ABB has acquired IPEC, a UK specialist in electrical diagnostics, as it continues to expand its focus on resilience and uptime in data center infrastructure.

The acquisition, expected to close in Q1 of 2026, will see IPEC integrated into ABB’s electrification service portfolio. Financial terms were not disclosed.

IPEC was founded in 1995 and is headquartered in Manchester. The company currently employs approximately 70 people across the UK, the US, Sweden, Saudi Arabia, the UAE, and Texas. The company has been a supplier for utilities and industrial customers; however, data centers now represent its largest and fastest-growing market.

Its technology focuses on continuous partial discharge monitoring, a critical capability for data centers where electrical insulation failure is a leading cause of unplanned outages. Partial discharges are small electrical sparks that signal early-stage degradation and account for the vast majority of high-impact electrical failures. IPEC’s monitoring platforms provide 24/7 oversight of medium- and high-voltage assets, with its flagship system able to track up to 128 connection points simultaneously.

IPEC then analyzes the data using its proprietary DeCIFer algorithm, combined with AI and advanced analytics, to detect emerging faults before they escalate into service-affecting incidents. This, the company claims, enables data center operators to schedule maintenance proactively, reduce unplanned downtime, and extend the service life of critical power infrastructure.

Stuart Thompson, division president of ABB Electrification Service, said: “Across critical industries, the cost of downtime is staggering, from multi-million-dollar revenue losses in data centers to the safety and reliability risks facing utilities and hospitals. This acquisition gives our customers the diagnostic intelligence they need to prevent failures before they happen. By turning complex monitoring data into clear, actionable insights, we’re enabling businesses to shift from reactive repairs to predictive maintenance, so they can focus on performance while their critical infrastructure runs leaner, cleaner, and smarter.”

ABB has made several significant investments in the data center space over the past year. Earlier this month, it acquired a minority stake in OctaiPipe, a UK-based AI firm focused on optimizing data center cooling systems.

Before this, in November, it signed a spate of agreements with Texas-based microgrid developer VoltaGrid to supply power system equipment for multiple US data center power projects supporting AI workloads.