The world's largest oilfield-services company has agreed to acquire German thermal-management manufacturer Kelvion for $4.1 billion, marking a major push into the rapidly growing AI data-centre cooling market.

SLB, formerly known as Schlumberger, signed a definitive agreement on August 31, 2026, to acquire 100% of Kelvion from Apollo-managed funds and Triton-advised funds.

The transaction consists of approximately $3.4 billion in cash and the assumption of about $700 million of Kelvion's debt.

"AI is driving the most significant infrastructure investment cycle in our lifetime," SLB Chief Executive Officer Olivier Le Peuch said in a statement announcing the deal. "This transaction accelerates our ambition to become an industrial technology partner to the data centre industry and help customers address the growing infrastructure complexity required to scale AI".

Kelvion, headquartered in Herne, Germany, provides cooling and heat-exchange technologies for data centres, energy systems and industrial operations. Data centres represent the company's largest and fastest-growing segment, with revenue from that market forecast to reach $1.2 billion to $1.3 billion in 2026. Kelvion's total 2026 revenue is projected at approximately $2.3 billion to $2.4 billion.

SLB has been expanding its Data Center Solutions business at a compound annual growth rate exceeding 90% between 2024 and 2026, with cumulative delivered capacity expected to surpass 2 gigawatts by the end of this year.

The Kelvion acquisition more than doubles SLB's revenue opportunity per gigawatt of delivered data-centre capacity.

The combined data-centre businesses are expected to generate more than $2 billion in revenue and approximately $300 million in adjusted EBITDA on a pro forma basis in 2026. By 2028, SLB is targeting $4.5 billion to $5 billion in revenue and $700 million to $800 million in adjusted EBITDA from its data-centre solutions business.

SLB operates through more than 100 locations across 30 African countries, with operations covering major oil and gas markets including Angola, Nigeria, Egypt, Algeria, Libya, Mozambique and the Republic of Congo.

The company has not announced whether Kelvion will establish a factory in Africa or whether the acquisition will produce new contracts on the continent.

The transaction is subject to regulatory approvals and other closing conditions, with completion expected in the first half of 2027. SLB anticipates the acquisition will add to earnings per share and free cash flow per share within 12 months of closing.

"Data centers are becoming more sophisticated and energy-intensive, and customers are increasingly looking for partners that can optimize how critical systems work together across the facility and help bring new capacity online faster," said Gavin Rennick, President of SLB's New Energy and Industrial business.