[Edaily Reporter SOYEON KIM ] Driven by expanding global investment in artificial intelligence (AI) data centers, LGELECTRONICS’ cooling solutions business is entering a phase of full-scale growth. With orders for cooling equipment—such as chillers and air conditioning units—rising rapidly, revenue from the chiller business is expected to reach 1 trillion won this year. There are also projections that revenue related to AI data center cooling solutions could expand to 5 trillion won by 2028.

According to industry sources on the 20th, LGELECTRONICS’ order intake for AI data center (AIDC) cooling solutions exceeded 600 billion won in the first half of this year. As the company expands the supply of cooling equipment in key markets such as North America and the Middle East, cumulative order intake is expected to reach several trillion won by the end of the year.

Recently, the company has continued to secure major orders, including a long-term supply contract with Air Control Concept (ACC), a U.S.-based heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC) solutions company, for chillers for AI data centers totaling 5 gigawatts (GW).

Revenue from the chiller business is projected to reach 1 trillion won this year. This effectively brings forward the target achievement date—originally set for the end of next year—by one year. LGELECTRONICS is expanding its business beyond chillers, which remove heat from AI data centers, into the liquid cooling sector, including cooling water distribution units (CDUs).

Forecasts suggest the company could secure an order backlog of up to 3.5 trillion won by the end of this year, primarily in the U.S. and the Middle East. Ko Seon-young, an analyst at Yuanta Securities Korea, said, “Revenue recognition typically occurs within 7 to 9 months after testing is completed, so LGELECTRONICS’ Energy Solutions (ES) Business Division is expected to begin contributing to earnings starting in the second half of next year.” SamsungSecurities suggested that LGELECTRONICS’ revenue from AI data center cooling solutions could expand from 1 trillion won this year to approximately 5 trillion won by 2028.

LGELECTRONICS is also accelerating the advancement of integrated cooling management technologies to improve data center energy efficiency. Ryu Jae-cheol, CEO of LGELECTRONICS, stated in an op-ed published on the 19th (local time) in the U.S. business magazine Forbes, “We are exploring solutions ranging from reducing cooling energy consumption to waste heat recovery and comprehensive energy management for data centers.” The goal is to reduce the power consumption required for cooling to maximize the amount of power available for AI computing.

The company is developing technology that uses a digital twin-based data center cooling management solution (DCCM) to monitor the operational status of cooling equipment, predict operating conditions, and automatically adjust controls. CEO Ryu explained, “In-house testing showed that applying DCCM resulted in energy savings of up to 40 percent.” He added that by coordinating the control of cooling water distribution units (CDUs) and fan wall units (FWUs), the CDU load factor was increased from the previous 65% to a maximum of 80%.