Sealand Securities Co.,Ltd. (000750) has released a research report indicating that the trend of AI-driven liquid cooling demand in data centers is becoming increasingly clear. This is correspondingly boosting the market for plate heat exchangers in data centers, with core component manufacturers entering a phase of earnings release. According to the firm's projections, the global market for secondary-side (within CDU) plate heat exchangers in data centers is expected to reach 31.7 billion yuan by 2030, with a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 23% from 2026 to 2030. The industry is likely to sustain a high prosperity cycle over the long term, leading the firm to maintain its "Overweight" rating for the automotive sector.
The key viewpoints of Sealand Securities Co.,Ltd. are as follows: Plate heat exchangers serve as the critical heat exchange hub in data center liquid cooling systems, with brazed products poised to become the mainstream technical route for secondary-side (within CDU) applications. As AI chip power consumption and rack power density continue to rise, air cooling is gradually approaching its limits. Brazed plate heat exchangers, leveraging advantages such as high heat exchange efficiency, compact size, high pressure resistance, and compatibility with deionized water, can be embedded in rack-mounted CDUs to meet high-density liquid cooling demands. Future product upgrades will focus on stainless steel materials, reliability, and intelligent operation and maintenance.
The convergence of computing power demand, energy efficiency constraints, and total cost of ownership (TCO) advantages is expected to keep the data center plate heat exchanger market highly prosperous. The rising power consumption of AI chips is driving liquid cooling to transition from an optional configuration in low-power scenarios to a mainstream cooling solution in high-power settings. Stricter global PUE regulations, coupled with the energy-saving and reduced maintenance advantages during liquid cooling operations, are further reinforcing adoption. The firm estimates that the global secondary-side (within CDU) plate heat exchanger market will grow from 14.1 billion yuan in 2026 to 31.7 billion yuan in 2030, representing a CAGR of 23%. Within this, the cold plate market is projected to reach approximately 30.6 billion yuan by 2030, while the immersion cooling market, driven by ultra-high-power scenarios, is expected to achieve a CAGR of up to 55%.
Under the dominant landscape of overseas leaders, tight supply conditions and certification breakthroughs are jointly opening up opportunities for domestic substitution. Overseas leaders hold a competitive edge in the data center plate heat exchanger market through plate design patents, manufacturing process expertise, and global delivery capabilities. However, their custom vacuum brazing furnaces are primarily sourced from European equipment suppliers, and overseas expansion cycles typically take 2–3 years. The firm anticipates that the period from the second half of 2026 to 2027 may present a window of tight supply. If domestic manufacturers can complete certification upgrades at the cloud vendor level within this window and fill gaps in platform ecosystem-level plate heat exchanger certifications, they could potentially advance from secondary suppliers to primary supplier status.
1) Process homology: Leading domestic plate heat exchanger manufacturers, many of which originated from automotive thermal management, can reuse brazing and heat exchange processes for data center applications. For instance, Tongxing Technology has entered the data center sector by leveraging its homologous automotive thermal management processes.
2) Quality control transferability: Taking Yinlun Precision as an example, its automotive-grade IATF16949 quality control system can be transferred to data center products, enabling leak-free performance for over 10,000 hours.
3) Faster expansion and supporting capabilities: Yinlun Precision plans to complete construction of three large-scale plate heat exchanger production lines by the end of 2027, while Sanhua Intelligent Controls has begun supplying certain global customers for both primary-side and secondary-side applications.
Risk warnings: Risks of data center installation volumes falling short of expectations; policy risks; risks of underperformance by key tracked companies; risks of significant product price fluctuations; risks of new capacity construction not meeting expectations; risks of project delays, inability to execute, or failure to generate expected returns; and risks of deviations between statistical calculations and actual conditions.