The fastest-growing domestic markets for rack-level refrigeration equipment have been forecasted to grow at a CAGR of over 20% during this five-year period.
Data centers require specialized cooling to handle the heat generated by computing equipment. The ever-increasing computing capacity of new, higher-density servers has created a need for cooling "hot spots" in the most efficient data center. Rack-level and row-level cooling is the most suitable solution.
According to IMS Research analyst Andrés Gallardo, “Unlike the early days of data centers, when the sole objective was to maintain a stable ambient temperature inside the data center, efficiency has become a major concern for data center managers due to the increasing cost of operating cooling equipment. Furthermore, this equipment has become more crucial to a company's operations, and technology has enabled ever-increasing data densities in facilities. For these reasons, the growth of rack-level solutions continues to outpace that of room-level cooling products, as these products offer efficient cooling for high-density workloads.”.
While the cold room market is dominated by Emerson, the rack-level market features three companies closely vying for market leadership. The Asian market is the most competitive, with six companies each holding double-digit market share, while in the American market, the top three companies account for 90% of revenue.
“The strongest companies in the rack-level market aren’t necessarily those that specialize in cooling, but rather those that specialize in data center infrastructure. They can offer a complete data center package, including rack-level cooling. This creates a new level of competition for traditional cooling specialists,” Gallardo commented.
Despite the strong growth of rack-based cooling, cold rooms will retain the majority of the market share over the next five years, as most data center designs still require them. Furthermore, new infrastructure in emerging markets is typically low-density and does not require supplemental cooling.
