Who Owns Energy Labs?
Energy Labs is owned by Vertiv Holdings Co. (NYSE: VRT), a publicly traded critical digital infrastructure company headquartered in Westerville, Ohio. Founded in 1974 in San Diego, California, Energy Labs designs and manufactures custom air handling systems using indirect evaporative, direct evaporative, and direct expansion cooling. Vertiv acquired the company in January 2018 as its first acquisition under the Vertiv name. Energy Labs operates as a division of Vertiv from its San Diego headquarters.
Energy Labs Timeline
Who Owns Energy Labs?
- Parent Company: Vertiv
- Ownership Type: Brand division
- Acquisition Year: 2018
- Company Type: Publicly Traded
- Stock Ticker: NYSE: VRT
| Brand | Parent Company | Ownership Type |
|---|---|---|
| Energy Labs | Vertiv | Brand division |
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History of Energy Labs
- Founded: 1974
- Founders: Energy Labs (private founding)
- Acquired by Vertiv: 2018
Energy Labs was founded in San Diego in 1974 to engineer and manufacture indirect and direct evaporative cooling systems. The company earned its first patents in 1978, during the energy crisis era when evaporative and free-cooling approaches to air conditioning drew new commercial interest.
Through the following decades, Energy Labs evolved from a firm that outsourced much of its production to one that designed and built its products in-house. Its specialty became custom air handling units: large engineered-to-order systems that condition outside air for buildings where standard catalog equipment does not fit. A hospital laboratory, a semiconductor cleanroom, and a concert hall all have different airflow, filtration, humidity, and noise requirements, and Energy Labs built its business on engineering each unit to the specific project rather than selling fixed models. Customers came to include hospitals, universities, schools, performing arts centers, laboratories, office buildings, and aerospace and electronics manufacturers.
The product range grew to include energy recovery wheels, fan array sections, and integrated controls alongside the core evaporative and direct expansion technologies. By the time of the Vertiv acquisition the company employed more than 900 people across operations in the United States and Mexico.
The rise of hyperscale data centers changed the company's trajectory. Large cloud and colocation operators needed custom air handling systems able to deliver free cooling at massive scale, using outside air economization and evaporative techniques to cut mechanical refrigeration hours. Energy Labs' half-century of evaporative engineering made it a natural supplier.
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In January 2018, Vertiv acquired Energy Labs. The deal was announced as Vertiv's first acquisition under its new name, and it gave Vertiv large air-side thermal products to complement the Liebert precision cooling line. For Energy Labs, the acquisition brought the balance sheet and channel reach of a multi-billion-dollar infrastructure company, along with purchasing leverage on components that a standalone custom shop could not match.
Since the acquisition, Energy Labs products have been positioned for cloud, colocation, and commercial and industrial customers. The AI-driven data center buildout that began in 2023 increased demand for large custom air handlers and integrated cooling plants, markets where Energy Labs' made-to-order model competes directly. Its equipment now sits inside Vertiv's broader thermal management lineup, which stretches from in-row coolers up to facility-scale liquid cooling for AI racks.
About Vertiv
Who owns Vertiv?
Vertiv Holdings Co. is a publicly traded company listed on the NYSE under ticker VRT. The company is owned by institutional investors, mutual funds, index funds, and individual shareholders. Platinum Equity, the private equity firm that acquired the business from Emerson Electric in 2016, has substantially reduced its ownership stake since the 2020 IPO and is no longer a controlling shareholder.
Is Vertiv publicly traded?
Yes. Vertiv trades on the New York Stock Exchange under ticker VRT. The company went public in February 2020 through a SPAC merger with GS Acquisition Holdings Corp., a special purpose acquisition company sponsored by Goldman Sachs. The transaction valued Vertiv at approximately $5 billion.
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What does Vertiv do?
Vertiv designs, manufactures, and services critical digital infrastructure solutions including power management systems (UPS, PDUs, switchgear), thermal management systems (precision cooling, liquid cooling), IT infrastructure management tools (KVM, out-of-band management), and services for data centers and mission-critical facilities. The company's products are essential for keeping data centers running reliably.
What is Vertiv's revenue?
In FY2025, Vertiv reported net sales of approximately $10.2 billion, up 28 percent year-over-year. Adjusted operating profit was approximately $2.1 billion, with adjusted operating margin of 20.4 percent. The company guided to FY2026 net sales of $13.25 billion to $13.75 billion.
Why is Vertiv benefiting from AI?
AI workloads require significantly more power and cooling per server rack than traditional computing. AI servers from NVIDIA and other vendors can consume 30 to 100 kilowatts per rack, compared to 5 to 10 kilowatts for traditional servers. This drives demand for Vertiv's high-density power management and liquid cooling solutions. The company's CoolTera acquisition enhanced its liquid cooling capabilities for AI workloads.
