SLB, the world's largest oilfield services company, is acquiring German cooling equipment maker Kelvion for $3.4 billion in cash to expand into AI data center infrastructure. The company will also assume $700 million of Kelvion's debt. SLB said the transaction is expected to close in the first half of 2027, subject to regulatory approvals.
Data centers running AI models consume enormous amounts of electricity and generate intense heat; cooling systems represent a critical constraint on capacity expansion. SLB said the acquisition more than doubles the revenue opportunity per gigawatt of delivered capacity by combining Kelvion's cooling expertise with SLB's existing data center business.
Kelvion manufactures plate-fin heat exchangers and immersion cooling systems used in industrial and data center applications. The company was previously owned by private equity firm Apollo Global Management. SLB operates in more than 100 countries and serves the energy industry; its venture into data center cooling comes as oil services firms expand into power and energy transition infrastructure.
Data center power demand is projected to reach 8 to 10 percent of total U.S. electricity consumption by 2030, according to industry estimates cited in recent utility filings. Cooling accounts for 20 to 40 percent of a data center's total operating costs. Kelvion's thermal management technology reduces cooling energy consumption and increases the density of computing equipment per facility through more efficient heat transfer.
SLB expects to realize $120 million in annual run-rate synergies from the combination, according to the company. The integration will allow SLB to offer end-to-end solutions to hyperscale data center operators expanding capacity for AI workloads. Regulatory approval is the primary condition to closing; no jurisdictional blocks have been flagged.
SLB completed $11.1 billion in total revenue during the second quarter of 2026. Kelvion generated approximately $1.5 billion in annual revenue in its most recent fiscal year, making it one of the largest independent cooling equipment makers globally. The acquisition price of 2.3 times Kelvion's annual revenue is in line with recent infrastructure add-on multiples in the thermal management space.
Major cloud providers have announced billions in capital expenditure commitments through 2028 as AI adoption accelerates. Companies controlling critical thermal management systems face reduced supply risk and stronger unit economics as demand for data center buildouts intensifies. If SLB closes the acquisition on schedule in H1 2027, it will have a cooling platform capable of serving facilities across North America and Europe.
