AI Development Accelerates Penetration of Liquid Cooling Technology, with Multiple Listed Companies Making In-depth Layouts

Recently, stocks related to liquid cooling technologies, equipment, and materials in the A-share market have been highly sought-after. Among them, stocks such as Dayuan Pump Industry and Jintian Co., Ltd. have hit their daily price limits for consecutive days.

Industry insiders stated that driven by the rapid development of AI computing power and the continuous maturity of technologies, liquid cooling technology for data centers, with its heat dissipation performance and energy-saving potential, is transforming from an 'optional choice' to a 'mandatory one'. This has attracted many listed companies to accelerate their layout in this field. However, to achieve larger-scale commercialization, multiple systematic obstacles in technology, supply chains, and ecosystems still need to be overcome.

The Liquid Cooling Industry is in a Strong Upward Cycle

Recently, a number of listed companies in the liquid cooling industry chain have successively released their semi-annual reports for 2025. Among them, Jintian Co., Ltd. achieved a revenue of 59.294 billion yuan in the first half of the year, a year-on-year increase of 2.46%, and a net profit attributable to shareholders of 373 million yuan, a year-on-year surge of 203.86%. Feirongda recorded a revenue of 2.883 billion yuan in the first half, with a year-on-year growth of 27.42%, and a net profit attributable to shareholders of 166 million yuan, a year-on-year jump of 118.54%. Invengo achieved an operating income of 2.573 billion yuan in the first half, a year-on-year increase of 50.25%, and a net profit attributable to shareholders of 216 million yuan, a year-on-year growth of 17.54%.

Liquid cooling is a core technology in the field of computer science and technology that achieves heat dissipation of electronic equipment through a liquid medium. This technology is divided into two types of architectures: direct contact type (immersion type) and indirect contact type (cold plate type).

'Against the backdrop of the intelligent upgrading of global computing infrastructure, the liquid cooling server market is experiencing structural growth driven by multiple transformations. It is expected that the penetration rate of liquid cooling in large-scale clusters will reach 20% in 2025 and is likely to exceed 37% in 2026,' said Xin Yi, a research manager of the China Server Market at the International Data Corporation (IDC).

''Power' is the main contradiction in the current development of AI. With the improvement of AI chip performance, the heat generation caused by high power consumption has restricted the release of chip performance. Liquid cooling technology has become a 'panacea' to solve this problem and an important technical route to resolve the 'power' contradiction,' Minsheng Securities believes. The development of AI has accelerated the penetration of liquid cooling technology, and it is expected that the liquid cooling industry chain for data centers will usher in a 'golden age'.

According to the IDC report, from the perspective of manufacturers' sales volume, the top three manufacturers in the liquid cooling server market in 2024 were Inspur Information, Super Fusion, and Ningchang, accounting for approximately 70% of the market share. From the industry perspective, the application of liquid cooling servers is still relatively concentrated. The top three industries in terms of procurement volume are the Internet, telecommunications operators, and the government sector, and the procurement volume of these three industries accounts for about 90% of the overall market. Among them, the market share of cold plate solutions has further increased.

Industry insiders believe that liquid cooling technology is not only the key to solving the current heat dissipation bottleneck but also one of the infrastructure technologies supporting the sustainable development of the digital economy in the future. Whether in terms of market growth, industrial investment, or policy support, the liquid cooling industry is in a strong upward cycle.

Multiple Enterprises Increase Investment in Full-chain Liquid Cooling Solutions

IDC predicts that from 2024 to 2029, the compound annual growth rate of China's liquid cooling server market will reach 46.8%, and the market size will reach 16.2 billion US dollars in 2029.

China Galaxy Securities believes that as manufacturers' GPU solutions have gradually increased the demand for liquid cooling, the market space for liquid cooling (especially cold plate type) has gradually grown. Moreover, the innovation of the current industrial trend has arrived ahead of schedule. With the advantages of high integration, low power consumption, and low cost, it is recommended to focus on manufacturers with mature cold plate liquid cooling technology and key manufacturers that have laid out immersion liquid cooling and spray liquid cooling.

It is reported that the liquid cooling data center industry chain consists of upstream liquid cooling components, midstream liquid cooling servers and infrastructure, and downstream liquid cooling data center users. In recent years, driven by the surge in liquid cooling demand driven by AI, server manufacturers, chip manufacturers, data center operators, and heat dissipation solution providers have all invested heavily in and promoted liquid cooling technology. Many listed companies have even launched full-chain liquid cooling solutions.

Recently, Ziguang Co., Ltd. stated on the interactive platform that its full-stack liquid cooling solutions, through the dual layout of cold plate and immersion technology routes, have achieved full-chain product coverage from nodes and cabinets to data centers, and built a service system for the entire life cycle of data centers, helping customers build highly reliable, energy-efficient, and intelligent data centers. At the same time, the company is actively participating in the formulation of liquid cooling technology standards and has successful deployment experience in national and provincial-level intelligent computing center projects.

Chuanhuan Technology said that the company has always continuously focused on expanding the application scenarios of liquid cooling pipeline products and enhancing their competitiveness, and has coordinated and deepened its layout in the fields of automotive fluid pipelines, data center liquid cooling, and energy storage liquid cooling. Currently, the company's liquid cooling server pipeline products have reached the VO level standard and successfully obtained the US UL certification. The pipeline products have now entered the supplier systems of CoolerMaster, AVC, Invengo, AVIC Optoelectronics, Feirongda, Baode South China, etc., and product development work is being carried out in accordance with the customers' processes.

