How this system works
The liquid heat path: a cold plate on a GPU, the hoses and quick disconnects that join it to the rack manifolds, and the coolant distribution unit that pumps the loop and hands its heat to facility water.
Coolant absorbs heat in the cold plate, leaves the tray through hoses and quick disconnects, returns up the manifold, and gives its heat to facility water in the coolant distribution unit before being pumped back.
What to look for: The channels inside the cold plate, the paired couplings at the tray edge, the blue supply and red return pipes, and the pump and heat exchanger inside the distribution unit.
Compare the right roles
In-rack or in-row CDU?
An in-rack CDU fills the bottom few units of one rack (Kaori markets a 4U unit) and serves only that rack. An in-row or facility CDU serves many racks from its own cabinet at hundreds of kilowatts to megawatts, such as Delta’s 1.5 MW unit, Modine’s Airedale range (400 kW–2 MW+) and Motivair’s WCDU (up to 3.5 MW). Liquid-to-air sidecars suit sites without facility water. The illustrated rack shows an in-rack unit, but many large NVL72 deployments use row-level CDUs instead.
Does NVIDIA’s partner list mean a company supplies NVL72 racks?
No. NVIDIA’s Oct 2024 OCP post names 40+ infrastructure providers building on Blackwell, including AVC, Auras, Delta, Envicool, Nidec, nVent, Parker, Sanyo Denki, SUNON, Schneider Electric and Dover’s CPC, but it does not say which part each supplies, to which rack, or in what volume. We pair the list with each company’s own disclosures and map a part only where those describe the product.
AVC, Auras, Delta, Kaori, Envicool and Fositek document cold plates, manifolds, CDUs and quick disconnects built for AI servers, and nVent defined a GB200 NVL72 cooling reference architecture with NVIDIA. Schneider Electric (Motivair), Eaton (Boyd Thermal) and Ecolab (CoolIT) have bought liquid-cooling specialists, while Vertiv, Modine and Nidec also sell CDUs. NVIDIA-named Cooler Master, Stäubli and Danfoss are private.
Open each company below for its source and limitations. Sector membership does not establish a confirmed supply contract.
Inside the assembly
Cold plates
Copper plates with fine internal channels mounted on the GPUs and CPUs. Coolant flowing through the channels carries the chips’ heat away.
Stock-link scope: Cold-plate makers with documented AI-server products: AVC (large-scale AI liquid-cooling production; a reference designer for unnamed leading GPU makers), Motivair by Schneider Electric (cold plates for NVIDIA SXM5 and AMD Instinct MI300X), JetCool, a Flex company (SmartPlate for NVIDIA H100 and RTX PRO 6000 and Broadcom TH6 switches), CoolIT, owned by Ecolab since July 2, 2026 (5+ million cold plates shipped), Auras, Delta (microchannel cold plates), Envicool, Jentech (liquid-cooling modules), SUNON (shipping since 1H 2026) and Forcecon (catalog). Eaton added Boyd Thermal’s cold plates when it closed that purchase (Mar 12, 2026); Supermicro markets its own DLC-2 cold plates; Luxshare lists cold plates for AI racks; Furukawa is adding cold-plate capacity for data-center GPUs from January 2027. The cold-plate supplier in any given NVL72 tray is not disclosed. Cooler Master and ZutaCore are private, and Fositek’s “Cold Plate + UQD” offer relies on AVC, so Fositek is mapped to quick disconnects only.
Also in this part (not publicly listed): ZutaCore Not publicly listed, Motivair Subsidiary of Schneider Electric, Boyd Thermal Subsidiary of Eaton, CoolIT Systems Subsidiary of Ecolab (ECL), JetCool Technologies Subsidiary of Flex (FLEX)
Rack manifolds
Vertical supply and return pipes at the back of the rack that distribute cool liquid to every tray and collect the warm liquid.
