CoolIT Systems started in Calgary in 2001. Its business is moving heat away from processors with liquid cooling.
For years it was a niche supplier. Air cooling was cheap and familiar, and few data-centre operators saw a reason to put liquid near expensive electronics.
AI servers changed that. Their chips draw far more power and give off far more heat, and direct-to-chip liquid cooling became a necessity for racks that air could not cool.
KKR and Mubadala completed the purchase of CoolIT in July 2023, and employees became owners. In 2026 Ecolab agreed to buy the company for about $4.75 billion.