ABB’s Q2 saw its largest quarterly order intake on record, with orders jumping 14% year-on-year outstripping the company’s strong revenue growth.
The surge in orders primarily came from the United States, which is now the company’s biggest market, as orders leapt 37% amid a race to expand automation, electrification and data centre capacity.
According to Chief Executive Morten Wierod, “Demand for electricity is going up quickly. That is being used by data centres, but also a lot of other industries are increasing their electricity consumption.”
For the three months to June, ABB’s revenues rose 8% to $8.90 billion, ahead of analyst forecasts, while core operating income (EBITA) climbed 9% to $1.71 billion. Net profit reached $1.15 billion, again topping consensus estimates. That sent the company’s shares up around 7%.
US orders insulated from tariff worries
Around 80% of the products ABB sells in the US are manufactured locally, a buffer the company believes will shield customers from Trump’s threat of tariffs on products made abroad. Even just the threat of tariffs have impacted . Wierod noted specifically, “There is no point pre-buying because we will not be hit by tariffs.”
That’s good news for the growing data centre sector in the US, which saw equipment orders from ABB rise between 10% and 20% over the course of the quarter. Roughly half of ABB’s data- entre business is in the US, with a further third spread across Asia, Africa and the Middle East, and the remainder in Europe – a geographical mix the company expects to hold steady as demand escalates.
