Europe data center cooling components market overview

The Europe data center cooling components market was valued at USD 4,901.5 million in 2025 and is projected to reach USD 15,664.9 million by 2032, growing at a CAGR of 18.06% from 2025 to 2032. Europe is the world’s third-largest regional market, with 24.6% of global revenue in 2025, behind North America and Asia Pacific. The market grows 3.2 times over the forecast period, adding USD 10,763.4 million of annual revenue, and crosses USD 10 billion in 2030. Annual growth rises every year from 17.8% in 2026 to 18.6% in 2032.

Three things set Europe apart. First, it is still air-led: air-based systems made up 60.3% of revenue in 2025, against 37.1% for liquid. Second, regulation drives design. The EU is building a common rating scheme for data centre energy efficiency (source: European Commission), Germany requires new data centres to reuse waste heat, and the F-gas phase-down tightens chiller refrigerant limits from 2027. Third, capacity is moving. Only 37% of new European capacity in Q2 2026 went to the “big five” hubs, and 63% is now being built elsewhere (source: The Next Web), led by Spain, the Nordics, Italy and Poland.

Growth accelerates every year

After a dip to 14.0% in 2020, Europe’s growth rate has risen or held steady every year. It is forecast to reach 18.6% in 2032, as liquid cooling and regulation-driven retrofits add to demand from new capacity.

Key takeaways

Europe in the global market

Europe ranks third among the five regions, after North America (USD 6,966.7 million) and Asia Pacific (USD 6,022.0 million). Its 18.06% CAGR is just above North America’s 17.99% but below Asia Pacific (19.91%), the Middle East and Africa (19.42%) and Latin America (18.55%), so its global share eases from 24.6% in 2025 to 23.7% in 2032. The IEA notes that Europe’s share of global data centre capacity fell from 25% in 2015 to 15% in 2024, largely because of energy and grid constraints (source: IEA).

Country analysis

Germany is Europe’s largest national market, followed by the United Kingdom and France. Together these three countries generated 62.4% of European revenue in 2025. The fastest growth, however, is in the Rest of Europe group (19.26% CAGR), which includes the Nordics, Poland, the Netherlands, Ireland and Portugal, where much of the new capacity is now being built.

Germany

Germany’s market reached USD 1,182.2 million in 2025 and is forecast to hit USD 3,805.4 million by 2032 (18.18% CAGR). Its Energy Efficiency Act (EnEfG) requires new data centres to reuse at least 10% of waste heat from July 2026, rising to 20% by 2028, and sets a PUE limit of 1.2 for new builds, per Vela Solaris. These rules are likely to favour warm-water liquid cooling, heat pumps and heat exchangers. Frankfurt’s depth is increasingly limited by grid lead times, according to Construction Magazine.

United Kingdom

The UK market was USD 1,008.9 million in 2025 and reaches USD 2,925.9 million by 2032 (16.43% CAGR). The UK has about 1,803 MW of operational capacity and 242 MW under construction, per Construction Magazine. Suppliers are launching new liquid cooling products there: Tecnair, a Panasonic company, unveiled 400 kW and 800 kW CDUs at Data Centre World London in March 2026 (source: Panasonic).

France

France grows from USD 866.6 million to USD 2,870.2 million (18.66% CAGR), the fastest of the five named countries. Multibillion-euro AI infrastructure proposals and nuclear power give it an advantage, according to Construction Magazine.

Italy

Italy grows from USD 277.7 million to USD 797.8 million (16.27% CAGR) and is an important cooling manufacturing base. Vertiv completed its acquisition of ThermoKey, a heat-rejection specialist in Rivarotta, in June 2026 (source: Vertiv), and Panasonic’s liquid cooling push builds on its 2023 purchase of Italian cooling maker Tecnair. The Next Web lists Italy among the markets gaining capacity outside the big five hubs.

Spain

Spain grows from USD 236.2 million to USD 702.3 million (16.84% CAGR), with Aragón as its hotspot. Blackstone plans a US$5 billion expansion in Aragón with water-free cooling (source: Data Centre Magazine), and Amazon has committed €33.7 billion in the region, per The Next Web. The boom faces limits: cancelled projects and a lack of grid connection points (source: Demócrata), energy, water and territorial impacts in Aragón (source: Urbequity), and water concerns in some of Europe’s driest regions (source: CNBC).

