LG lands on the five-product list of Nvidia-certified 2.5-megawatt coolant units
Nvidia has certified more than 30 cooling units under its DSX Ready program, and only five of them handle 2.5 megawatts. LG Electronics now owns one of the five, and the orders remain Nvidia's to place.
The Investor · Invest desk
What happened
- LG Electronics said on September 22 that Nvidia had approved its 2.5-megawatt coolant distribution unit as DSX Ready, the category Nvidia evaluates and certifies itself for installation in its AI factories.
- According to Cryptobriefing, the qualification arrived one day after Nvidia launched the DSX Ready program on September 21, 2026.
- LG had qualified a 600-kilowatt CDU on July 27, 2026, and holds infrastructure qualifications for 1-megawatt models as well.
Why it matters
- What it limits constraint Nvidia writes the approval sheet for its AI factories, so LG's reachable market at 2.5 megawatts is whatever Nvidia chooses to spend across the products it has certified.
- Who's exposed exposure Nvidia can enlarge the cohort of five, and every further 2.5-megawatt certification cuts LG's share of the shortlist without LG changing anything.
- What's now possible capability LG can now quote a whole cooling loop to the operators buying Nvidia racks, with chillers, computer room air handlers and cold plates sold alongside the certified unit.
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An approval is an option on orders, and the people nearest the deal say as much. "Actual orders depend on Nvidia's decision, but technically the five products approved at the 2.5-MW class are in a favorable position," an industry official told Seoul Economic Daily [8]. LG did not disclose an order, a price, or a revenue target for the unit.
One product in six on the DSX Ready list is rated at 2.5 megawatts [17]. That rung is narrow because Nvidia's sizing makes it narrow. Divide 2,500 kilowatts by the roughly 120 kilowatts a rack draws and you get 20.8 racks per unit. A full 20-rack row leaves 100 kilowatts of spare cooling, less than one more rack [18]. A buyer who adds a twenty-first rack buys a second CDU. Split evenly, Nvidia's 2.5-megawatt cooling spend would hand LG a fifth of it [19].
The program is newer than the qualifications inside it. Cryptobriefing dates the DSX Ready launch to September 21, 2026 [4], and LG's 600-kilowatt unit qualified on July 27, 2026, 56 days before that [16]. By the time Nvidia put a name on the standard, more than 30 coolant units had already passed it [9].
The demand case rests on a forecast. TrendForce expects liquid cooling adoption in AI data centers to reach 60% next year from 14% in 2024 [20], a 4.3-fold rise in penetration [22]. Cryptobriefing puts the AI data center cooling market at roughly $133.5 billion by 2034, growing about 26% a year [23]. Compound 26% across the nine years from 2025 and the market multiplies about eightfold, which implies a base near $17 billion today [24]. "With this approval under Nvidia's DSX standard, we will begin supplying more reliable and efficient cooling solutions to global big tech companies in earnest," said Lee Jae-sung, head of LG Electronics' ES Business Division [12].
It can go otherwise. Nvidia could certify another five units at 2.5 megawatts, and each one dilutes LG's place on the list. Rack density could keep climbing until the standard row resizes, in which case the 1-megawatt and 600-kilowatt approvals LG already holds matter more than the new one [3]. Or coolant distribution units commodify against a published Nvidia specification, and LG wins slots at assembly margins.
In my view the certification is worth more as a design-in position than as 2026 revenue. What LG cleared (temperature held within plus or minus 0.25 degrees Celsius, with virtual sensors, leak detection and failover [11]) is the sort of thing a buyer keeps once it is qualified, and requalifying a cooling loop delays the build. The thesis fails if a sixth, seventh and eighth product clear the 2.5-megawatt bar before Nvidia places its first orders.
What to watch
- A sixth or seventh product clearing the 2.5-megawatt bar, which would dilute the cohort LG sits in.
- An LG disclosure that attaches a value or a volume to a CDU order from an Nvidia AI factory build.
- TrendForce's 60% liquid cooling adoption figure landing short next year.
Information, not investment advice. This story is general information about companies and markets, drawn from cited reporting. It is not a recommendation to buy, sell or hold any security; check the cited sources before acting.
Clarity's read
What the record supports and how the coverage leans. The claims behind it follow.
Reality
- Evidence52
- Adoption30
- Hype gap+34
- Incentives68
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- [1]
LG Electronics said on Sept. 22 that its 2.5-megawatt coolant distribution unit (CDU) had been approved by Nvidia as a "DSX Ready" product.
