Wartsila, the Finnish engineering company, missed its fourth-quarter order forecasts on Tuesday due to U.S. tariffs on batteries and increased competition in their energy storage business.

Even though CEO Hakan AGnevall said that there were "ample opportunities" to supply engine-based electricity generation to new data centers - a rapidly-growing business, grid capacity is being squeezed by the AI-driven data explosion.

He said, "We have an incredibly positive outlook for the market." He added that he saw growth opportunities both inside and outside of the U.S.

Vara's analysts had expected a decline of 11% in fourth-quarter orders to 2.22 billion euros, or $2.63 billion.

Agnevall stated that the decline was due to around 900 millions euros in business divestments. Meanwhile, U.S. battery tariffs of 50-60% had "wet blanketed" the energy storage market.

He said that the slowdown in electric vehicle sales had increased competition among battery manufacturers, but added that energy storage was still relatively small, with sales of around 700 million euro, compared to 5.5 billion euro from both the marine and energy divisions.

Wartsila's 2026 outlook stated that it expects demand for its energy and storage businesses to increase?over the coming 12 months. Demand in its marine division, however, should remain largely unchanged.

The company announced that it would invest approximately 140 million euros in order to increase production capacity at its Vaasa Technology Hub in Finland by 35%.

(source: Reuters)