Rest of Europe

The Rest of Europe group is the region’s largest and fastest-growing segment, rising from USD 1,329.8 million to USD 4,563.3 million (19.26% CAGR). It includes Poland, home of DCX, which received a US$180 million investment from LITEON (source: The Tech Capital), the Nordics, and Ireland, where Europe’s first microgrid-connected data center has switched on (source: CNBC).

Market dynamics

Grid queues are moving capacity out of FLAP-D

Power, not demand, is now the binding constraint on European data centres. Grid connection waits in the Frankfurt, London, Amsterdam, Paris and Dublin (FLAP-D) hubs average seven to ten years, and can reach 13 years in congested areas, according to Euronews. Ireland has paused new Dublin data centres until 2028. The result is a geographic shift toward Spain, Portugal, the Nordics, Italy and Central Europe, where new builds need cooling designed for local climates, water limits and heat-reuse rules.

Regulation shaping cooling design

Europe’s rules are turning cooling from an operating cost into a compliance issue. The Energy Efficiency Directive (source: European Commission) requires large data centres to report energy performance. The Commission then launched a call for feedback on an EU-wide data centre rating scheme in March 2026 and published the Delegated Regulation setting up the common rating scheme (source: European Commission). Danfoss summarises how these rules fit together in its guide to data center policies in the EU. At the same time, the F-gas phase-down is pushing chillers to low-GWP and natural refrigerants, as covered by DCD and Danfoss.

Figure 8. Drivers, restraints, opportunities and trends in Europe. Sources named in each point.

Europe data center cooling components market segmentation

All segment figures in this section are Europe values from the GDRA market model.

By cooling equipment type: air-led, but liquid is catching up

Unlike North America, Europe is still an air-cooling market. Air-based systems generated USD 2,954.1 million in 2025 (60.3%), against USD 1,818.6 million for liquid-based systems (37.1%). Liquid grows faster, at 19.77% vs 17.03%, and its share rises to 41.0% (USD 6,428.8 million) by 2032. Other cooling systems contributed USD 128.8 million in 2025.

Sub-segments: direct-to-chip grows fastest

CRAC units remain Europe’s largest sub-segment at USD 1,679.8 million in 2025, followed by CRAH units (USD 1,274.4 million) and chillers (USD 865.3 million). Direct-to-chip cooling units grow at 26.07%, from USD 437.3 million to USD 2,213.5 million, and pass cooling towers in 2028. Chillers grow at 16.86%, a pace that will be shaped by F-gas refrigerant rules from 2027.

By component type, end user and tier

Controllers and PLCs grow at 16.82% (USD 89.2 million in 2025) and variable frequency drives at 11.48% (USD 38.5 million). Europe is OEM-led: new equipment accounted for 63.1% of 2025 revenue (USD 3,093.0 million), but the aftermarket grows faster (19.27%) as operators retrofit for efficiency rules and higher densities, reaching 39.6% by 2032. Tier III facilities hold 54.7% of revenue, while Tier IV sites have an unusually large 25.7% share and grow fastest at 19.27%.

Europe vs global: growth heat map

Europe outgrows the global market only in air-based equipment, CRAC and CRAH units, which reflects its large installed base of air-cooled halls. It trails the global rate most in drives and Tier I and II facilities, while its direct-to-chip growth (26.07%) is close to the global pace.

Competitive landscape and recent developments

European cooling specialists have become acquisition and investment targets in 2026. SLB agreed to buy Germany-based Kelvion for US$4.1 billion, Vertiv completed its purchase of Italy’s ThermoKey, and Taiwan’s LITEON took a stake of about 25% in Poland’s DCX. Japanese group Panasonic, meanwhile, launched a liquid cooling business for European AI data centres through its Italian subsidiary Tecnair.

Recent news timeline

Key European cooling companies

Table 1. Key European cooling suppliers featured in this report.

Europe report scope