Dive Brief:
- Schneider Electric is broadening and deepening the services it provides data center customers, but it’s not relying solely on that sector to power its growth, the company said July 30 when releasing its second-quarter earnings report.
- “It's a very, very interesting time for us because … data centers continue to be a leading part of our exposure,” Schneider CEO Olivier Blum said.
- Even though data center development is a tailwind for his company, particularly in North America, Blum said, Schneider isn’t relying on the AI infrastructure buildout, which some analysts say is showing signs of cooling. “Energy management delivered broad-based growth … reflecting the diversity of [our] exposure,” said Blum.
Dive Insight:
The French electrical systems and building automation conglomerate announced earnings of $13.1 billion in the second quarter of 2026 and $24.4 billion in the first half of the year. The results represent double-digit increases from comparable year-ago figures.
The company reports its earnings in euros; the dollar amounts are based on currency rates as of July 30, 2026, when 1 euro was equal to about $1.15.
Blum highlighted recent moves to boost the company’s power and grid infrastructure capabilities, which he said could help it meet fast-changing utility needs spurred by rising energy demand.
In June, Schneider partnered with Kraken, the London-based company behind a grid flexibility operating system, which would help utilities access grid capacity at lower cost, use power more flexibility and electrify their operations faster, according to Schneider’s investor presentation.
Its acquisition of AiDASH, which it completed last week for $350 million, would help utilities manage tree growth and other hazards around power lines, Blum said.
More specifically to data centers, Schneider has bolstered its system design capabilities by partnering with the chipmaking giant NVIDIA, the digital twin software platform ETAP, and most recently the industrial software provider AVEVA.
As part of its work with NVIDIA, the company has designed an 800-volt data center architecture that uses solid-state electrical transformers, or SSTs, and other cutting-edge equipment to reliably deliver the concentrated power required by coming generations of NVIDIA chips, according to Schneider’s investor presentation.
Meanwhile, Schneider is working to complete what it calls a “very, very strategic acquisition” of Cognite, an industrial intelligence platform that Schneider last month announced plans to acquire for $3.1 billion. The purchase would further Schneider’s data center design work, Blum said.
As they have since early 2025, Schneider executives warned of unpredictable import tariffs and inflationary pressures eroding its margins.
The company’s net margins posted a slight increase in the first half of 2026, helped along by “proactive pricing actions taken at the start of the year, which really accelerated strongly in Q2,” Schneider Electric Chief Financial Officer Nathan Fast said on Wednesday. But those actions “were still insufficient to offset the raw material inflation and tariff impacts we faced,” Fast said.
The combination of further pricing actions along with about $115 million in tariff refunds that the company claimed after the U.S. Supreme Court struck down President Donald Trump’s “national security” tariffs in February leaves Schneider leadership “unchanged in our expectation that we will offset the impact of inflations in [raw materials] value through our pricing actions,” Fast said.
The company isn’t letting its guard down, however.
“In a broader sense, though, we're monitoring and adapting to this net tariff world,” Fast said. “There's still uncertainty in tariffs. You saw the announcements even last week” of additional tariffs being imposed on Canadian materials.
