Northeast Securities: Increased penetration rate of stainless steel bellows has become a mainstream trend to replace EPDM rubber pipelines
The Zhitong Finance App learned that Northeast Securities released a research report saying that stainless steel bellows are gradually replacing traditional EPDM rubber hoses as the mainstream solution for data centers with the four core advantages of zero leakage, long life, full media compatibility, and high temperature and high pressure resistance. Mainstream manufacturers have completely switched. The bank believes that stainless steel bellows have a good pattern and strong profitability, and are expected to become the most flexible segmentation direction. Suppliers with technical and customer advantages will enter a rapid expansion period in the second half of the year.
The main views of Northeast Securities are as follows:
The power density of single cabinets has increased, and stainless steel bellows have replaced EPDM rubber pipelines as the mainstream trend
Traditional data center pipelines are made of EPDM (EPDM) rubber. The core advantages are good flexibility, low cost, and fast installation. As AI computing power continues to increase in the power density of a single cabinet, traditional EPDM rubber hoses have hard shortcomings in high temperature resistance, leakage resistance, medium compatibility, and longevity. With the four core advantages of zero leakage, long life, all-medium compatibility, and resistance to high temperature and high pressure, stainless steel bellows have gradually become the mainstream solution.
Specifically, EPDM rubber piping has the following defects
1. It is easy to age at high temperature and pressure, and the risk of liquid leakage is huge. The new-generation liquid cooling circulation water temperature has been raised to 45℃, and the pipeline can withstand pressure for a long time. Rubber hoses creep and interface seals fail after 3-5 years; stainless steel bellows use vacuum electron beam welding+helium mass spectrometry to detect leaks. The leak standard can reach 1×10*PA*m3/s, and the metal seal has no risk of aging failure.
2. The life span does not match the long-term operation requirements of the data center. The operating cycle of data centers is generally 10-15 years, and rubber hoses require mid-term shutdown and replacement, causing high operation and maintenance and shutdown losses; the entire life cycle of stainless steel bellows can reach 15 years or more, which is basically maintenance-free, significantly reducing the full life cycle cost (TCO) of the computer room.
3. Fire protection and cleanliness do not meet high-end computing power standards. Polymer hose combustion produces droplets and toxic fumes, which do not meet the new fire regulations of large-scale intelligent computing centers; stainless steel is non-flammable, the inner wall is electrolytically polished to semiconductor-level cleanliness, no impurities are precipitated, and suitable for high-precision GPU cooling circuits.
Mainstream manufacturers such as Nvidia have completely switched, and are optimistic that stainless steel bellows will become a highly profitable and flexible circuit in the liquid cooling industry chain
According to Nvidia CES 2026, the Vera Rubin platform uses a “no cable, no hose, no fan” design, and uses metal bellows as the standard fluid delivery solution for liquid cooling to replace traditional EPDM rubber pipelines. Other major CSP companies are expected to follow suit in the future. The world's leading liquid cooling solution providers such as AVC and Coolermaster simultaneously update product designs and introduce stainless steel bellows components in batches to form an iterative driving force for top-down technology. From a value perspective, the value of a single cabinet is expected to increase significantly compared to traditional rubber piping solutions. The bank believes that stainless steel bellows have a good pattern and strong profitability, and are expected to become the most flexible segmentation direction. Suppliers with technical and customer advantages will enter a rapid expansion period in the second half of the year.
Risk warning: Technology development falls short of expectations, industry competition intensifies