When was Vertiv founded?
Vertiv traces its roots to 1965 when Eugene Liebert founded Liebert Corporation in Columbus, Ohio. The business was acquired by Emerson Electric in 2000, sold to Platinum Equity in 2016 and rebranded as Vertiv, and went public through a SPAC merger in February 2020.
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Who is Vertiv's CEO?
Giordano Albertazzi serves as CEO, having been appointed in 2023. He succeeded Rob Johnson. Albertazzi previously served as Vertiv's President of the Americas. Under his leadership, Vertiv has focused on expanding manufacturing capacity, investing in liquid cooling technology, and growing its services business.
What brands does Vertiv own?
Vertiv owns eight major brands: Liebert (power and thermal management), Avocent (IT management and KVM), Geist (rack PDUs and monitoring), Energy Labs (industrial thermal solutions), NetSure (DC power for telecom), Alber (battery monitoring), E+I Engineering Group (electrical switchgear), and PowerBar (busbar trunking).
- Founded: 1965
- Headquarters: Westerville, Ohio, USA
- Company Type: Publicly Traded
- Stock: NYSE: VRT
- Revenue: $10.2 billion (FY2025)
- Employees: ~30,000
Where Is Energy Labs Made / Based?
- Headquarters: San Diego, California, USA
- Manufacturing / Operations: United States, Mexico
Energy Labs Categories & Tags
Energy Labs Sustainability & Ethics
Energy Labs' products sit directly on the efficiency side of the energy debate. Evaporative and air-side economization reduce the electricity required to cool buildings and data centers, which lowers operating emissions for customers. In many climates, free cooling handles a large share of annual hours without running compressors at all.
The trade-off is water consumption. Evaporative cooling uses water to avoid mechanical refrigeration energy, and the brand's indirect designs aim to minimize that use. Customers in water-stressed regions weigh the water-for-energy exchange when specifying systems, and Energy Labs engineers work with them on hybrid approaches that economize without heavy water draw.
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As a Vertiv division, Energy Labs operates under the parent's supplier code of conduct and annual ESG reporting. No independently verified certifications are held at the brand level.
Brands Owned by Vertiv
Technology SoftwareAvocent
Owned by Vertiv
IT infrastructure management brand providing KVM switches, serial consoles, and remote access solutions for data centers and mission-critical facilities, owned by Vertiv Holdings (NYSE: VRT).
kvm-switchesit-managementdata-center
Conglomerates IndustrialGeist
Owned by Vertiv
Specialized brand providing rack power distribution units (PDUs), monitoring systems, and intelligent power management solutions for data centers and IT infrastructure.
power-distributionpdumonitoring
Consumer ElectronicsLiebert
Owned by Vertiv
Vertiv's flagship brand for precision cooling and AC power management solutions for data centers and mission-critical facilities, founded in 1965 by Ralph Liebert in Columbus, Ohio as the pioneer of precision computer room air conditioning; acquired by Emerson Electric in 1987, now part of Vertiv Holdings Co. (NYSE: VRT)
data-center-coolingprecision-coolingpower-management
Conglomerates IndustrialNetSure
Owned by Vertiv
NetSure is Vertiv's DC power systems brand for telecommunications networks, covering rectifiers, converters, and power systems for central offices, access sites, edge facilities, and data centers.
dc-powertelecom-powerrectifiers
Conglomerates IndustrialVertiv
Owned by Vertiv
Vertiv is the flagship brand of Vertiv Holdings Co. (NYSE: VRT), covering power management, thermal management, and IT infrastructure products for data centers and mission-critical facilities.
data-center-infrastructurepower-managementthermal-management
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Energy Labs Ownership: Pros & Cons
Advantages
- +Backed by Vertiv's balance sheet and global sales channel since 2018
- +Fifty years of evaporative cooling engineering and custom air handler experience
- +Positioned in Vertiv's fastest-growing product category during the AI data center buildout
- +Made-to-order model wins large hyperscale and institutional specifications
- +Manufacturing footprint in the US and Mexico supports North American lead times
Considerations
- -Competes against larger HVAC manufacturers including Daikin Applied and Trane
- -Evaporative systems face scrutiny over water consumption in arid regions
- -Capital spending by data center and institutional customers is cyclical
- -Dependent on Vertiv's capital allocation and product roadmap decisions
Frequently Asked Questions About Energy Labs
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Sources & Further Reading
Competitors to Energy Labs
No direct competitors found in the same category. This could be because Energy Labsoperates in a unique market segment or we're still building our competitor database.
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Vertiv Stock Information
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