Dive Brief:
- Electrical component manufacturer Eaton will establish a new business segment focused on the data center market, Angie McMillin, president of energy solutions and services, said in an interview with Manufacturing Dive on March 26.
- Sales under Eaton’s electrical Americas segment increased 16.1% to approximately $13.3 billion in 2025, driven by “data center momentum,” according to a Feb. 3 earnings release. Sales under the electrical global segment increased 9.1% to $6.8 billion.
- McMillin will head the global data center segment as president, effective April 1. The new division comes weeks after Eaton completed its $9.5 billion acquisition of the thermal business from the Boyd Corp.
Dive Insight:
Dublin-based Eaton was established in 1911 under the company’s former name, the Torbensen Gear and Axle Co., after Joseph Eaton invested in Viggo Torbensen’s gear-driven truck axle invention.
Since its inception, the company has expanded its portfolio and services past its vehicle offerings. This includes data centers, which Eaton has supported for over a couple of decades on its power side, McMillin said.
While the company has teams focused on data center solutions, Eaton aims to make it “more global and cohesive” as it formalizes it as a business unit, McMillin said.
As demand for data centers and artificial intelligence chips continues to grow, Eaton has been watching the space “very carefully,” assessing trends and technologies.
“What problems do they need solved, and are those problems ones that make sense for us and are problems that we can help them with?” McMillin said. “And if so, how, where does that fit right? That's just looking at the portfolio and seeing what makes sense.”
Particularly, Eaton has been watching the increase in power consumption in data centers, especially with the emergence of AI, as well as the cloud build-out and expansion, she added.
“We were seeing the demands from the power side in both areas, and said, ‘Okay, if power is increasing, traditional air isn't going to continue to be able to cool in an effective and localized manner,’” McMillin said. “All of that heat just can't get out fast enough with air. And that's where liquid cooling became so, so important.”
Liquid cooling was something Eaton needed to know for power electronics, McMillin said.
With the addition of the thermal business, Eaton enters the liquid cooling market. The electrical component maker has only offered air cooling.
Furthermore, Boyd’s thermal assets “are known as the technical go-tos” to solve a thermal problem in many markets, McMillin said. For data centers, the help is localized, focusing on the chip level.
The acquisition includes more than 6,000 employees and manufacturing sites across North America, Asia and Europe, according to the March 12 press release.
With a data center-focused segment and acquisition, Eaton aims to ramp up production capacity within the U.S. on its power side of the business, with announcements coming soon, McMillin said.
Eaton will focus on investing and implementing growth in 2026, CEO Paulo Ruiz said in a Feb. 3 earnings call, including plans to spin off its mobility business. Eaton has recently been taking steps to address the growing demand for data centers and AI in its electrical Americas segment.
Last year, Eaton announced plans to spend over $50 million to open a new manufacturing campus in Henrico County, Virginia. The project includes expanding and consolidating Eaton’s manufacturing operations in the Richmond area and transition existing employees to the new site. The project will also create 200 jobs, with hiring set to begin sometime this year.
Additionally, Eaton collaborated with Nvidia to unveil the Eaton Beam Rubin DSX platform, supporting the end-to-end infrastructure for AI factories, according to the March 16 press release.
Correction: This article has been updated to correct the name and title of Eaton's chief executive officer, who goes by Paulo Ruiz.
