Powering and cooling AI: How Swiss SMEs are delivering the infrastructure of the global AI revolution

Behind every AI model is a data center. Behind every data center is an energy problem that is preoccupying the industry to a degree not seen since the mobile-phone boom of the 2000s. What is currently limiting Google, Microsoft, and Amazon most is not computing power, but electricity and cooling.

The numbers are stark: by 2030, global data-center electricity consumption will rise to about 945 terawatt-hours, almost double what it is today. AI-specific workloads in AI-optimized data centers will grow to more than four times their current size. The market for data-center cooling alone will reach $30 billion by 2033, with liquid cooling growing at a rate of about 20% per year. The five largest tech companies will have invested more than $400 billion in infrastructure by 2025.

The bottleneck has shifted: away from chips, toward electricity and heat. And that is where Swiss SMEs have a structural export opportunity.

What Hyperscalers Really Need

Nvidia's latest generation of GPUs produces heat densities that push conventional air cooling to its physical limits. The Vera-Rubin compute tray eschews fans altogether: 100% liquid cooling is mandatory. Cooling connectors, heat exchangers, microfluidic systems, and precise energy-management systems are becoming critical infrastructure, not peripheral equipment.

Dell'Oro Research forecasts that by 2030, the market for thermal management will catch up to the traditional largest data-center expense, uninterruptible power supply. What can be exported are the technologies and components that come from Swiss manufacturing culture: precision connectors, heat exchangers, power electronics, and material innovations. Tolerances in the micrometer range, reliability over millions of cycles, operation under extreme conditions — this is not new expertise. It is a different application of existing expertise.

Who Has Already Taken the Path

Stäubli, founded in 1892 in Horgen and now headquartered in Pfäffikon, is a good example. Originally established as a manufacturer of weaving machines, the company now sets global standards for quick-connect couplings in liquid-cooled AI data centers. Corintis, an EPFL spin-off from Lausanne, has developed microfluidic direct cooling that is three times more efficient than conventional systems, demonstrated in collaboration with Microsoft, backed by over $53 million in funding (as of early 2026), and with today's Intel CEO Lip-Bu Tan on the board of investors. ABB is collaborating with NVIDIA on the 800-volt DC architecture for the next generation of data centers.

The pattern is clear: Swiss precision is hitting the sweet spot of a market that needs exactly that.

Which Markets Are Open

The US — the largest market with the most urgent bottleneck

The US consumes about 45% of global data center capacity. The bottleneck is not computing power, but infrastructure — and it is acute. Grid connections have multi-year wait times; transformers and cables are in short supply. Large operators are building capacity on their own dime rather than waiting for the grid.

The direct customers are the hyperscalers — Amazon AWS, Microsoft Azure, Google Cloud, Meta — as well as fast-growing neocloud operators like CoreWeave and Applied Digital, which run specialized AI infrastructure. All are looking for qualified suppliers of cooling connectors, heat exchangers, high-performance heat sinks, switchgear, and DC power distribution. Activity is concentrated in Northern Virginia, Texas, Phoenix, and Chicago.

The most concrete entry path is through the Open Compute Project, the industry consortium where hyperscalers define technical standards and actively qualify suppliers. OCP also provides structured access to the technical procurement teams of the world's largest customers for mid-sized Swiss suppliers.

China — the largest volume market with a closing window

China's AI data center market is growing at one of the highest rates in the world, from about $42 billion (2025) to over $300 billion by 2032. The driver is a physical constraint: AI racks are running at power densities of 20 to 130 kilowatts today, compared to 5 to 10 kilowatts for conventional servers — air cooling is hitting its limits. At the same time, state-mandated PUE ceilings under the 14th Five-Year Plan are forcing a switch to liquid cooling on ambitious timelines.

Customers include the major cloud operators — Alibaba Cloud, Tencent Cloud, Huawei Cloud, Baidu AI Cloud — as well as state-backed data center clusters under the "East Data, West Compute" program in provinces such as Guizhou and Inner Mongolia. The Chinese market now covers a significant portion of its own demand for precision cooling components. This is precisely where the urgency lies for Swiss suppliers: the remaining high-precision segment — particularly reliable couplings and heat exchangers for the most demanding applications — remains open to imports, but the window is closing over the next two to four years as local manufacturers catch up.

Market access for hardware suppliers typically runs through distributors and system integrators, not through the separately licensed telecom operator structures. Regional trade fairs such as the Shanghai International Data Center Expo and the Shenzhen International Data Center Liquid Cooling Industry Exhibition provide direct access to buyers.

Türkiye — Regulatory Overhaul Creates a Demand Surge

With Presidential Decree No. 9903 of May 29, 2025, Turkey has fundamentally overhauled its investment incentive system for data centers: technical performance criteria, rather than floor-space thresholds, are now the key. New builds must achieve a PUE of no more than 1.65; the stricter upper limit of 1.4 applies to the HIT-30 high-tech incentive program. Mandatory compliance with data center standard TS EN 50600 adds a further requirement. This hits a market where local cooling providers are currently largely unable to meet these standards.

