In-Rack CDU for Data Center Research:CAGR of 11.7% during the forecast period

In-Rack CDU for Data Center Market Summary

In-Rack CDUs are rack-level coolant distribution units that circulate and control liquid coolant for direct-to-chip or cold-plate cooling inside data centers. They typically integrate pumps, heat exchangers or manifolds, filters, sensors, flow control, and safety functions to maintain stable temperature, pressure, and water quality at the rack. By shortening coolant loops and enabling higher heat removal than air cooling, in-rack CDUs support high-density compute, reduce fan power, and improve thermal stability. They are deployed alongside liquid-cooled servers, AI clusters, and high-performance computing racks.

The industrial chain of In-Rack CDUs includes upstream pumps, valves, piping, manifolds, plate heat exchangers, quick disconnect couplings, filters, corrosion inhibitors, sensors, controllers, power modules, and sheet-metal structures. Midstream integrates hydraulic design, leak-safe assembly, software and controls, monitoring interfaces, factory testing, and reliability validation under pressure and thermal cycling. Downstream demand comes from data center operators, cloud and enterprise facilities, and system integrators deploying liquid-cooled racks. Supporting services include commissioning, water-quality management, maintenance, spare parts, and remote monitoring to ensure uptime.

In 2025, global In-Rack CDU for Data Center production reached approximately 55 k units,with an average global market price of around US$ 14500 per unit, and a gross profit margin of approximately 20%-40%. According to the new market research report "Global In-Rack CDU for Data Center Market Report 2026-2032", published by QYResearch, the global In-Rack CDU for Data Center market size is projected to reach USD 2.24 billion by 2032, at a CAGR of 11.7% during the forecast period.

Global In-Rack CDU for Data Center Market Size (US$ Million), 2020-2031

In-Rack CDU for Data Center

Above data is based on report from QYResearch: Global In-Rack CDU for Data Center Market Report 2021-2032 (published in 2025). If you need the latest data, plaese contact QYResearch.

Global In-Rack CDU for Data Center Top 5 Players Ranking and Market Share (Ranking is based on the revenue of 2025, continually updated)

In-Rack CDU for Data Center

Above data is based on report from QYResearch: Global In-Rack CDU for Data Center Market Report 2026-2032 (published in 2025). If you need the latest data, plaese contact QYResearch.

According to QYResearch Top Players Research Center, the global key manufacturers of In-Rack CDU for Data Center include Boyd, Vertiv, CoolIT Systems, Schneider Electric, Delta Electronics, nVent, Envicool, INVT, Nidec, DCX, etc. In 2025, the global top five players had a share approximately 41.0% in terms of revenue.

In-Rack CDU for Data Center Market Trends

1. Rack-level liquid cooling is moving from pilot use to selective mainstream deployment in AI environments.

In-rack CDUs are no longer viewed only as specialist equipment for a small number of HPC installations. They are increasingly being adopted as a practical way to introduce liquid cooling into real-world AI and high-density data center environments without forcing a full rebuild of the cooling plant. The market is still in an early-growth stage rather than a mature one, because traditional air cooling remains dominant across much of the installed base, but the direction is clear: once rack power rises, operators need a more localized way to move heat efficiently.

2. In-rack CDU products are becoming more modular, compact, and architecture-flexible.

The market is shifting away from one-off, custom liquid-cooling assemblies toward more standardized platforms that can be deployed in multiple formats and scaled more easily. Suppliers now offer in-rack, in-row, and perimeter-based CDU architectures, as well as liquid-to-liquid and liquid-to-air configurations, giving customers more freedom to match cooling hardware to existing facility constraints. Compact form factors are especially important because many operators want to add liquid cooling inside standard IT footprints rather than dedicate separate mechanical space for every deployment. At the same time, performance ranges are widening sharply. Some products target single-rack or small-cluster installations, while others are positioned to support multi-megawatt AI blocks and factory-scale growth.

3. Reliability, interoperability, and serviceability are becoming key differentiators, not just cooling capacity.

As the market grows, customers are evaluating in-rack CDUs less as standalone cooling boxes and more as critical infrastructure components that must operate continuously in production environments. Cooling capacity still matters, but buyers also focus on whether a system can be integrated cleanly, monitored remotely, maintained without excessive disruption, and sourced with enough confidence to support future expansion. This is especially important in AI halls, where downtime is expensive and thermal instability can affect performance, equipment life, and cluster availability. The market is therefore moving toward designs with redundancy, filtration, alarm functions, coordinated controls, and better separation between the facility loop and the IT loop.

In-Rack CDU for Data Center Market Driving Factors and Opportunities

1. Rising AI rack density is the strongest driver behind demand for in-rack CDUs.

The most powerful growth engine for this market is the rapid increase in heat generated per rack as AI servers, accelerators, and high-performance processors become more concentrated. Traditional air cooling remains suitable for many legacy loads, but it becomes less practical as operators move toward denser compute clusters with greater thermal intensity and tighter space utilization. In-rack CDUs directly address this problem by distributing and controlling coolant close to the rack, which improves heat removal and supports direct-to-chip cooling architectures needed for advanced GPU and AI systems. The opportunity is especially strong because the power roadmap for AI infrastructure continues to move upward rather than stabilize.

2. Retrofit-friendly deployment creates a major opportunity across existing data center fleets.

A large part of the addressable market comes from existing facilities that need to support denser workloads but cannot justify a full redesign of the building's mechanical systems. This makes retrofit compatibility one of the most important commercial advantages in the in-rack CDU segment. Operators want solutions that can be introduced quickly, fit within existing rack environments, minimize downtime, and avoid major changes to chilled-water infrastructure. In-rack CDUs are well positioned for this scenario because they create a localized secondary loop, isolate facility water from sensitive IT equipment, and can be installed in compact footprints such as 4U rack space for single-rack applications. Some architectures can even support liquid cooling where direct access to facility water is limited, reducing the cost and disruption of conversion from air-cooled halls. This creates a broad opportunity in enterprise data centers, colocation retrofits, and phased AI upgrades, where customers prefer to modernize selected rows or clusters first.

3. High-density colocation expansion is opening new commercial opportunities for scalable in-rack CDU solutions.

Another important opportunity comes from colocation providers and shared digital infrastructure platforms that are preparing space for AI tenants with much higher cabinet power density than conventional enterprise deployments. In this environment, in-rack CDUs are attractive because they support modular rollout, tenant-by-tenant scaling, and more precise cooling control at the cabinet or rack cluster level. High-density colocation offerings are already being positioned around cabinets far above traditional density ranges, which creates a natural need for compact and repeatable rack-level liquid-cooling building blocks. This commercial model favors suppliers that can deliver not just hardware, but also integration support, commissioning, monitoring, and dependable product availability. The opportunity is reinforced by the fact that liquid-cooling supply chains are tightening as hyperscale and AI demand accelerates.

About The Authors

Zhangyu - Lead Author

Email:zhangyu@qyresearch.com

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