The market value of Schneider Electric, a French power equipment manufacturer, exceeds that of Total Energy, the country's largest oil and gas producer, marking an acceleration in the transition from fossil fuels to electrification.
Since the beginning of this year, Schneider's stock price has risen by 35%, and its market value in Paris has increased to approximately 142 billion euros (158 billion US dollars, approximately 1106 billion RMB), making it the fourth largest company in the French CA * * 0 stock index. Schneider has a wide range of products, from switchgear to software for managing power grids and factories. Its market value is second only to luxury fashion group and cosmetics giant LVMH Mo ë t Hennessy Louis Vuitton SE, Herm è s International SCA, and L'Oreal SA in France.
During the same period, the market value of Total Energy fell by 5% to around 140 billion euros, reflecting a decline in global energy prices due to doubts about demand intensity.
This is a competition between future energy and past energy, "said Gilles Guibout, head of European stocks at Anson Investment Management in Paris. We are electrifying the world, and Schneider is at the core of this structural trend
The rise of Schneider reminds us that addressing climate change and the flourishing development of artificial intelligence require significant investments in renewable energy, more complex power grids, and data centers.
Schneider Electric announced last Thursday that it will pay approximately $850 million to acquire a controlling stake in Motivair Corp, a high-performance computing liquid cooling expert, to strengthen its offerings for rapidly growing data centers. This all cash transaction is expected to be completed in the coming quarters, with Schneider acquiring 75% of Motivair's shares in the United States and planning to acquire the remaining shares by 2028. The company stated in a statement that this transaction enhances Schneider's direct chip liquid cooling and high-capacity thermal system products.
The company added that the surge in the use of large-scale language models such as generative AI and Chat GPT requires more efficient cooling solutions in data centers, especially liquid cooling, as traditional air cooling cannot dissipate greater heat.
Schneider CEO Peter Herweck said that the device manufactured by Motivair, headquartered in Buffalo, New York, can pump coolant at very high pressure near the chip, effectively cooling servers.
Herweck added that the data center and networking market will account for 21% of Schneider's 2023 orders, or approximately 8 billion euros (8.7 billion US dollars) in sales, and will achieve double-digit growth this year.
Goldman Sachs estimates that in the US market, the electricity consumption of data centers is expected to approximately double between 2023 and 2030, requiring approximately 47 gigawatts of next-generation power generation capacity.
The United States is the largest market, but demand for data centers is also growing elsewhere.
Schneider's stock price has risen by over 30% this year, thanks to its strong market position.