Vertiv Holdings Co. (VRT) Business Profile

What it does

Vertiv designs, makes, installs and services the equipment that powers and cools digital infrastructure. Its customers include data center operators, communications networks, and commercial and industrial businesses. The company is headquartered in Westerville, Ohio, and its chief executive is Giordano Albertazzi. Its roots trace to 1946, when Ralph Liebert founded the precursor to the Liebert Corporation.

A data center needs more than computers: it also needs equipment to distribute electricity, provide backup power and remove heat. Vertiv supplies power-management equipment, switchgear, racks and cooling systems for those jobs. Its cooling range includes both air and liquid systems, while modular solutions combine infrastructure into configurations tailored to a customer’s needs.

The company also sells software and services that help customers deploy and maintain equipment. Its work can include engineering, installation support, monitoring, preventive maintenance and replacement parts. Vertiv works with customers from planning through delivery and servicing, and its products are used in settings ranging from cloud facilities to communications sites and industrial plants.

Vertiv’s offerings are organized around products and services rather than around a single type of customer. Its manufacturing, engineering, sales and service footprint spans the Americas, Asia Pacific, and Europe, Middle East & Africa.

How it makes money

Vertiv earns money by selling infrastructure products and by providing services and spare parts. Product sales include power management, switchgear, cooling equipment, racks, energy storage, modular infrastructure and software for managing IT equipment. Customers can buy individual products or configured solutions that bring several components together.

For the third quarter of 2026, net sales were approximately 4.3 billion dollars.

The company manages its business in three geographic segments: the Americas, Asia Pacific, and Europe, Middle East & Africa. Each sells products and services. In 2025, sales growth came primarily from higher volumes; product sales and service and spares sales both increased.

Services include project management, engineering, testing, remote monitoring, preventive maintenance, training and spare parts. Service contracts and separately priced extended warranties can generate revenue over time, although the company also performs discrete project work. Most sales agreements have obligations fulfilled at a point in time when control passes to the customer. For arrangements combining products and services, most revenue is generally recognized when the tangible products are delivered, with smaller portions for installation and commissioning recognized shortly afterward.

Payment terms vary by customer, location and offering. Vertiv reduces sales for items such as prompt-payment discounts, rebates and estimated returns. The company also considers its ability to incorporate tariff costs into product and service pricing. Some long-term projects have fixed prices, leaving Vertiv exposed to changes in fulfillment costs during the contract.

Customers and how it sells

Vertiv serves three main end markets: data centers, communications networks, and commercial and industrial applications. Data center customers include cloud and hyperscale operators, colocation providers, neocloud providers and enterprises with their own facilities. Communications customers include wireline, wireless and broadband companies; industrial applications include transportation, manufacturing, and oil and gas.

Vertiv’s data center work can cover both large centralized facilities and equipment closer to the edge of a network. It works with customers through planning, delivery and service, and some relationships span multiple decades. EdgeConnex uses Vertiv as a preferred power, thermal and services partner as it expands globally.

Vertiv sells primarily through its own salespeople, supported by independent representatives, channel partners, distributors, resellers and original equipment manufacturers. Its operations include locations in more than 40 countries across the Americas, Asia Pacific, and Europe, Middle East & Africa.

In 2025, 62% of net sales were transacted in the Americas, 20% in Asia Pacific and 18% in Europe, Middle East & Africa. Vertiv’s new factory in Johor, Malaysia, is operating and supports customers across Southeast Asia and Australia.

Suppliers and costs

Vertiv has manufacturing and operations facilities across its three geographic regions, supported by engineering and configuration centers that tailor products to local markets and customer requirements. It generally obtains raw materials and supplies from more than one supplier and seeks to limit dependence on any particular supplier or region. Vertiv is also securing and expanding long-term capacity agreements with key suppliers.

Even with diversification, shortages can require purchases on the spot market at higher prices or premium freight to meet customer commitments. Logistics problems and import or export restrictions can delay materials or make critical parts unavailable. Tariffs can also increase the cost of doing business; Vertiv is adding regional sourcing and manufacturing capacity and evaluating pricing responses.

