Schneider Electric drops $22.6B on PTC as datacenter boom rains money on infra companies

Schneider Electric's market cap has more than doubled in the past four years as the AI boom has driven unprecedented demand for datacenter power and cooling infrastructure. Now the French multinational is cashing in on its good fortunes to cement its place as a key provider of industrial power and datacenter infrastructure with the $22.6 billion acquisition of American industrial software company PTC. Founded in 1985, PTC made a name for itself developing software for computer-aided design, plus lifecycle management tools for industrial products and applications. The all-cash deal, announced on Monday, positions Schneider Electric to capitalize on the proliferation of datacenters used to train and serve AI models at scale. Since ChatGPT kicked off the AI arms race in late 2022, datacenter design and power requirements have changed considerably. Forty-kilowatt air-cooled racks have given way to 250kW liquid-cooled systems that need much denser power delivery and thermal management systems, all of which need to work together. …