Nov 3 (Reuters) - Eaton will acquire Boyd

Corporation's thermal business from Goldman Sachs Asset

Management for $9.5 billion, the fourth deal this year for the

power management firm seeking to bolster its data center segment

to cater to AI demand surge.

The global appetite for energy-intensive data centers has

sparked a wave of dealmaking across the industry, as companies

race to build capacity to meet the surge in power and cooling

needs.

Peer Vertiv also announced its plans to acquire

PurgeRite Intermediate for about $1 billion to expand its liquid

cooling services portfolio.

Boyd Thermal forecast sales of $1.7 billion for 2026, a

majority of which is expected to come from its liquid cooling

technology used at data centers, Eaton said on Monday.

"Our combined expertise in both power and liquid cooling

from the chip to the grid will enable customers to manage

increasing power demands more effectively," said Eaton CEO Paulo

Ruiz.

The company said in August it expects data center and

distributed IT equipment to account for the largest share of its

sales by the end 2025, at about 17%.

Earlier this year, it bought Fibrebond Corporation, which

designs and builds pre-integrated modular power enclosures used

at data centers, for $1.4 billion.

In the last few months, it also acquired Resilient Power

Systems, which makes transformers with applications in the EV

and the data center industry, for an undisclosed amount, and

aerospace systems firm Ultra PCS for $1.55 billion.

Eaton said the Boyd acquisition, expected to close in the

second quarter of 2026, will boost its adjusted earnings

starting in the second year after the deal is completed.

Shares of Dublin-based Eaton were down 1.7% in premarket

trading.

(Reporting by Aishwarya Jain in Bengaluru; Editing by Shinjini

Ganguli)