Johnson Controls has positioned itself at the reference-design end of the data centre cooling market, which matters because operators are now looking for repeatable thermal blueprints as much as individual plant components.

Its 2026 Reference Design Guide Series for gigawatt-scale AI factories is framed around scalable thermal planning, with guidance for air-cooled chillers, watercooled systems and absorption use cases across different site conditions.

Central to that offer is the YORK YDAM air-cooled magnetic bearing centrifugal chiller, a system supplying up to 3.5MW of cooling capacity in a compact footprint, with Johnson Controls stating that it delivers up to 20 % increased capacity density than comparable solutions.

That matters for designers balancing AI load growth against utility constraints, water stewardship and commissioning risk, since the cooling decision increasingly affects the whole delivery schedule rather than only the mechanical room.

The company’ s emphasis on zerowater consumption and integrated building controls also speaks to a wider shift in the market: cooling is now being assessed as part of operational resilience, not just energy efficiency.

For specifiers working on mixed estates, Johnson Controls offers a framework that brings together plant, controls and scalability in one design conversation.

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Data Centre Magazine July, Issue 48 | Page 95

Johnson Controls has positioned itself at the reference-design end of the data centre cooling market, which matters because operators are now looking for repeatable thermal blueprints as much as individual plant components.