Schneider Electric SE expanded its liquid cooling infrastructure with a 2.5-MW coolant distribution unit, helping the French electrical equipment maker capture demand from artificial intelligence data centers struggling with extreme heat loads.
The MCDU-70, announced by Schneider's Motiware subsidiary, represents the company's largest cooling capacity to date and is targeted at facilities deploying next-generation AI processors that generate up to 50 times more heat than traditional server chips. According to Rich Whitmore, chief executive officer of Motiware by Schneider Electric, the unit can scale to support 10 megawatts and more when deployed in centralized systems.
“AI is not slowing down,” Whitmore said in a statement. “Data center success now depends on providing scalable, reliable, efficient infrastructure solutions that match next-generation AI factory deployments.”
The expanded portfolio addresses a critical infrastructure challenge as hyperscalers and cloud providers race to build the computing capacity to train large language models and run AI workloads. Rack power density is projected to reach 1 MW as organizations deploy increasingly powerful graphics processing units from Nvidia Corp and Advanced Micro Devices Inc.
Schneider's coolant distribution units now range from 105 kW to 2.5 MW, providing data center operators the flexibility to match cooling capacity to specific deployment needs. The MCDU-70 offers redundancy configurations for large-scale facilities, with six units providing 4+2 redundancy for 10-MW designs aligned with Nvidia's Omniverse DSX blueprint architecture.
The unit features dual heat exchangers engineered to maintain an industry-standard flow rate of 1.5 liters per minute per kW while minimizing pressure drops throughout the system. According to the company, each model undergoes testing that simulates real-world conditions, including full-load pump operation at the end of production lines.
Liquid cooling has emerged as an essential technology for AI-era data centers, where air cooling proves inadequate for managing the thermal load from dense GPU clusters. The technology circulates coolant directly to heat-producing components, enabling higher rack density and better energy efficiency than traditional cooling methods.
Schneider manufactures the MCDU-70 in advanced production facilities in North America, Europe and Asia, supporting global availability for hyperscale deployments. The units integrate with Schneider's EcoStruxure software platform, enabling centralized monitoring and control across distributed cooling infrastructure.
The company's global service network provides design consulting and maintenance support, which is critical for operators managing complex thermal management systems at the gigawatt scale. Motiware's CDU lineup supports advanced strategies including precise flow control, real-time monitoring, and adaptive load balancing to optimize performance and reduce energy consumption.
The MCDU-70 is available for order globally, positioning Schneider's expanded portfolio to serve current GPU generations and future chip roadmaps as silicon vendors continue to push the performance boundaries for AI workloads.