As a full-chain liquid cooling service provider, Invengo has also launched the Coolinside full-chain liquid cooling solution. From 'end-to-end' product coverage including cold plates, quick connectors, Manifolds, CDUs, cabinets, to SoluKing long-acting liquid cooling working fluids, pipelines, and cold sources, and 'factory-to-site' delivery scenario coverage from server manufacturing plants to data center operation sites, Invengo's full-chain liquid cooling products and services are constantly expanding.

Gaolan Co., Ltd. stated that the company can currently provide a variety of data center liquid cooling solutions mainly based on cold plate and immersion types, and has the capability of one-stop comprehensive solutions from heat dissipation architecture design and equipment integration to system commissioning and operation and maintenance. The company will make coordinated efforts in multiple dimensions such as technological innovation, market expansion, and customer service to fully empower data center liquid cooling products.

As one of the first pioneers to enter the liquid cooling field in the industry, Kehua Data said that the company has launched the full-life cycle service of liquid cooling data centers, with cold plate and immersion liquid cooling product series, and the computing power liquid cooling containers have been exported overseas.

Chuanrun Co., Ltd. revealed that as a strategic business, the company relies on its accumulation in liquid cooling technology, deeply integrates the genes of high-end equipment manufacturing (accumulation of cooling technology) with energy management experience (source-grid-load-storage management solutions), and has established a 'generational gap' in three dimensions: thermal conductivity efficiency, energy consumption ratio, and reliability. It can provide customers with stable and reliable immersion liquid cooling, cold plate liquid cooling systems, and zero-carbon energy management.

Difficulties Such as Lack of Standardization Need to Be Addressed

The industry believes that although the liquid cooling server industry has shown rapid development driven by high computing power demand, there are still difficulties such as industrial chain fragmentation, high costs, and lack of standards. In the short term, it is necessary to break through the bottlenecks of sealing processes and materials; in the medium term, it is necessary to rely on policies to promote standardization and core competitiveness; in the long term, the data center architecture should be reconstructed, such as promoting the development of the edge computing + liquid cooling integration market.

In Xin Yi's view, although after several years of rapid development and being accepted by more and more industry users, the liquid cooling industry chain involves components such as cold plates, CDUs, and connectors. The interface specifications are not uniform, and manufacturers act independently. There are still problems such as lack of standardization, ecological fragmentation, and unclear definition of responsibility boundaries in actual operation and maintenance.

He suggested promoting the implementation of mandatory national standards to standardize core parameters such as cold plates, interfaces, and CDU performance; establishing an 'Open Computing Alliance' to promote leading manufacturers (such as Inspur Information and Sugon) to open patent pools and reduce compatibility costs; innovating business models to provide full-cycle services from planning to operation and maintenance, allowing users to pay according to heat dissipation effects and reducing initial investment; cultivating professional operation and maintenance talents, accumulating mature operation and maintenance experience, and simplifying operation and maintenance difficulties.

In addition, some industry insiders believe that from a technical perspective, liquid cooling systems involve complex pipeline connections and cold plate designs, so the risk of liquid leakage cannot be ignored. Moreover, cold plate technology needs to deal with transient high heat loads, but key technologies such as the phase change stability of liquid metals are not yet mature, and relevant technical bottlenecks still need to be broken.

Kres(Suzhou) Power Systems Technology Co., Ltd is an emerging company focused on fluid power solutions, and serve for the markets of Energy, Construction, Agriculture, Manufacturing, Transportation, Medical, Data Centers, etc., and was founded in 2022 with leading-edge engineering capabilities and innovative products to keep up with the changing customer needs. Including OCP standard UQD, UQDB, BMQC, manifold, EPDM hose and hose assemblies, FF9 full flow dual interlock quick disconnect coupling (a better replacement for FD83 series products), API heat transfer products, Gates EPDM hose and Wika products.

KRES FF9 connectors are specifically engineered for fluid transmission, electronic cooling, and data center liquid cooling applications, where full flow, fluid compatibility, and safety are of paramount importance. The FF9 series ball valve quick-disconnect couplings adopt a full-flow design and are now available in 2-inch, 1.5-inch, and the popular 1-inch sizes. The FF9 double interlock liquid cooling quick-change connector features a swivel structure at its tail, facilitating easy connection and disconnection. Additionally, its two connector halves are completely identical, simplifying maintenance, installation, and service processes.

· 100% full-flow interlock ball valve: The FF9 double interlock ball valve has a diameter of up to 21mm, ensuring large flow while reducing pressure drop, achieving large flow and low pressure drop, and has obtained SGS ROHS reports and Huace performance test reports.

· KRES interlock ball valve adopts a double interlock design with two locking mechanisms to prevent accidental disconnection and ensure data security.

· The FF9 liquid cooling quick-change ball valve has identical connector halves, making maintenance, installation, and service simple.

· As a liquid cooling quick-change ball valve for data centers, it has reliable and stable performance with minimal leakage, meeting the maintenance needs of safe machine relocation or shutdown.

· Standard body material of the liquid cooling quick-change connector: 304 stainless steel, with wide fluid compatibility, and other materials can be provided upon request.

· Standard sealing material of the liquid cooling quick-change connector: EPDM ethylene propylene diene monomer synthetic rubber, and other materials can be provided upon request.

· Operating temperature range of the liquid cooling-specific ball valve: -40℃ ~ 120℃