In 2025, cost of sales rose primarily because of higher volumes. Benefits from higher sales volume and improved price realization were offset by cost inflation, particularly tariffs. Selling, general and administrative expenses also rose, primarily because of higher compensation costs. Vertiv continues to invest in engineering, research and development as well as manufacturing capacity.

Competitive position

Vertiv competes on reliability, quality, price, service and customer relationships. It encounters both specialized suppliers and large global companies across its geographic segments. Its named niche competitors include Delta Electronics, Stulz, Johnson Controls and Socomec; named global competitors include Schneider Electric, Eaton, Legrand and Huawei. Most competitors focus on a particular offering or geographic location.

Vertiv combines power and cooling products with engineering and lifecycle services. It operates over 300 service centers and deploys approximately 5,000 service engineers. Its customer work can begin during the planning phase and continue after equipment is installed. The company also holds patents and trademarks and develops products with input from customers and technology partners.

Our reading: The breadth of Vertiv’s products and services is a meaningful competitive advantage when customers want coordinated power and cooling systems, although larger competitors also have broad portfolios. Our reading: Its service network and long customer relationships support its position after installation, but competition on price and service limits how secure those relationships can be. Our reading: Engineering expertise and intellectual property can help Vertiv adapt to changing infrastructure designs, but competitors can introduce technologies or business models that draw customers away.

Growth opportunities

Vertiv is investing in capacity and technology as customers build data centers for cloud services, artificial intelligence and high-performance computing. It is expanding its thermal portfolio to address both air and liquid cooling, including the systems that move heat away from computing equipment. It is also investing in factory-built and modular infrastructure intended to reduce on-site installation complexity.

In the third quarter of 2026, net sales rose 61% versus the prior-year quarter, and organic sales grew approximately 55%. Vertiv expects 2026 net sales of $14.65 billion at the midpoint of its guidance. It expects continued significant above-market organic sales growth in 2027 and plans to keep investing in engineering, capacity, its supply chain and services.

The company is expanding facilities in several regions. Its Johor factory is operating, and it is expanding its Slovakia campus and power facilities in Ireland. Vertiv is also working with NVIDIA, Dassault Systèmes and Polar Data Center on ways to shorten the time needed to design and deploy AI data centers.

Acquisitions add further capabilities. Vertiv closed the acquisition of Utility Innovation Group, adding microgrid solutions, advanced power controls and behind-the-meter power design. It also acquired King Environmental Services, expanding fluid management and load-testing services in Europe.

Structural risks

• Customer investment: Vertiv relies on continued growth in customers’ critical infrastructure. Reduced spending on data centers or communications networks could lower demand; zoning decisions, community opposition or construction restrictions could also disrupt customer markets.

• Project execution: Long-term fixed-price contracts can expose Vertiv to increased material, labor or equipment costs, technical problems, project changes and supplier failures. Missing contracted schedules or performance levels can result in penalties.

• Supply and costs: Part shortages, logistics problems, tariffs and other restrictions can raise costs or delay production and delivery. Some critical parts may be unavailable even at higher prices.

• Backlog conversion: Vertiv’s backlog includes orders and commitments not yet delivered. Customers may cancel or reschedule orders, and the company does not consider backlog estimates necessarily indicative of future sales.

• Competition and technology: Competitors may introduce technologies or business models that disrupt Vertiv’s markets and lead customers to move business elsewhere. New product development and changes in infrastructure requirements also require Vertiv to coordinate technology, production capacity and its supply chain.

Bottom line

Our reading

Vertiv is an equipment and services business tied to the construction and operation of digital infrastructure, particularly data centers. Its product range, customer relationships and service footprint support its ability to compete for complex projects, while AI-related demand is driving investment in capacity and cooling. That opportunity comes with exposure to customers’ construction schedules, supply costs and the execution of large fixed-price projects.