Stock-link scope: Kaori Thermal’s MGX and Vera Rubin rack manifolds are marketed as compliant with NVIDIA’s NVL72 reference designs, and nVent’s manifolds are part of the GB200 NVL72 reference architecture it defined with NVIDIA. Auras (rack, AI and internal manifolds), AVC (manifold systems), Envicool, Delta, Motivair by Schneider Electric (in-rack manifolds), CoolIT (Ecolab), JetCool (Flex), Nidec (coolant distribution manifolds) and Forcecon (catalog) also document manifolds. NVIDIA’s GB200 NVL72 design uses a blind-mate liquid-cooling manifold (NVIDIA, Oct 2024); which supplier builds it for a given rack is not disclosed. Eaton (Boyd Thermal), Supermicro and Luxshare also list rack manifolds for liquid-cooled AI racks.
Also in this part (not publicly listed): Motivair Subsidiary of Schneider Electric, Boyd Thermal Subsidiary of Eaton, CoolIT Systems Subsidiary of Ecolab (ECL), JetCool Technologies Subsidiary of Flex (FLEX)
Quick disconnects
Dripless couplings at each tray connection. They seal both sides when unplugged, so a tray can be removed without draining the loop.
Stock-link scope: Fositek says its UQDs entered the GB200/GB300 supply chain and passed Rubin testing (2025 annual report); Envicool says NVIDIA listed its UQDs (OCP 2024) and its UQDs and MQDs (OCP 2025) among MGX ecosystem partners; Auras shows quick disconnects in its AI liquid-cooling line-up; Amphenol markets UQD, UQDB, BMQC and MQD couplings for AI data-center liquid cooling; Dover’s CPC is an NVIDIA-named Blackwell partner and Dover’s 10-K cites connectors for liquid cooling of server racks; JetCool (Flex) offers manifolds and quick disconnects. Parker was not verified as a quick-disconnect supplier in our sources, and Nidec’s quick couplings are made for its own CDUs. Stäubli and Danfoss, both NVIDIA-named, are private. Luxshare lists blind-mate quick connectors for AI racks.
Also in this part (not publicly listed): Stäubli Not publicly listed, Danfoss Not publicly listed, JetCool Technologies Subsidiary of Flex (FLEX)
Hoses & fittings
Flexible hoses and fittings that route coolant inside each tray and from the manifolds, rated for years of pressure and temperature cycles.
Stock-link scope: Parker showed its coolant hoses inside a liquid-cooled rack at its May 2024 investor day; Motivair by Schneider Electric sells hose kits; Delta lists plumbing in its liquid-cooling solution; Kaori Thermal ships rack manifolds assembled with hose and quick-connect components; Envicool’s Coolinside line includes piping. Hose and fitting suppliers inside specific NVL72 trays are not disclosed, and hose-material makers are not mapped. Supermicro sells hose kits with its rack liquid-cooling system.
Also in this part (not publicly listed): Motivair Subsidiary of Schneider Electric
Coolant distribution unit
Pumps, a heat exchanger, filters and controls that circulate the rack’s clean coolant and pass its heat to the building’s water loop.
Stock-link scope: In-rack CDUs like the illustrated one sit at the bottom of the rack: Kaori (4U in-rack CDU), Auras, SUNON (in-rack RPU/CDU, mass-production ready in 1H 2026), JetCool (Flex; SmartSense rack-mounted CDU), Envicool (rack CDU validated by Intel) and Forcecon (80 kW, catalog). Row- and facility-scale CDUs serve many racks: nVent (in its GB200 NVL72 reference architecture with NVIDIA), Delta (40–144 kW liquid-to-air; 1.5 MW liquid-to-liquid), Motivair by Schneider Electric (MCDU-70 in the Schneider–AMD Helios reference design; WCDU up to 3.5 MW), CoolIT (Ecolab), Vertiv (Liebert XDU), AVC, Nidec, Modine’s Airedale (400 kW–2 MW+) and Lite-On (a 600 kW in-row CDU announced in 2024). Sanyo Denki supplies a liquid-cooling pump, a CDU component rather than a CDU. LiquidStack is private. Eaton’s Boyd Thermal markets CDUs for GB200 NVL72 deployments, Supermicro’s GB300 NVL72 rack carries its own in-rack CDU of up to 250 kW, and Luxshare lists CDUs.
Also in this part (not publicly listed): LiquidStack Not publicly listed, Motivair Subsidiary of Schneider Electric, Boyd Thermal Subsidiary of Eaton, CoolIT Systems Subsidiary of Ecolab (ECL), JetCool Technologies Subsidiary of Flex (FLEX)