Ecolab announced the close of its acquisition of CoolIT Systems, a leader in direct liquid cooling for high-density data centers, for approximately $4.75 billion. The deal closed earlier than expected. CoolIT's year-to-date sales have grown more than 100%, driven by demand for liquid cooling in AI data centers.
With CoolIT, Ecolab extends its water technologies leadership into AI infrastructure. Water is used to produce power, and cool chips, and Ecolab says it can now offer solutions across that value chain, from ultra-pure water for chip production, to water systems for power generation, to direct liquid cooling for data centers.
At Supercomputing in November 2026 in Chicago, Ecolab plans to introduce a new 3D TRASAR™ cooling platform combining CoolIT technologies — cooling distribution units and cold plates — with 3D TRASAR™ digital optimization and cooling fluids. Ecolab says the platform is designed to optimize water, power, and compute performance, giving operators real-time visibility to help reduce cooling power demand and move toward a near-zero water footprint. It is applicable to AI architectures including NVIDIA Vera Rubin and Grace Blackwell.
With CoolIT, Ecolab extends its water technologies leadership into AI infrastructure
"NVIDIA has collaborated with Ecolab and CoolIT across a broad range of liquid-cooling initiatives, including coolant qualification, coolant health monitoring, cooling infrastructure development, and next-generation AI factory technologies," said Ali Heydari, technical director and distinguished engineer at NVIDIA, and Saket Karajgikar, senior engineering manager and ASME fellow at NVIDIA.
Ecolab's Global High-Tech business, which generated about $150 million in annual sales in 2021, is approaching $1.5 billion in 2026 annualized sales following the additions of Ovivo and CoolIT. Ecolab is targeting $4 billion in annual sales for the business by 2030, with operating income margins of 25%.
"With Ecolab's breakthrough solutions across fabs, power and data centers, AI can now scale more rapidly while respecting communities, the environment and natural resources," said Christophe Beck, chairman, president and chief executive officer of Ecolab.
Reflecting the close of the acquisition and the short-term impact of non-cash amortization and financing costs, Ecolab expects 2026 adjusted diluted EPS in the range of $8.03 to $8.23, growth of 7% to 9% versus 2025. Short-term impacts from the CoolIT acquisition are expected to reduce EPS by $0.20 per share in each of the third and fourth quarters of 2026. Beyond 2026, adjusted EPS growth is expected to accelerate back into the 12% to 15% range as contributions from the acquisition increase and amortization from the Nalco acquisition rolls off in 2027.
