Johnson Controls vs LG Electronics: Cooling & thermal compared

November 2026 edition · assessment by Frontier Tech Intelligence

Johnson Controls ranks 66 on the AI Infra 100 with a score of 88; LG Electronics ranks 68 with 88. Johnson Controls is ahead on commercials. LG Electronics is ahead on deployment. Level on production, progress, technology, positioning, firepower and leverage. Johnson Controls is based in Cork, Ireland, LG Electronics in Seoul, South Korea. Johnson Controls is named in 5 signals and LG Electronics in 102.

Johnson Controls →

Cork, Ireland · AI Core · Power, cooling & thermal / Cooling & thermal · johnsoncontrols.com

Johnson Controls supplies YORK chillers, absorption chillers, cooling distribution units and high-temperature heat pumps, including products designed for high-density AI data centers and industrial electrification.

AI Infra 100 · rank 66 · score 88

Scores, AI Core (of 10)

Deployment8
Production8
Commercials10
Progress10
Technology8
Positioning8
Firepower10
Leverage10

Darker bar: ahead of the other company on that measure.

Positioning

Johnson Controls is no longer a building-automation company with a data center side business. Data center revenue is a high-teens percentage of fiscal 2026 sales and the CFO has said it could reach roughly one-third of total company revenue within three to five years. Fiscal Q3 2026 organic sales rose 10 percent to USD 6.6 billion with Applied HVAC posting high-teens growth driven by data center cooling; adjusted segment EBITA margin widened 220 basis points to 19.8 percent; backlog reached a record USD 21 billion, up more than 30 percent, with Americas orders up 37 percent. The technical position rests on two things: NVIDIA certification for its cooling distribution units, with a pipeline above USD 1 billion and shipments beginning, plus a jointly developed AI-factory thermal reference guide; and an absorption chiller reference design the company says cuts cooling electrical demand by approximately 44 percent at a 1 gigawatt AI factory by converting waste heat into cooling, unlocking 97 megawatts of additional compute capacity, which changes site selection economics for hyperscalers. It released the YORK YK-HT two-stage economized centrifugal chiller and exited residential HVAC to focus the portfolio. Its relevance doubles because it led the Accelsius USD 65 million Series B on 2026-01-12, putting it on both sides of the two-phase versus single-phase question.

Latest signals

  • MarketsandMarkets projects the global data-center air-handling unit market will reach $6.7 billion by 2032.Automation News Japan
  • Omen AI raised $31 million in a Series A funding round.The AI Insider
  • Omen AI raised a $31 million Series A to develop data-center fluid monitoring.TechCrunch

5 signals name Johnson Controls.

Facts, with sources

  • controlled_by: public floatwww.prnewswire.com — 2026-09-15
  • Johnson Controls launches high-temperature heat pumps for industrial electrificationwww.prnewswire.com — 2026-09-15
  • High-temperature heat pumps for industrial electrificationwww.prnewswire.com — 2026-09-15

24 facts on file.

LG Electronics →

Seoul, Seoul, South Korea · AI Core · Power, cooling & thermal / Cooling & thermal · lg.com

LG Electronics supplies data-center cooling, including coolant distribution units, liquid-immersion cooling and predictive cooling controls, for hyperscale and other data centers.

AI Infra 100 · rank 68 · score 88Robotics · watchlist · score 67Humanoids 100 · rank 80 · score 55

Scores, AI Core (of 10)

Deployment10
Production8
Commercials4
Progress10
Technology8
Positioning8
Firepower10
Leverage10

Darker bar: ahead of the other company on that measure.

Positioning

Scored on the data center cooling unit only, as instructed. On 2026-07-27 LG secured NVIDIA AI Factory validation for its 600 kW Coolant Distribution Unit, passing more than 100 technical evaluation criteria covering cooling performance, reliability and failover, becoming one of a small group globally to clear that verification for this equipment class. The direct-to-chip unit delivers coolant to GPUs and CPUs for a hybrid cooling system, and can pair with LG's Data Centre Cooling Control Manager for predictive control and centralised monitoring. LG validates the whole chain at a dedicated Chip-to-Chiller site in Pyeongtaek. Commercial substance: LG has secured cooling projects for hyperscale facilities in North America and for the SM+ Data Center, an AI-ready facility in Jakarta, and intends to seek NVIDIA certification for 1 MW, 2.5 MW and 4 MW capacities. It also joined SK Enmove, GRC and Flex on liquid immersion cooling in October 2025, putting it on both the direct-to-chip and immersion sides. Commercial scores 2 because no data center cooling revenue is disclosed and the scoped row excludes group revenue.

Latest signals

  • LG plans to design home humanoids to work with its household appliances.Humanoids Daily
  • LG is targeting household humanoid robots around 2030.Humanoids Daily
  • LG Electronics and K-water will deploy AI, digital twin, and robotics at the Sihwa Tidal Power Plant.The Elec

102 signals name LG Electronics.

Facts, with sources

  • unknownwww.heise.de — 2026-09-16
  • LG Electronics participated in PASQAL's 2026 private financingFrenchWeb
  • Physical-AI partnership with NVIDIA spanning humanoid, logistics and industrial robotsThe AI Insider

24 facts on file.

More comparisons

Questions this page answers

Johnson Controls or LG Electronics: which is ahead in ai core?

Johnson Controls ranks 66 on the AI Infra 100 with a score of 88; LG Electronics ranks 68 with 88. Johnson Controls is ahead on commercials. LG Electronics is ahead on deployment. Level on production, progress, technology, positioning, firepower and leverage. Johnson Controls is based in Cork, Ireland, LG Electronics in Seoul, South Korea. Johnson Controls is named in 5 signals and LG Electronics in 102.

How do Johnson Controls and LG Electronics compare?

Johnson Controls ranks 66 on the AI Infra 100 with a score of 88; LG Electronics ranks 68 with 88. Johnson Controls is ahead on commercials. LG Electronics is ahead on deployment. Level on production, progress, technology, positioning, firepower and leverage. Johnson Controls is based in Cork, Ireland, LG Electronics in Seoul, South Korea. Johnson Controls is named in 5 signals and LG Electronics in 102. Both company files carry the scores on eight measures, the facts with sources and the latest signals.

Every comparison here comes from the same files members use every day.

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