Vertiv has acquired Strategic Thermal Labs (STL) in a bid to strengthen its liquid cooling system capability.
STL is a specialist in advanced liquid cooling technologies and the acquisition is designed to enhance Vertiv’s engineering expertise for cold-plate design, server-side liquid cooling and high-density thermal validation. It also extends Vertiv’s thermal-chain strategy, an increasingly critical factor in high-density liquid-cooled environments supporting AI and high-performance computing workloads.
Acquiring STL also supports Vertiv’s broader strategy of helping customers confront increasing infrastructure complexity through integrated power, thermal, controls and lifecycle services capabilities.
As compute requirements intensify, the interaction between server-side liquid cooling and supporting infrastructure increasingly influences broader system performance – including flow, balance, controls behaviour, serviceability and lifecycle reliability.
As AI and high-performance computing push power densities to unprecedented levels, Vertiv’s chief product and technology officer Scott Armul explained how understanding and solving heat challenges at the chip level is becoming more critical to system design, performance and reliability.
“STL brings deep expertise and proven capability in addressing some of the industry’s most demanding chip-level density and thermal problems, strengthening Vertiv’s ability to emulate and validate system-level solutions and enabling customers to improve performance and lifecycle outcomes in liquid-cooled environments,” he added.
STL’s expertise is expected to strengthen Vertiv’s ability to deliver real high-density compute conditions, optimise the interaction between the thermal chain and power train and support customers across design, integration, commissioning and lifecycle operations.
Vertiv said in its announcement the acquisition doesn’t change its commitment to an open ecosystem approach. The company supports interoperable server and silicon-agnostic infrastructure solutions and a goal of improving system-level performance and customer outcomes across diverse compute environments.
The company, which is well-known for its critical digital infrastructure leadership, has committed to significant growth in recent months after seeing strong AI data centre demand. It has completed a series of acquisitions to build up its portfolio, having acquired PurgeRite at the end of last year to expand its role in liquid cooling services.
Vertiv Holdings reported its Q1 2026 results, which included US$2.65 billion in revenue, highlighting a 29.9% year-over-year growth.
Related stories
EMEA key to unlocking data centre potential, Vertiv EMEA president says
