Summary
- Global data centre physical infrastructure manufacturer revenue reached $14bn in Q2 2026, up 27% year on year.
- Thermal management rose by more than 40%, while UPS revenue grew about 20%.
- EMEA recorded its fastest growth since 2021, but manufacturer sales do not measure commissioned data centre megawatts.
Worldwide manufacturer revenue from data centre physical infrastructure rose 27% year on year to $14 billion in the second quarter of 2026, according to a new report from Dell’Oro Group. The research identifies continued demand for thermal management, uninterruptible power supplies, and equipment used to distribute electricity across dense computing facilities.
The market research firm says the quarter extended a run of growth exceeding 20%. A modest moderation from the first quarter reflected a more demanding year-earlier comparison, rather than an outright contraction. The figure covers manufacturer revenue in defined physical infrastructure equipment and services; it is not a count of newly commissioned sites or the amount of IT load currently connected to the grid.
Thermal management grew by more than 40% annually, making it the fastest-growing major segment. Within that category, direct liquid cooling and heat rejection equipment, including chillers, both outpaced the overall segment. The combination reflects simultaneous investment in moving heat away from increasingly dense IT equipment and rejecting that heat beyond the building.
Power equipment demand remains elevated
Uninterruptible power supply revenue rose by about 20% year on year, according to Dell’Oro, with gains concentrated in larger three-phase systems. Equipment suppliers are adapting to facilities built around megawatt-scale power blocks, while exploring new medium-voltage approaches and future 800V DC distribution arrangements.
Busway remained important to the electrical distribution systems connecting higher-capacity power equipment with racks and rows of servers. Dell’Oro describes supply availability, rather than a lack of demand, as the main binding constraint for the category. That finding concerns equipment supply chains and should not be taken as a measurement of the spare capacity available on any particular electricity network.
The research also introduces a customer breakdown separating hyperscalers, other cloud providers including specialist AI infrastructure operators, colocation, telecommunications, and enterprises. Colocation remained the largest customer group under this structure, followed by hyperscalers. Other cloud grew fastest, with the AI-focused portion reported to have approximately doubled year on year.
Equipment procurement varies with the type of facility and the workload being installed. Colocation operators may build adaptable power and cooling systems for multiple tenants, while operators constructing dedicated high-density clusters can optimise equipment around a more specific workload and deployment timetable. The results do not establish a single standard technical architecture across those markets.
European growth meets delivery constraints
Dell’Oro reports that Europe, the Middle East, and Africa registered their fastest growth since 2021, supported by European colocation and sovereign AI projects. It does not provide a separate European revenue total in its public release. The regional statement therefore cannot be converted into a UK or EU market value from the reported global $14 billion figure.
Research director Alex Cordovil identifies permitting, power access, and the delivery time of long-lead electrical and mechanical equipment as prominent short-term constraints. Demand from investors and computing customers may persist even when these limitations delay construction or commissioning. Orders, equipment deliveries, and operational capacity consequently follow different timetables.
Recent supplier acquisitions also illustrate the attraction of heat rejection and power management capabilities. Dell’Oro cites activity involving CoolIT Systems, UtilityInnovation Group, and Kelvion, although these transactions should be judged individually rather than assumed to represent completed integration of equipment portfolios.
Manufacturer shipments include both new data hall equipment and retrofits at operating sites. Operators may install additional cooling distribution units, UPS modules or power distribution equipment while upgrading rooms already in service. Conversely, equipment ordered for a new facility may be recognised in manufacturer revenue before a campus becomes operational. Dell’Oro’s quarter captures that supplier-side activity, not a clean division between new-build and retrofit investment.
The reported $14 billion is manufacturer revenue recognised during one quarter, including equipment delivered for sites still awaiting construction or commissioning. Grid permissions, construction progress and installed IT load must be assessed separately to establish how quickly Europe’s development pipeline becomes usable capacity.
