China GPU Liquid Cooling - Market Size, Share, Trends, and Growth Forecasts, 2026-2031 | AI Infrastructure Demand Drives 31.38% CAGR and a USD 11.23 Billion Market
Dublin, Oct. 30, 2026 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- "China GPU Liquid Cooling - Market Share Analysis, Industry Trends & Statistics, Growth Forecasts (2026-2031)" has been added to ResearchAndMarkets.com's offering.
The China GPU liquid cooling market was valued at USD 2.28 billion in 2025 and is projected to grow from USD 2.87 billion in 2026 to USD 11.23 billion by 2031. This represents a CAGR of 31.38% during the 2026-2031 forecast period. Rapid investment in artificial intelligence infrastructure, rising GPU power densities and the construction of hyperscale data centers are accelerating demand for advanced liquid cooling technologies across China.
AI Training Workloads Drive Liquid Cooling Adoption
Chinese hyperscale cloud providers are expanding computing clusters from tens to hundreds of petaflops to support large-scale AI training. These workloads often maintain GPU utilization above 80%, creating thermal loads that conventional air-cooling systems struggle to manage efficiently. Liquid cooling helps stabilize operating temperatures, improve computing reliability and prevent fan power consumption from undermining data center energy efficiency.
Alibaba Cloud's USD 52.7 billion, three-year infrastructure plan places cold-plate racks at the center of next-generation language-model training. Baidu is upgrading legacy facilities after thermal loads increased fourfold, while Tencent doubled planned AI capital expenditure to USD 5 billion for 2026. Tencent is also deploying immersion cooling systems capable of supporting rack densities of 100-200 kW. Continued development of sovereign AI models is expected to sustain intensive GPU utilization and strengthen China GPU liquid cooling market growth.
GPU Power Densities Above 700 W Reshape Cooling Requirements
The transition toward high-performance accelerators is making liquid cooling essential for flagship AI systems. NVIDIA's Vera Rubin family, expected in the second half of 2026, is designed with liquid cooling as standard and board power at or above 1,000 W. These specifications reduce the practicality of air cooling for advanced AI training racks.
Supporting infrastructure is also evolving. Delta Electronics offers 1.5 MW coolant distribution units capable of serving fifteen 100 kW NVL72 racks, while Huawei has introduced liquid-cooled 800 G switches designed to prevent thermal throttling within high-speed network fabrics. In addition to thermal performance, liquid cooling enables greater computing density, smaller facility footprints and lower HVAC costs.
High Initial Investment Remains a Market Constraint
Cold-plate assemblies, quick connectors and coolant distribution units can increase initial project budgets by 40-60%, limiting adoption among operators running racks below 50 kW. Costs remain concentrated in precision machining and specialized materials, where manufacturing scale is still developing.
Long-term economics become more favorable at higher rack densities. Intel research indicates that liquid cooling systems can reach breakeven in under five years when rack capacity exceeds 100 kW, supported by lower HVAC expenses and improved space utilization. Midea is investing USD 138 million in high-volume coolant distribution unit manufacturing, with the goal of reducing unit prices by as much as 30% before 2028.
Additional market influences include the rapid build-out of provincial AI computing clusters under the "East Data West Compute" initiative, domestic development of liquid-cooled accelerators in response to advanced GPU export restrictions and supply chain exposure related to imported dielectric fluids.
Single-Phase Systems Lead, While Two-Phase Cooling Gains Momentum
Single-phase liquid cooling accounted for 73.20% of the market in 2025, supported by compatibility with standard 42U racks and relatively straightforward maintenance. The technology remains attractive for retrofit projects because operators can transition individual cabinets without extensively modifying facility-level plumbing.
Two-phase immersion cooling is gaining traction in megawatt-class AI training facilities. Sugon's C8000 V3.0 system supports up to 900 kW per rack while reducing PUE to 1.04. As GPU power requirements move beyond 1 kW per device, demand for two-phase systems is expected to rise, particularly in new data centers designed for high-density AI computing.
Approximately 22% of new Chinese data centers commissioned in 2026 incorporated liquid cooling, although two-phase immersion represented only 4%. Higher dielectric fluid costs and limited operational experience have slowed adoption. However, successful validation of immersion cooling at 100 kW rack densities and a PUE of 1.09 indicates significant potential as AI workloads become more demanding.
