SLB’s Data Center Revenue Jumps 76 Percent as It Expands Beyond Oilfields

SLB’s data center business generated $230 million in third-quarter revenue, up 76 percent from a year earlier, as the oilfield services company expanded its role in building infrastructure for artificial intelligence.

Revenue from Data Center Solutions rose 23 percent from $186 million in the second quarter, according to results released Friday. The business brought in $557 million during the first nine months of 2026, up 68 percent from the same period last year.

“AI is driving unprecedented investment in data center infrastructure, and customers are looking for partners who can deploy quickly, reliably and at scale,” SLB CEO Olivier Le Peuch said in the earnings release.

In a conference call with analysts, he added: “…we expect Digital to continue its established growth trajectory, while our Data Center Solutions business will continue to accelerate as a meaningful growth engine for the company.”

The International Energy Agency projects global data center electricity consumption will roughly double from 485 terawatt-hours in 2025 to 950 terawatt-hours in 2030, with consumption from AI-focused centers tripling. It reports slow grid connections are pushing U.S. developers toward onsite natural gas generation.

Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory estimated in June that U.S. data centers will use 11.8 percent of the country’s electricity by 2030 in its reference case, within a range of 9.5 percent to 15.3 percent.

Based in Houston, the cmopany has traditionally focused on oilfield services. Now, SLB makes modular data center enclosures, cooling systems and other hardware for hyperscalers and enterprises. It attributed quarterly growth to demand, wider services and expansion into Asia. Data Center Solutions accounted for about 2.4 percent of SLB’s $9.45 billion in quarterly revenue; its 76 percent growth compares with 6 percent companywide.

SLB reports the business in its “All Other” category, alongside Asset Performance Solutions projects and its SLB Capturi carbon capture business. It does not report a standalone profit figure. All Other pretax income fell to $136 million from $142 million in the second quarter, which SLB attributed to new data center project costs. It rose from $96 million a year earlier, aided by higher data center activity and Asset Performance Solutions profitability.

On the earnings call, CFO Stephane Biguet said the growing data center business is “not accretive to the overall SLB margin.” Le Peuch called it a “new leg of growth in North America” and projected annualized revenue run rates above $1 billion by year-end 2026 and $2 billion by year-end 2027.

On Aug. 31, SLB agreed to acquire thermal management company Kelvion for about $3.4 billion in cash plus about $0.7 billion in assumed debt. The sellers are Apollo-managed funds, the majority owner, and funds advised by Triton. The deal requires regulatory approvals and is expected to close in the first half of 2027.

SLB expects Kelvion’s total 2026 revenue to reach $2.3 billion to $2.4 billion, including $1.2 billion to $1.3 billion from data centers, its largest end market. SLB projects more than $2 billion in combined 2026 data center revenue and about $300 million in adjusted EBITDA. That forecast counts Kelvion’s results although the acquisition has not closed. For its combined data center business, SLB targets $4.5 billion to $5 billion in revenue and $700 million to $800 million in adjusted EBITDA in 2028.

At a former General Motors plant in Shreveport, Louisiana, SLB has expanded since 2023 to 3.1 million square feet and nearly 1,800 employees making prefabricated data center infrastructure. SLB says factory production lets manufacturing and site preparation proceed together.

In July, SLB said it had shipped more than 1.3 gigawatts of prefabricated modular infrastructure for data center projects since April 2024 and expected cumulative deliveries to exceed 2 gigawatts by year-end. The figure measures infrastructure delivered to projects.

SLB won a Meta contract in Canada and is establishing an assembly-and-test facility there, expected to open in the first half of 2027. NVIDIA selected SLB as the modular design partner for its DSX AI factories.

A planned alliance with Liberty Energy, announced July 14, would pair SLB’s modular infrastructure and project execution with Liberty’s generation and behind-the-meter power controls. It targets developers seeking power independent of grid connection timelines. Liberty plans about 3 gigawatts of power projects by 2029.