Daniel Shepherd, Deputy Editor of Tahawultech, engaged in an insightful conversation with Giordano Albertazzi, CEO of Vertiv, to discuss the company’s ambitious vision for the future, their strategic expansion into Riyadh, and the transformative plans they have set in motion for 2025 and beyond.
- Would you like to tell our readers a little bit about yourself and your role within Vertiv?
I’m Giordano Albertazzi, the CEO of Vertiv, a publicly traded global leader in critical digital infrastructure and continuity solutions. I have been with the company for over 20 years, during which we have evolved significantly. Vertiv, as it is known today, was established on December 1, 2016, following our spin-off from Emerson Electric. Since February 2020, we have proudly traded on the New York Stock Exchange.
At Vertiv, our expertise lies in powering and cooling critical digital infrastructure across the globe. While our operations extend beyond data centers, this sector remains a core focus. In fact, as shared with our investors during a recent investor and earnings event in Atlanta, Georgia, USA, we anticipate that approximately 80% of our revenue will come from the data center market in 2024. This encompasses a broad spectrum including hyperscale facilities, core enterprise locations, and distributed IT.
The remaining portion of our business caters to the telecommunications and commercial industries, further demonstrating our diverse capabilities and commitment to innovation in critical digital infrastructure solutions.
- Congratulations on the new office inauguration! How significant is the fact that Vertiv is establishing an office in Riyadh – can you outline the importance and significance of this decision, and what are your primary goals and objectives over the next 12 months in the KSA?
This office holds both practical and symbolic importance for us. The Middle Eastern market, particularly Saudi Arabia, is brimming with potential and dynamism, and we are deeply committed to its growth and development. Establishing our regional headquarters here underscores our confidence in the Kingdom’s robust market and the region’s overall economic strength.
There is no better way to truly engage with, and serve a market than, by maintaining a direct presence through a regional headquarters. This step aligns with our clear and well-defined strategic vision for the Kingdom and the broader region.
For over three decades, we have successfully conducted business in Saudi Arabia through our trusted partners, MMR. This partnership goes beyond mere business transactions—it is built on a foundation of enduring personal relationships cultivated over many years. Together, we are poised to embrace new opportunities and strengthen our legacy in this thriving market.
- You mention the partnership with MMR. How has this partnership contributed to your success in Saudi Arabia?
MMR’s excellent market expertise, their pivotal role in the digital infrastructure sector, and their exceptional ability to adapt and integrate our solutions within the Saudi Arabian landscape is truly unparalleled. It is this powerful combination of Vertiv’s innovation and MMR’s localized insight and execution that creates a unique partnership, driving strength and success for both organizations. Together, we are uniquely positioned to lead and thrive in this dynamic market.
- Vertiv was in the news last week for all the right reasons when its stock price skyrocketed after a very successful Investor Event in the United States. Traders were buoyed by its long-term outlook for the datacenter infrastructure marketplace. Can you tell us more about what Vertiv has planned for 2025?
This investors event was built on a similar one we held last year, where we outlined our five-year strategic outlook. Our updated forecast reflects improvements in key areas such as growth and profitability, highlighting a stronger position relative to last year.
The market itself has shown significant resilience and momentum. As highlighted at the investor event, previously, our five-year market growth (CAGR) outlook ranged between 9-12%, with our strategy consistently focused on outpacing the market. Now, we are projecting growth of 12-14% within five years, a testament to both market strength and our strategic execution.
We are optimistic about the opportunities ahead. We are making significant investments in our R&D and engineering departments to ensure we stay ahead of the curve when it comes to enabling the technologies of today and tomorrow. As further noted at the event, looking towards 2025, we anticipate initial growth rates of 16-18%, further underscoring our confidence in our ability to exceed market expectations and deliver exceptional results.
- What innovations is Vertiv bringing to support emerging AI and cloud trends in the region? In addition, what do you think are the biggest challenge facing data center providers in the region, and how can Vertiv’s product portfolio help them to overcome these challenges?
Our primary objective is to bring the latest global technological advancements to the region, ensuring our cutting-edge innovations are readily accessible. As a global leader, we have cultivated robust relationships within the industry ecosystem, which includes the most prominent chip technology companies, leading hyperscalers, and co-location providers. Together, we collaborate to shape the future of technology. Equally important to us are our regional partnerships, which we deeply value. In an industry evolving at such a rapid pace, fostering a collaborative ecosystem is essential for sustainable growth and innovation.
