SLB Makes $3.4 Billion Bet on AI Data Center Boom | OilPrice.com

The world’s largest oilfield services company is spending $3.4 billion to expand into the infrastructure behind the AI power boom. SLB said Monday it will acquire German cooling equipment maker Kelvion, more than doubling the revenue opportunity per gigawatt of delivering capacity, according to the company. 

SLB will pay approximately $3.4 billion in cash to acquire Kelvion and assume another $700 million of debt. The transaction is expected to close in the first half of 2027, subject to regulatory approvals. SLB expects $120 million in annual EBITDA synergies within three years.

Kelvion is expected to generate $2.3 billion to $2.4 billion in revenue this year, including $1.2 billion to $1.3 billion from data centers, which now represent its largest and fastest-growing market. Its heat exchangers and thermal management systems also serve energy markets including heat pumps, renewables, carbon capture and industrial processing.

The acquisition more than doubles the revenue SLB can target for every gigawatt of data center capacity it delivers. SLB expects its existing Data Center Solutions revenue to have grown at a compound annual rate above 90% between 2024 and 2026, with cumulative delivered capacity exceeding 2 GW by year-end.

In a press release, SLB said it expected its data center business and Kelvion to generate more than $2 billion in combined data center revenue and approximately $300 million in adjusted EBITDA on a pro forma basis in 2026. The company is targeting $4.5 billion to $5 billion in revenue and $700 million to $800 million in adjusted EBITDA from the combined data center solutions business by 2028.

SLB began pushing into data center infrastructure well before the Kelvion deal, using its engineering capabilities and hyperscalers relationships to build a new business beyond oilfield services. In July, the company formed a strategic alliance with Liberty Energy, combining SLB’s modular data center infrastructure with Liberty’s power generation capabilities. The Kelvion acquisition adds cooling and thermal management to that infrastructure business.

By Charles Kennedy for Oilprice.com

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