Power equipment manufacturer ABB has invested in OctaiPipe, a UK-based AI firm focused on optimizing data center cooling systems.

As part of the deal, ABB will take a minority stake in OctaiPipe. Full financial details on the investment were not shared.

The partnership will see the companies supply data center operators with tools to achieve substantial energy savings, strengthen operational resilience, and meet the growing demands for sustainability and transparency.

“Energy efficiency is key to ensuring industries can outrun, leaner, and cleaner. It’s a must, not a plus,” concluded Ankush Gulati, energy efficiency program lead, ABB Motion Services.

“By integrating OctaiPipe’s cutting-edge AI, we are broadening our proven offering with advanced software capabilities, enabling data centers to optimize energy use in their cooling infrastructure. With the US economy predicted to consume more electricity in 2030 for processing data than for manufacturing all energy-intensive goods combined, the opportunity for impact is significant.”

The OctaiPipe platform uses a range of in-house AI technologies, including federated learning, multi-agent reinforcement learning, and digital twin modeling, to adjust cooling operations in real time while maintaining safety and regulatory standards.

The system is deployed on-site rather than in the cloud, reflecting a design aimed at operators who prioritize data control and scalability. The partnership also includes a defined development roadmap intended to support improvements in reliability and overall performance across data center operations.

“Data centers are the engines of the digital economy, but their energy footprint is unsustainable without radical innovation,” said Eric Topham, CEO and co-founder of OctaiPipe. “Think of our federated learning platform as an orchestra conductor, smartly adjusting the performance of the cooling system based on what’s actually needed. In this way, our AI-driven software solution delivers secure, compliant, and actionable optimization. By joining forces with ABB, we’re not just scaling technology. We’re enabling data center operators to future-proof their infrastructure and thrive in a rapidly evolving market.”

ABB has signed several major deals aimed at the data center industry over the past year. For example, last month the company 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.