- [2]
DSX Ready refers to a product category that Nvidia evaluates and certifies directly, confirming that the equipment meets the standards required for installation in an "AI factory", a large-scale AI data center Nvidia builds by integrating its GPUs with partner technologies in cooling, power, networking and operations.
- [3]
LG Electronics plans to target a range of Nvidia requirements with a lineup spanning the 600-kW and 1-MW CDUs it had previously won DSX Ready approval for, plus the new 2.5-MW model.
- [4]
The qualification arrived one day after Nvidia launched its DSX Ready program on September 21, 2026.
- [5]
LG previously qualified a 600kW CDU on July 27, 2026, and has also secured infrastructure qualifications for 1MW models.
- [6]
Nvidia's DSX AI Factory Platform integrates compute, networking, power, cooling and software into a blueprint for building next-generation AI data centers.
- [7]
The approval gives LG Electronics the opportunity to supply CDUs to Nvidia's AI factories, and industry officials said the company is particularly well positioned in the competition for actual orders.
- [8]
"Actual orders depend on Nvidia's decision, but technically the five products approved at the 2.5-MW class are in a favorable position," an industry official said.
- [9]
Of the more than 30 CDU products that have received DSX Ready approval, only five, including LG Electronics' product, offer capacity at the 2.5-MW level.
- [10]
A rack, the basic server unit of an AI factory, draws about 120 kilowatts of power; twenty racks amount to roughly 2.4 MW, a load that a single 2.5-MW CDU can handle.
- [11]
LG's CDUs maintain temperature accuracy within plus or minus 0.25 degrees Celsius, and the unit comes equipped with virtual sensors, leak detection systems and failover capabilities.
- [12]
"With this approval under Nvidia's DSX standard, we will begin supplying more reliable and efficient cooling solutions to global big tech companies in earnest," said Lee Jae-sung, head of LG Electronics' ES Business Division.
- [13]
"We plan to secure leadership in the next-generation liquid cooling market," said Lee Jae-sung, head of LG Electronics' ES Business Division.
- [14]
Alongside CDUs, LG Electronics is advancing high-efficiency chillers that supply large volumes of cold water, computer room air handlers (CRAH) and cold plates that remove heat directly from semiconductors.
- [15]
For LG's 2.5MW CDU, DSX Ready means proving it can handle direct-to-chip liquid cooling at the scale modern AI workloads demand; the unit channels coolant directly to processor chips instead of relying on air cooling.
- [16]
LG's 600kW qualification on July 27, 2026 came 56 days before the September 21, 2026 launch of the DSX Ready program.
- [17]
Five of more than 30 DSX Ready CDU products are rated at 2.5 MW, about one in six, and fewer if the list runs past 30.
- [18]
At about 120 kW a rack, a 2.5-MW unit covers 20.8 racks, so a 20-rack row of roughly 2.4 MW leaves 100 kW of spare capacity, less than one further rack.
- [19]
If Nvidia spread its 2.5-MW cooling purchases evenly across the five approved products, LG would take a fifth, or 20%.
- [20]
According to market research firm TrendForce, the adoption rate of liquid cooling solutions in AI data centers is expected to jump to 60% next year from 14% in 2024.
- [21]
Liquid cooling penetration for AI chips is projected to climb from 14% in 2024 to roughly 60% by 2027.
- [22]
A move from 14% adoption in 2024 to 60% is a 4.3-fold rise in liquid cooling penetration.
- [23]
The global AI data center cooling market is expected to grow at approximately 26% annually, reaching roughly $133.5 billion by 2034.
- [24]
Growth of 26% a year for the nine years from 2025 multiplies a market about eightfold, so roughly $133.5bn in 2034 implies a base near $17bn in 2025.
Sources
2 independent publishers whose own reporting we read for this story.
- cryptobriefing.comLG Electronics’ 2.5-megawatt cooling unit qualifies as Nvidia DSX Ready
1 article · September 21, 2026
- en.sedaily.comLG Electronics Wins Nvidia Certification for High-Capacity AI Cooling Units
1 article · September 21, 2026
Topics and entities
Topics
- Hardware certification
- AI Data Centers
- Data Center Supply Chain
- Direct-to-Chip Liquid Cooling
Entities
- TrendForce
- Nvidia
- Nvidia DSX Ready
- Nvidia DSX AI Factory Platform
- Coolant Distribution Unit (CDU)
- LG Electronics