asperitas: Asperitas is an emerging player in immersion cooling technology for data centers, targeting AI and HPC workloads with sustainable cooling. Competes indirectly with Motivair for high-density deployment wins via a different thermal architecture.
Market position
Strengths5 records
Weaknesses5 records
Competitive moat5 records
Key risks6 records
Key highlights7 records
Customer concentration
Motivair social profiles
Digital presenceMotivair financial estimates
Financial estimateRevenue estimate
Valuation estimate
Motivair leadership team
Management profileNumber of profiles
Profiles2 records
Motivair funding detail
Funding detailFunding overview
Funding rounds
Investors
Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Motivair M&A and investment
M&A and investmentM&A
Investments
M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Frequently asked questions about Motivair
What does Motivair do?
Motivair designs, manufactures, and services an end-to-end liquid cooling portfolio for AI data centers and high-performance computing environments. Its offering spans direct-to-chip cold plates, coolant distribution units (CDUs) from 105kW to 2.5MW, in-rack manifolds, rear door heat exchangers (ChilledDoor), heat dissipation units, complementary chillers, and a global services group for installation, training, and preventative maintenance. The portfolio targets hyperscalers, colocation operators, government labs, and server OEMs running AI and HPC workloads at high power densities.
Is Motivair a public or private company?
Motivair is a private company. It is classified as corporate owned and is currently operating.
When was Motivair founded?
Motivair was founded in 1988. It employs 11 to 50 people.
Where is Motivair based?
Motivair is headquartered in Amherst, United States, in the North America region.
How does Motivair make money?
Three revenue lines are on record. Liquid Cooling Hardware Sales are the primary driver. The others are preventative Maintenance & Services and integrated Cooling Solutions.
Who are Motivair's main competitors?
Direct peers on record are Asetek, Vertiv, CoolIT Systems and Boyd (Aavid). Broad incumbents are Eaton, Rittal and nVent (Schroff / ERIFLEX). Emerging players are Submer, ZutaCore and Asperitas.
Does Motivair have an API?
No public API is recorded for Motivair.
What industry is Motivair in?
Motivair's product category is Data Center Liquid Cooling Systems. Its primary akta.pro industry code is HDABAKAD, Cooling Systems & Thermal Management (CRAC/CRAH, Chillers, Liquid Cooling), with a secondary code of HDAAAAAH, AI Datacenter Power, Cooling & Racks (liquid cooling, power delivery). Its NAICS code is 33341 and its SIC code is 3585.