Johnson Controls announced new thermal management technologies and strategic investments to support high density AI environments during the Data Center World 2026 event in Washington, D.C.
The company stated that cooling currently represents between 30% and 40% of total energy use within the industry.
Global electricity demand for these facilities is projected by the International Energy Agency to potentially double by 2030.
The recently launched YDAM magnetic bearing chiller provides 3.5 MW of cooling capacity.
This system offers a 20% increase in capacity density compared to alternative solutions.
The YK-HT two-stage economized centrifugal chiller is nearly 30% smaller than previous alternatives and uses up to 60% fewer dry coolers.
For liquid cooling requirements, the Silent-Aire Coolant Distribution Unit (CDU) platform provides scalable capacities ranging from 500kW to more than 10MW.
These solutions can reduce non IT energy consumption by more than 50% in the majority of North American hubs.
Johnson Controls is highlighting on site generation methods – such as natural gas turbines and fuel cells – to address long wait times for grid access.
YORK absorption chillers utilize heat instead of electricity to generate cooling, which can reduce chiller electricity use by more than 90%.
Mihir Nandkeolyar, director of thermal management business development and technical strategy at Johnson Controls, said: “By utilizing waste heat for cooling instead of drawing electricity from the local grid, data centers can get on line faster, significantly expand compute and become better neighbors.”
The company has signed an agreement to acquire Alloy Enterprises, a firm specializing in advanced direct liquid cooling components.
A strategic investment was also made in Accelsius to advance two-phase direct-to-chip liquid cooling technology.
Two-phase solutions remove heat by changing liquid to vapor to improve extraction efficiency.
The newly launched Thermal Management Reference Design Guide Series provides cooling architectures for various geographies and elevations.
Testing for these systems continues at the Johnson Controls Advanced Development and Engineering Center (JADEC) in Pennsylvania.
This seven acre facility contains more than 20 specialized labs and conducts over 1,000 test runs each month.