The largest single investment is a partnership between Turkcell and Google Cloud for Türkiye's first hyperscale data center: Google Cloud is contributing $2 billion over ten years, Turkcell a further $1 billion — $3 billion combined. Equinix has been present in Istanbul since 2017, when it acquired the Zenium data center for $93 million; in 2024, Equinix opened a second building there (IL4). Vodafone and DAMAC's Edgnex are jointly building a new data center in İzmir with an investment volume of $100 million.

For Swiss suppliers of precision cooling components, heat exchangers, and seismically robust power electronics — a consideration that carries additional weight given Türkiye's earthquake exposure — the market is open right now because it is undergoing a technical realignment. Market access runs through the Swiss Business Hub in Istanbul and through established Turkish MEP and system integration firms.

Poland — the Bottleneck is Grid Connection

Poland is Central Europe's largest data center location, with 31 colocation facilities in Warsaw alone. In February 2025, Microsoft invested PLN 2.8 billion (approximately $704 million) in expanding its Polish cloud and AI capacity. On February 13, 2025, Google signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the state-owned Polish Development Fund (PFR) and the National Cloud Operator to accelerate AI adoption in Poland.

The real bottleneck is the power grid: according to grid operator plans, the Warsaw region is short 150 to 200 megawatts of connection capacity, with waiting times for new grid connections of up to 18 months. The Polish cabinet passed a draft law reforming grid connection procedures (the "Grid Act," UC84) in early January 2026; parliament enacted the legislation in March 2026. For Swiss providers of efficient power electronics — systems that reduce grid draw per unit of computing power — this creates concrete demand: operators who can run more computing power with less grid capacity shorten their wait time for growth. Demand for liquid cooling components is growing in parallel, as local operators such as Beyond.pl and Data4 retrofit their facilities for higher power densities.

Market access runs through the Swiss Business Hub Central Europe and through the major colocation operators as the first point of contact — not directly through the hyperscalers, whose supplier lists are globally centralized.

Korea — Semiconductor Precision Meets Data Center Construction

South Korea announced a state-coordinated investment package of at least KRW 1,350 trillion (approximately $880 billion) for semiconductors, AI infrastructure, and data centers at the end of June 2026. The capital comes predominantly from the private sector: Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix in semiconductors; SK Group, GS Group, and Naver in data centers. The latter three are separately building a combined 18.4 gigawatts of AI data center capacity by 2035 — roughly one-third of today's total Asia-Pacific capacity. SK Group (led by SK Telecom) carries the lion's share with 15 GW across two phases; GS Group is building 2.4 GW, Naver 1 GW.

The Korean market for data center liquid cooling is growing from a base of around $171 million (2023/2024) at over 25% per year — an early-stage market with a supplier landscape that is still taking shape. For Swiss suppliers, the data center build-out is closely intertwined with the concurrent semiconductor manufacturing of Samsung and SK Hynix: Swiss precision engineering is already established in that supply chain, and the move into fab-adjacent data center cooling and power electronics is an extension of existing relationships, not a cold start.

Market access runs through the Swiss Business Hub Korea in Seoul and through CDU and rack integrators supplying SK, GS, and Naver — direct access to the conglomerate structures without a local partner is uncommon.

India — Fastest-Growing Large Data Center Market

India is the fastest-growing large data center market in the Asia-Pacific region: installed capacity exceeded roughly 1,700 MW at the end of 2025, with 440 MW of new capacity added in that year alone — more than double the 191 MW added in 2024. For 2026, CBRE expects further capacity growth of around 30%, with approximately 500 MW of new builds. By 2030, total capacity is projected by S&P Global to exceed 6.5 GW.

The established primary hubs are Mumbai (over 50% of national capacity, according to JLL and CBRE), Chennai (around 20%), and Delhi-NCR (around 10%). Hyderabad is emerging as the preferred AI infrastructure location with a development pipeline of 1.9 GW; Pune is growing as a cost-efficient alternative to Mumbai.

For Swiss precision suppliers, a structural demand gap exists: the local infrastructure industry frequently cannot fully meet hyperscaler quality requirements — around 80% of investment capital comes from foreign institutional investors, which directly reflects the need for international suppliers of precision cooling and power electronics. Market access runs through the Swiss Business Hub India.

What Matters Now

Swiss SMEs in mechanical and electrical engineering and materials science are facing a rare moment: a global market growing at double-digit rates, with a clearly defined technical bottleneck, actively seeking suppliers with precisely the capabilities that Swiss industry has to offer. The six markets — the US, China, Türkiye, Poland, Korea, and India — each follow a different entry logic, from regulatory overhaul and grid constraints to existing semiconductor supply relationships, but all share the same structural demand for Swiss precision.

S-GE supports Swiss SMEs in opening up these markets: from market analysis and qualified introductions to procurement teams and system integrators, through to on-the-ground accompaniment.