SLB, Liberty Agree to Form Data Center Alliance
In a joint statement posted on their respective websites, SLB and Liberty Energy Inc announced an agreement to form a strategic alliance “that will deliver modular infrastructure and integrated power generation solutions for new data center projects globally”.
“The collaboration will bring together complementary expertise in modular infrastructure, power generation, and operations to support the rapid deployment of new data center capacity and help the world’s leading AI companies address increasingly complex energy requirements,” the statement noted.
The growth of AI and high-performance computing is driving “unprecedented” demand for data center capacity, according to the statement, which revealed that, “as developers work to add new compute capacity, many are seeking behind the meter power solutions that can be deployed independently of traditional grid connections, while also improving reliability, efficiency and flexibility as power needs grow”.
As part of the planned alliance, SLB will provide modular infrastructure solutions, project execution capabilities, and global market reach, and Liberty will provide modular power generation systems, behind the meter intelligent power controls, and operational expertise, the statement outlined.
The companies revealed in the statement that they also plan to collaborate on technologies aimed at improving the efficiency, flexibility, and environmental performance of future data center energy systems, including hybrid power systems, digital energy management, and advanced power architectures.
Since April 2024, SLB has shipped more than 1.3 gigawatts of prefabricated modular infrastructure for data center projects and expects cumulative deliveries to exceed two gigawatts globally by year-end, the statement noted. Liberty plans to deploy approximately three gigawatts of power projects by 2029, according to the statement.
“The bottleneck in AI infrastructure is no longer just compute,” Gavin Rennick, president of SLB’s New Energy and Industrial business, said in the statement.
“It is the ability to deliver infrastructure and power on the timelines the market now demands,” he added.
“By bringing together complementary infrastructure and power capabilities, we will help developers accelerate deployment of new data center capacity,” he continued.
Ron Gusek, chief executive officer of Liberty Energy, said in the statement, “the scale and complexity of AI energy infrastructure is fundamentally changing how power systems are built and deployed”.
“Liberty’s comprehensive power service platform is engineered to meet this transition, as customers increasingly prioritize tailored, integrated solutions,” he added.
“Building on our long-standing relationship with SLB, we are excited to bring power solutions that address immediate capacity constraints while supporting the next generation of energy systems,” he went on to state.
Data Center Electricity Use Surges
In a release sent to Rigzone earlier this year, the International Energy Agency (IEA) outlined that data center electricity use surged in 2025 despite “tightening bottlenecks driving a scramble for solutions”.
The release - which pointed to a new report from the organization that “explore[d]… AI’s growing energy footprint, options for meeting data center power demand, and impacts on energy affordability, security and wider economy” - outlined that the new analysis found that the field “has continued to develop at speed”.
“Driven by data center investments, the capital expenditure of five large technology companies surged to more than $400 billion in 2025 and is set to increase by a further 75 percent in 2026,” the IEA said in its release.
“Electricity demand from data centers soared by 17 percent in 2025, and that of AI-focused data centers climbed even faster - well outpacing growth in global electricity demand of three percent,” the IEA added.
The IEA stated in its release that, according to its report, power consumption per AI task is declining rapidly, “with efficiency improving at a rate unprecedented in energy history”. It noted, however, that more people are using AI, and said energy intensive uses, such as AI agents, are on the rise.
“As a result, electricity consumption from data centers is set to double by 2030, and power use from those focused on AI is poised to triple,” the IEA projected.
“At the same time, AI deployment is increasingly coming up against a range of physical bottlenecks, limiting the rate at which data centers can expand in the near-term,” it added.
“Supply chains for energy technologies such as gas turbines and transformers, as well as for advanced chips and IT components, have tightened over the past year - and the swelling pipeline of data center projects is straining planning and regulatory systems, holding up grid connections and other necessary approvals,” it went on to state.
SLB, Liberty
In a statement posted on its website last month, SLB highlighted that its CEO, Olivier Le Peuch, joined CNBC’s Mad Money to discuss “how the company is driving adoption of digital and AI technologies across energy operations, with a focus on improving performance and efficiency for customers”.
The discussion followed SLB’s Digital Investor Day, “where the company set out its approach to scaling digital platforms and AI across operations to manage complexity, connect data across systems and deliver more reliable performance at scale,” the statement pointed out.
Also during that month, SLB announced, in a separate statement posted on its site, a memorandum of understanding with Qualcomm Technologies Inc “to enable edge AI solutions for the energy industry, supporting real-time operational decision-making across wells, facilities and production systems”.
In a statement posted on its site back in May, Liberty announced that it had selected Bergen Engines to deliver over 500 megawatts of on-site generation capacity to support large-scale data center developments across the United States.
Liberty announced a strategic partnership with Vantage Data Centers in January this year “to develop and deliver utility scale, high efficiency power solutions for Vantage’s expanding portfolio in North America”.
“Upon commissioning, these power solutions will be owned and operated by Liberty Power Innovations, a Liberty Energy company, providing long-term power services to support cloud and AI infrastructure for the world’s largest tech companies,” Liberty highlighted in that statement.
To contact the author, email andreas.exarheas@rigzone.com
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