Legrand

Legrand posted €8.6 billion revenue in 2024 with 20.5% operating margin and €1.3 billion free cash flow, selling electrical infrastructure where data centers now drive growth. The company's H1 2025 revenue surged 15% to €4.6 billion with data centers contributing 24% of sales and growing double-digits. This represents phase transition: what was a slow-growing building products business (wiring devices, circuit breakers, cable management) suddenly accelerated when AI training created unprecedented power density requirements. A single NVIDIA H100 GPU rack consumes 10-15kW; a data center with 100,000 GPUs needs 1-1.5 gigawatts—equivalent to a nuclear power plant.

The biological analogy is metabolic phase transition in hummingbirds. At rest, a hummingbird's heart beats 250 times per minute; during hovering flight, it jumps to 1,200 beats per minute—a fivefold increase requiring specialized cardiovascular adaptations. Legrand's data center business mirrors this metabolic shift. Traditional commercial buildings use 20-40 watts per square foot; AI data centers demand 200-400 watts per square foot. This requires different infrastructure: 400-amp busways instead of standard conduit, liquid cooling distribution instead of air handling, backup power systems capable of 99.999% uptime. Legrand acquired Starline track busway (high-capacity power distribution), Server Technology intelligent PDUs (rack-level monitoring), and Raritan infrastructure management software to serve this high-metabolism segment.

Positive feedback loops amplify growth. Each data center project creates 25-year installed base for replacements, upgrades, and expansions. When Microsoft or Google builds a 500MW facility, they install Legrand busways, PDUs, cable management, and monitoring systems. As AI models scale from GPT-4 to GPT-5 to GPT-6, power density increases, requiring infrastructure upgrades using the same vendor for compatibility. Legrand's H1 2025 data center organic growth exceeded 15%, with acquisitions (Amperio in Portugal, Avtron Power Solutions in U.S.) adding load banks and power quality systems. The company targets €15 billion revenue by 2030 (up from €8.6B in 2024), with data centers as primary driver.

This success creates resource allocation challenges. Data centers now account for 24% of revenue but demand specialized engineering and manufacturing capacity. Legrand operates 83 plants globally; data center products require different tooling than residential wiring devices. The company's 300,000-product catalog spans home automation, emergency lighting, cable management, and industrial controls. R&D (€414 million in 2024, 4.8% of revenue) must balance data center innovation with maintaining dominance in building infrastructure. The company ranks #1 or #2 in most product categories: wiring devices (Legrand, BTicino brands), emergency lighting (URA), architectural lighting (Finelite), door entry (BT). Shifting resources toward data centers risks losing share in traditional markets.

The company's 21% operating margin in H1 2025 (up 0.2 points) demonstrates disciplined scaling. Data center products command premium pricing due to reliability requirements and customization. A standard PDU might retail for $500; an intelligent rack PDU with remote monitoring and sequential outlet control sells for $2,000-5,000. Legrand's acquisition strategy targets bolt-on capabilities: Avtron (load banks testing backup generators), Computer Room Solutions (Australia data center infrastructure), Linkk Busway (Malaysia power distribution). Each acquisition expands addressable market without diluting margins. The 39,000-employee company generates 60% of revenue outside France, with North America (36% of sales) leading data center growth. Legrand's phase transition—from construction cycle exposure to AI infrastructure dependency—shows how specialized metabolic requirements create new growth vectors in mature industries.