Wärtsilä Orders Rise 33% in Third Quarter, Supported by Data Centre Projects
Key Facts
Finland’s Wärtsilä said order intake rose 33% in the third quarter of 2026, exceeding market expectations. The company attributed strong demand for its power generation business to AI-driven data centre projects. This followed a rise of the same percentage in total orders in the second quarter, when they reached 2,849 million euros, with organic growth of 43%. In that quarter, orders in the energy and marine businesses combined increased 45% to 2,813 million euros. These figures show that order growth preceded the third-quarter result, but the available data do not specify the value of orders recorded during that quarter.
The energy business was one of the main sources of momentum in the second quarter, with orders exceeding the record level recorded in the first quarter by more than 70%. Wärtsilä said confirmed orders linked to two data centres amounted to 1.2 gigawatts, alongside more than 0.5 gigawatts of grid balancing orders. In October, the company announced an order for a US data centre, which it described as its seventh project of this kind in the country. It added that capacity it had sold for US data centre applications exceeded 3 gigawatts. These orders reflect the connection between part of the power generation business and data centre needs, while the available information does not provide comparable detail for the company’s other businesses.
The US data centre order includes a timeline extending beyond the period covered by the quarterly order announcement. Wärtsilä equipment is scheduled for delivery in 2028, and the project is expected to be fully operational in 2029. This places the project’s execution some time after the company announced the order it described as its seventh in the United States. On its broader outlook, Wärtsilä said it expects the demand environment over the twelve months from the third quarter of 2026 to the second quarter of 2027 to be similar to the comparison period. The outlook sets out the company’s framework for the coming period without specifying a uniform path for each business.
Against the backdrop of regional industrial activity, the euro zone manufacturing index fell to 52.4 in October from 52.9 in September, according to Commerzbank Research. The decline puts October’s reading below the previous month’s level, alongside Wärtsilä’s announcement of third-quarter order growth. The index covers the euro zone, not the entire European Union, and its two readings refer to October and September. The company has set November 3, 2026, as the date for its Capital Markets Day. The event is scheduled to follow the quarterly order announcement, among Wärtsilä’s published investor dates.