Hua Er Jie Jian Wen·2026-01-06 21:15Group 1 - Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang's comments at CES regarding next-generation chip cooling technology have raised concerns among investors about the demand for data center cooling equipment, leading to a significant drop in related stocks [1][2] - Huang stated that servers equipped with the next-generation Nvidia Rubin chip will support liquid cooling, eliminating the need for traditional chillers, which are core equipment provided by companies like Trane and Johnson Controls [2] - On the day of the announcement, stocks of data center cooling equipment companies fell sharply, with Johnson Controls experiencing an 11% intraday drop, the largest since 2022, and Modine Manufacturing initially dropping around 21% before recovering to a 7.44% decline [2] Group 2 - The sell-off reflects a reassessment by investors of the investment logic in AI infrastructure, as these companies saw significant stock price increases due to the AI boom, with Johnson Controls rising 52% cumulatively by 2025 [4] - Analyst Timothy Wojs from Baird noted that Huang's comments raised questions about the long-term positioning of chillers in data centers, especially with the increasing prevalence of liquid cooling technology, which allows systems to operate at higher temperatures [5] - Barclays analyst Julian Mitchell mentioned that while Vertiv has a strong position in the liquid cooling sector and may benefit from the discussed technological developments, its cooling business could be negatively impacted [5] Group 3 - Citigroup analyst Andrew Kaplowitz described the investor flight from cooling stocks as "overdone," emphasizing that cooling system manufacturers have established partnerships with chip manufacturers and data center operators, making the risks of falling behind manageable [8] - Kaplowitz acknowledged that Huang's comments highlight the rapid evolution of data center thermal management technology but stated that it was not unexpected for their companies [9] - Huang's remarks also spurred a surge in data storage stocks, with SanDisk's stock rising over 27%, becoming the best performer in the S&P 500 on that day, as he emphasized the demand for memory and storage [9]