Rack-Level Cooling Emerges as a High-Growth Segment
Component-level cooling represented 55.45% of market spending in 2025, largely because GPU reference designs increasingly include integrated cold plates. This approach allows enterprises to upgrade infrastructure node by node and prioritize mission-critical systems.
Server and rack-level solutions are forecast to grow at a CAGR of 31.76% as hyperscale operators adopt cabinets exceeding 150 kW. Integrated systems combine manifolds, leak detection, monitoring and coolant distribution, reducing installation complexity and accelerating deployment. Containerized rack solutions can also be installed rapidly at provincial AI hubs, shortening time-to-compute. Component-level systems will remain important for urban colocation retrofits, but rack-level liquid cooling is expected to generate the strongest revenue gains through 2031.
Key Topics Covered:
1 INTRODUCTION
1.1 Study Assumptions and Market Definition
1.2 Scope of the Study
2 RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
3 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
4 MARKET LANDSCAPE
4.1 Market Overview
4.2 Market Drivers
4.2.1 Surging Adoption of AI Training Workloads in Chinese Hyperscale Data Centers
4.2.2 Government Incentives for Energy Efficient Data Center Cooling
4.2.3 Rising GPU Power Densities Beyond 700W Necessitating Liquid Cooling
4.2.4 Rapid Build-Out of Provincial AI Computing Clusters Aligned With "East Data West Compute" Program
4.2.5 Growing Preference for Immersion-Ready GPU Reference Designs by ODM Server Makers
4.2.6 Export Restrictions on Advanced GPUs Accelerating Domestic Liquid-Cooled Accelerator R&D
4.3 Market Restraints
4.3.1 High Upfront CAPEX Compared With Air Cooling Retrofits
4.3.2 Limited Standardization Across Component-Level Cold Plate Solutions
4.3.3 Stringent Cybersecurity Approval Processes for Liquid-Cooled Cloud Deployments in Government Workloads
4.3.4 Supply Chain Dependency on Imported Dielectric Fluids Amid Geopolitical Tensions
4.4 Industry Value Chain Analysis
4.5 Regulatory Landscape
4.6 Technological Outlook
4.7 Porter's Five Forces Analysis
4.7.1 Competitive Rivalry
4.7.2 Threat of New Entrants
4.7.3 Bargaining Power of Suppliers
4.7.4 Bargaining Power of Buyers
4.7.5 Threat of Substitutes
4.8 Impact of Macroeconomic Factors on the Market
5 MARKET SIZE AND GROWTH FORECASTS (VALUE)
5.1 By Cooling Type
5.1.1 Single-Phase Liquid Cooling
5.1.2 Two-Phase Liquid Cooling
5.2 By Cooling Level
5.2.1 Component-Level Cooling
5.2.2 Server / Rack-Level Cooling
5.3 By Deployment
5.3.1 Hyperscale / Cloud
5.3.2 Enterprise
5.3.3 Government and Research (HPC)
5.3.4 Edge AI
5.4 By GPU Power Density
5.4.1 Below 300W
5.4.2 300W - 700W
5.4.3 Above 700W
6 COMPETITIVE LANDSCAPE
6.1 Market Concentration
6.2 Strategic Moves
6.3 Market Share Analysis
6.4 Company Profiles (includes Global Level Overview, Market Level Overview, Core Segments, Financials as available, Strategic Information, Market Rank/Share, Products and Services, Recent Developments)
6.4.1 Inspur Group
6.4.2 Lenovo Group Limited
6.4.3 Huawei Technologies Co., Ltd.
6.4.4 Sugon Information Industry Co., Ltd.
6.4.5 H3C Technologies Co., Ltd.
6.4.6 Tencent Holdings Ltd.
6.4.7 Alibaba Group Holding Limited
6.4.8 Baidu, Inc.
6.4.9 Giga Computing Technology Co., Ltd.
6.4.10 ASUSTeK Computer Inc.
6.4.11 Super Micro Computer, Inc.
6.4.12 NVIDIA Corporation
6.4.13 CoolIT Systems Inc.
6.4.14 Asetek A/S
6.4.15 LiquidStack Holding Limited
6.4.16 Submer Technologies SL
6.4.17 Envicool Technology Co., Ltd.
6.4.18 Delta Electronics, Inc.
6.4.19 Phytium Technology Co., Ltd.
6.4.20 China Mobile Limited
7 MARKET OPPORTUNITIES AND FUTURE OUTLOOK
7.1 Whitespace and Unmet Need Assessment
For more information about this report visit https://www.researchandmarkets.com/r/6npd4s
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