SLB is making a major push into the booming AI infrastructure market, agreeing to acquire thermal-management specialist Kelvion for approximately $3.4 billion in cash as it seeks to become a bigger player in the data center industry.

 

The deal, which also includes the assumption of about $700 million in debt, will give SLB access to Kelvion’s cooling and heat-exchange technologies at a time when rapidly expanding AI workloads are driving demand for increasingly powerful and energy-intensive data centers.

 

“AI is driving the most significant infrastructure investment cycle in our lifetime,” said Olivier Le Peuch, chief executive officer of SLB. “This transaction accelerates our ambition to become an industrial technology partner to the data center industry and help customers address the growing infrastructure complexity required to scale AI. 

 

'Kelvion advances our path toward more integrated data center infrastructure solutions, expands our addressable market — more than doubling our revenue opportunity per gigawatt of delivered capacity — and allows us to scale both our offerings and the global reach of the business.”

 

Kelvion, which has more than a century of operating history, is expected to generate $2.3 billion to $2.4 billion in revenue in 2026, with adjusted EBITDA of roughly $350 million to $400 million. Data centers are its largest and fastest-growing market, accounting for an expected $1.2 billion to $1.3 billion of revenue this year.

 

The acquisition gives SLB a broader foothold in the critical infrastructure behind AI computing. Kelvion’s portfolio includes thermal-management and heat-exchange systems used across data centers, energy and industrial applications, including heat pumps, renewables, carbon capture and processing.

 

For SLB, the move builds on a data center business that has already been expanding rapidly. Revenue in its Data Center Solutions business is expected to grow at a compound annual rate of more than 90% between 2024 and 2026, while cumulative delivered capacity is expected to exceed 2 gigawatts by the end of this year.

 

SLB currently combines engineering, modular manufacturing, offsite construction and digital capabilities to deliver data center infrastructure from design through system integration. The company says its modular approach can cut onsite construction complexity and reduce time to operation by as much as 40%.

 

“Data centers are becoming more sophisticated and energy-intensive, and customers are increasingly looking for partners that can optimize how critical systems work together across the facility and help bring new capacity online faster,” said Gavin Rennick, president of SLB’s New Energy and Industrial business. 

 

“Thermal management is central to that challenge, and this acquisition allows us to address it directly by delivering more integrated cooling solutions, accelerating innovation, optimizing thermal efficiency, and more directly embedding thermal management into our modular infrastructure offering.”

 

SLB expects the combined businesses to generate more than $2 billion in 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 for its combined data center solutions business by 2028.

 

The transaction values Kelvion at approximately 11 times estimated 2026 EBITDA before synergies, falling to about 8.5 times EBITDA when expected annual run-rate synergies are included.

 

SLB expects the deal to be accretive to earnings per share and free cash flow per share within the first 12 months after closing. It also expects to generate approximately $120 million in annual EBITDA synergies within three years through cost efficiencies and additional revenue opportunities.

 

Despite the acquisition, SLB said its net debt-to-EBITDA ratio will remain within its previously stated through-cycle target of up to 1.5 times.

 

The company also reaffirmed its commitment to return more than $4 billion to shareholders in 2026 through dividends and share repurchases. SLB said it expects total shareholder returns in 2027 to be at least in line with 2026 levels, although formal 2027 targets will be set during its annual planning process.

 

The acquisition underscores the growing importance of thermal management as AI data centers consume more power and generate more heat. By combining Kelvion’s cooling technology with SLB’s modular infrastructure capabilities, the company is positioning itself to capture a larger share of the rapidly expanding investment in AI computing infrastructure.