ABB chief executive officer sees development in information centre company regardless of increase of DeepSeek

By John Revill

ZURICH (Reuters) – ABB anticipates raised need from the information centre market for its electrification items, CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER Morten Wierod stated on Thursday, regardless of the pledge of lower-energy AI designs from China’s DeepSeek.

DeepSeek, a low-priced option to united state opponents, triggered a technology supply selloff on Monday as its totally free AI aide surpassed OpenAI’s ChatGPT on Apple’s App Store in the United States.

The information motivated financiers to discard technology supplies on concerns DeepSeek’s design – which makes use of much less chips at information centres utilized to power AI – can endanger the prominence of innovative chipmakers like Nvidia.

Suppliers to information centres likewise shed ground, with ABB’s supply dropping virtually 6% on Monday.

Wierod stated DeepSeek’s appeal had “raised eyebrows and created a lot of uncertainty in the market.

“We have actually spoken with our huge companions and consumers to see exactly how this would certainly affect their capex strategies,” he told reporters after ABB reported fourth-quarter results.

“And the response we obtain … is that it does not actually influence the strategies that are currently in position.”

ABB has been a beneficiary of the increase in data centres, a market which Fortune Business Insights forecast to grow by nearly 12% per year to reach $685 billion by 2032.

ABB’s data centre-related orders increased 23% per year on average in 2019-2023, and even faster in 2024 to make up 15% of its electrification business, from 12% in 2023 and 8% in 2022.

Wierod declined to give a forecast for 2025, but was confident about future demand, adding he saw potential for the company in China.

ABB said it was well placed to benefit from the need to reduce the massive energy consumption of data centres as well as the $500 billion private sector investment in AI infrastructure announced by U.S. president Donald Trump last week.

It says its motors and variable speed drives can reduce electricity consumption by up to 60%, while its uninterrupted power supply products run at 97.4% efficiency when converting electricity.

“The require for information facility and AI will certainly be extremely solid in the coming years,” Wierod said. ” I believe.”

(Reporting byJohn Revill Editing by Jan Harvey and Mark Potter)