Episode summary
This CEO Explains the Value of Being a Global Company | At Barron's
At Barron's
· · 22 min · Hosts: Andy Serwer · Guests: Morten Wierod
Summary
ABB is positioned as an electrification and automation company whose products sit behind the scenes in power grids, factories, buildings, transportation, and data centers. Morten Wierod said the business spans switchgear, motors, and control systems, with the company organized into three business areas: electrification, automation, and motion. He emphasized that ABB’s role is to make electricity distribution safe, reliable, and efficient, and that the company benefits from a long-term shift toward more electric systems in industry.
Wierod argued that the world is entering an energy-expansion cycle driven by data centers, industrial electrification, electric arc furnaces, and broader demand for electricity. He said ABB is agnostic about the fuel source, whether gas, nuclear, solar, or wind, because its equipment helps deliver power to the point of consumption. Data centers are a fast-growing market, with triple-digit growth in the first quarter of 2026, but still only about 10% of revenue.
He also framed ABB as a globally local company: about 80% of U.S. sales are manufactured in the U.S., and the business is similarly localized in Europe, China, and India. Wierod said ABB raised its operating margin corridor to 18% to 22% and expects 2026 to be a record year, while continuing active portfolio management through acquisitions and divestitures.
Key takeaways
- Wierod said ABB expects 2026 to be a new record year and now targets an 18% to 22% operating margin corridor.
- The CEO said data center sales grew triple digits in the first quarter of 2026, but still represent only about 10% of revenue.
- Wierod argued that electrification is a long-term trend driven by efficiency, not just decarbonization, and that ABB can serve any power source.
- He said ABB manufactures about 80% of what it sells in the United States domestically, reflecting its local-for-local model.
- Wierod said active portfolio management is central to ABB, including acquisitions and the spin-off of businesses that fit better outside the company.
Notable quotes
“we are a company that's focused on electrification and automation and in helping what we in AB call helping industries outrun it means and becoming leaner and cleaner”
“I always say that the best is yet to come and that in that statement uh is that I believe we are in a long uh in a long sle the trend of electrification and automation”
“In the first quarter of of this year 26 we uh had uh tripledigit growth in the data center sales”
“80% of what we sell in the United States is is manufactured and produced in the US”
“there are also examples where we say that uh the value of of a part of a of our company would have a higher value on the outside”
How the episode opens
Hello everyone and welcome to At Barrens. I'm Andy Serwart and welcome to our guest Morton V-Rod, CEO of ABB. Morton, great to see you. Thank you so much for joining us. — Thank you for having me Andy.
So give us an outline of ABB today. What does the company do? And we are a company that's focused on electrification and automation and in helping what we in AB call helping industries outrun it means and becoming leaner and cleaner.
So that's kind of uh it's all everything about from power generation uh distributing that power with the utilities and then consuming a lot of that electricity in industries in the process industries but today also in data centers and everything really we do today is all about electrification. So that's a big part of uh kind of the role ABB plays
That's a big trend obviously we'll talk more about that but specifically Morton what products andor services do you provide
Well it's kind of the key to it as I say when you talk about the power generation is about electrical switch gear that is uh circuit breakers it's all the things that is protecting equipment but breaking power and and current so we are able to uh and then to distribute all that power in the power grid So utilities is a big customer group and they use a lot of our switch gear but the same switch gears uh electrical switch gear also used by industries uh it sits out in every manufacturing plant here in the United States but all over the world in in and taking in on what we call what we call medium voltage which is into the 20 30,000 volts down to low voltages which everything really below a th00and volts which is more like what we have in for homes and in in buildings.
From the episode’s captions: roughly the first two minutes, lightly cleaned. Keep watching on YouTube →
Topics
- global company strategy
- ceo interview
- industrial markets
- international expansion
- company value
Companies and tickers mentioned
- ABB
Watch the episode
Watch “This CEO Explains the Value of Being a Global Company | At Barron's” on YouTube
Summary, takeaways and quote selection by Octagon. Quotes are short excerpts; the full conversation is in the episode.
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