Johnson Controls to Acquire Alloy Enterprises for Data Center Cooling
Johnson Controls has signed an agreement to acquire Alloy Enterprises, a manufacturer of high-performance aluminum heat exchangers. The company stated the acquisition is intended to strengthen its leadership in thermal management for data centers. The move is aligned with Johnson Controls' strategy to innovate cooling solutions for the rapidly growing, AI-driven data center market.
- The global data center cooling market was valued at over $26.3 billion in 2025 and is projected to reach more than $128.3 billion by 2033, with the U.S. market alone expected to grow at a CAGR of 16.7%. This growth is largely driven by the expansion of AI and high-performance computing, which require significantly more power and generate more heat. - Alloy Enterprises, founded in 2020, specializes in direct liquid cooling (DLC) components that can improve thermal management efficiency by up to 35% and reduce system energy use. This technology is critical as new high-performance chips, like NVIDIA's Blackwell GPU, can have a thermal design power exceeding 1,200 watts. - This acquisition addresses a previously identified gap in Johnson Controls' portfolio, which lacked an in-house liquid cooling solution, a technology offered by key competitors. Johnson Controls is the second-largest provider of thermal equipment for data centers, with an estimated 15% market share, and the acquisition strengthens its position in the rapidly growing liquid cooling segment. - Johnson Controls has been strategically pivoting to become a dominant player in the data center space, a move that included the 2021 acquisition of Silent-Aire and the formation of a dedicated Global Data Center Solutions unit in June 2024. The company's data center business was projected to generate about $4 billion in revenue in 2024. - The transaction is expected to close in the third fiscal quarter of 2026, though the financial terms have not been publicly disclosed. Alloy Enterprises, a venture-backed startup, had raised $34.9 million in funding from investors including Lockheed Martin Ventures and FootPrint Coalition. - The deal integrates Alloy's patented stack forging process, which creates leak-tight components with embedded micro-geometries for superior heat transfer, into Johnson Controls' broader suite of products. This complements existing Johnson Controls solutions like the YORK YVAM chiller, which is engineered to reduce power consumption by 40% annually without using water.