We see ourselves as the vital connective tissue linking the silicon sector, delivering advancements like enhanced power density and IT performance with the hyperscale and enterprise worlds, which rely on highly efficient infrastructure to unlock this performance. Our role is to bridge these domains, enabling seamless synergy and driving the industry forward.
The synergy between data center owners, IT innovators, and Vertiv is pivotal in shaping the power and cooling infrastructure for modern data centers. Given their 20-year lifecycle, data centers must be designed to be future-ready to accommodate evolving IT demands. At Vertiv, our mission is to enable these advanced technologies to be accessible in the region, empowering industries globally.
We are proud to lead the way with innovations like our expanded Vertiv™ CoolChip CDU portfolio, including our latest 2.3-Megawatt capacity unit, offering what we believe to be the highest power density per square meter in the industry. Additionally, we continue to enhance our liquid cooling solutions, such as the Vertiv CoolChip CDU 330 liquid-to-air system to support data center retrofits. For facilities transitioning from air-cooled systems, our solutions enable seamless upgrades for improved efficiency.
On the thermal front, our Vertiv™ CoolPhase Flex product exemplifies our customer-centric innovation. Developed in collaboration with a top client, this solution is now available to the broader market. It minimizes installation costs by allowing the unit to be placed outside the data center, optimizing space usage. With integrated heat rejection, air cooling, and liquid cooling capabilities, this product provides unmatched flexibility. It enables clients to dynamically adapt to unpredictable thermal demands over the data center’s lifecycle, ensuring energy and cost efficiency.
We’ve also observed rapid advancements in power infrastructure, driven by skyrocketing rack densities—in some cases increasing a hundredfold. To address this, we developed the Vertiv™ PowerNexus product, a comprehensive solution that integrates UPS, power switchgear, and battery energy storage into a single system. This innovation not only reduces installation costs but also delivers exceptional modularity and footprint efficiency. All of these cutting-edge solutions are readily available in the region, reinforcing our commitment to supporting local industries with the most advanced data center infrastructure technologies.
The industry is increasingly shifting toward higher levels of prefabrication, recognizing the critical importance of speed in infrastructure availability. For our customers, time is a significant competitive advantage, and our commitment to prefabrication enables them to realize that advantage by reducing construction timelines by an impressive 30-50%.
Additionally, the availability of skilled labor on-site is often limited, which can pose challenges in maintaining consistent quality and efficiency. Prefabrication addresses this issue by streamlining processes and minimizing on-site complexity, providing a higher standard of quality control and faster deployment. This approach not only accelerates project delivery but also simplifies operations, empowering our customers to achieve their goals with greater efficiency and confidence.
- Is there anything you would like to say to our readers before we finish?
The industry is at an exhilarating juncture, characterized by unprecedented growth and a rapidly evolving technological landscape. Addressing these dual aspects requires a strategic, forward-thinking approach.
One key strategy lies in expanding capacity to meet rising demands. Our robust growth projections are underpinned by meticulously planned capacity expansions, allowing us to remain agile and responsive to market dynamics. This proactive approach enables our objective of exceeding the expectations of our customers and stakeholders.
Equally, technology is at the core of everything we do. We have made a firm commitment to our investors and customers to elevate our R&D and capacity investment, with a planned incremental investment of ~$150M – $200M in 2025, as highlighted at our investor day. This dedication underscores our mission to lead the way in innovation.
In collaboration with industry leaders like NVIDIA, we are bringing innovative technology to the region, empowering industries to thrive in this transformative era. This unwavering commitment to growth and technological excellence solidifies our position as a driving force in the industry.
Forward-Looking Statements
This release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, Section 27 of the Securities Act, and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act. These statements are only a prediction. Actual events or results may differ materially from those in the forward-looking statements set forth herein. Readers are referred to Vertiv’s filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including its most recent Annual Report on Form 10-K and any subsequent Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q for a discussion of these and other important risk factors concerning Vertiv and its operations. Vertiv is under no obligation to, and expressly disclaims any obligation to, update or alter its forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.
Image Credit: Vertiv
