Johnson Controls launches thermal management reference design guides for gigawatt-scale AI data centres

MILWAUKEE, Wisconsin, United States, 2 February 2026: Johnson Controls said it has launched its Reference Design Guide Series for one-gigawatt (GW) AI data centres. Making the announcement through a Press Release, the company said each guide maps the full thermal chain and provides cooling architectures tailored to different compute densities, geographies and elevations.

Johnson Controls said the series begins with a detailed blueprint for water-cooled chiller plants and added that future guides will address air-cooled and absorption chiller solutions. Johnson Controls said the guides respond to what it described as the rapid evolution of data centre infrastructure as AI increases the scale and complexity of thermal management.

Johnson Controls said the guides outline how to achieve energy and water efficiency while maintaining flexibility to scale across diverse climates and operational requirements. The company said the first guide presents a complete thermal architecture supporting both liquid and air-cooled IT loads through integrated computer room air handlers, fan coil walls, coolant distribution units and high-efficiency YORK centrifugal chillers.

Johnson Controls said the guide provides sizing guidance for 220-megawatt (MW) compute quadrants and defines temperature and operating conditions across all major facility loops, including Technology Cooling System loops supporting next-generation GPUs.

Johnson Controls said key outcomes of the design include zero water consumption through fully water-free heat rejection using dry coolers, high-temperature loop readiness for compatibility with future GPU architectures, alignment with the NVIDIA DSX reference architecture for scalable one-GW-class deployments and operational efficiency enabled by elevated condenser water temperatures, bifurcated loops and YORK high-lift chillers.

Austin Domenici, Vice President and General Manager, Johnson Controls Global Data Center Solutions, said: “AI Factories are production facilities — the places where intelligence is manufactured at an industrial scale. By supporting the NVIDIA DSX reference architecture and improving water and energy efficiency in the cooling process while maintaining high temperature-loop compatibility, our Reference Design Guide equips customers to deploy gigawatt-scale AI infrastructure that is scalable, repeatable, resilient and sustainable.”