Samsung Electronics is in talks to buy Modine Manufacturing, a US maker of cooling systems for data centers, in a deal that could reach $8 billion. Bloomberg reported the talks on Thursday (13), citing people familiar with the matter.
According to the news agency, the discussions could lead to an agreement as soon as this month, but it is still too early to say the deal will close — other bidders could emerge. Neither Samsung nor Modine has publicly confirmed the talks so far.
Modine: the numbers behind the deal
Founded in 1916 and headquartered in Wisconsin, United States, Modine makes heating and cooling equipment for industrial and commercial facilities and has been turning AI data center cooling into its core business. Last quarter, revenue from its data center segment rose 95% year over year to $439.7 million, and revenue for fiscal 2027 is projected at up to $3.2 billion.
Assuming a purchase of 100% of the company, the estimated price is between $7.5 billion and $8 billion, a premium of about 33% to 42% over Modine's market capitalization of $5.64 billion at the November 12 close. If the price exceeds the roughly $8 billion Samsung paid for Harman in 2017, the deal could become the largest acquisition in Samsung Electronics' history.
The interest has a clear reason: cooling has become one of the bottlenecks in the expansion of AI data centers, which dissipate far more heat than traditional data centers. Last year, Samsung already bought FläktGroup for 1.5 billion euros and, this year, decided to invest 240 billion won to build a data center cooling equipment production line in Gwangju, South Korea. In 2024, the company bid for Johnson Controls' HVAC business, including its US operations, but lost to Germany's Bosch.
Why cooling became a priority
For Samsung, buying Modine would bring a production and sales base for the data center cooling business in North America, adding to the presence the company is already building in Europe, according to an industry source quoted by the Seoul Economic Daily.
Image credit: Modine's headquarters in Wisconsin (Modine, via Seoul Economic Daily).
Sources: Reuters, via TradingView · Seoul Economic Daily
Transparency: this article was produced with the help of artificial intelligence, based on public publications and internet sources cited in the text. The information about the talks comes from reports by sources interviewed by Bloomberg and has not yet been officially confirmed by the companies. We recommend consulting the original sources.
Por Muse