Commercial building systems · Data-center cooling
Johnson Controls
Johnson Controls re-rated from a dull building-equipment maker into an AI-infrastructure play — in July 2025 it sold its residential HVAC and the Hitachi JV to Bosch for $6.7B (~$5.0B net cash), pivoting to a pure-play commercial-buildings/datacenter company. The thesis is data-center cooling: as AI rack density (NVIDIA DSX-class) outstrips air cooling, a full stack from YORK chillers to Silent-Aire CDUs to Accelsius 2-phase D2C pulls orders and has built a record $16.6B backlog. FY2025 continuing-ops revenue was $23.60B (+2.8%), but the real defense is the 32% of revenue that is recurring service. Its digital brain, OpenBlue, runs on Microsoft Azure, so the software layer rides Microsoft.
JCI Updated Jul 12, 2026 5 AI consumers· 2 recurring
Per the valuechain.wiki graph, Johnson Controls is directly linked to 1 companies (1 supply, 0 revenue relationships) and reaches 30 companies within two hops; the links are backed by 8 dated sources, 1 of them primary filings (as of 2026-07-12).
Annual return · 2026-09-04'21+77.4%'22-19.3%'23-7.6%'24+39.8%'25+53%YTD+21.7%
Money in ▸Commercial building owners (HVAC, controls, fire, security, services)●하이퍼스케일러 (사일런트에어 모듈 냉각)●
Johnson ControlsFY2025
▸ Money outComponents & materials (compressors, control electronics, refrigerants, steel, copper)◐Microsoft (Azure — OpenBlue digital platform)◐
Financials & Segments
- Total revenue · FY2025 (Sept year-end) continuing-ops revenue $23.60B (+2.8%), services 32%, backlog $16.6B (record). Sold residential HVAC (+ the Hitachi JV) to Bosch in July 2025 for $6.7B (~$5.0B net cash), becoming a pure-play commercial-buildings/datacenter company.
- Customer concentration · Reshaped into a commercial-buildings + datacenter pure-play by shedding residential. Upside: AI data-center liquid cooling (full chiller->CDU->D2C stack, NVIDIA DSX-ready) and 32% recurring service. Downside: cost inflation on the fixed-price backlog and the pace of backlog conversion. Its digital brain, OpenBlue, depends on Microsoft Azure.
- Segments · Building Solutions (N. America, EMEA, Asia Pacific) - HVAC, controls, fire, security, services · Global Products - chillers, cooling, fire, security equipment
Revenue from
- Commercial building owners (HVAC, controls, fire, security, services) High confidence
The pure-play core after shedding residential HVAC — selling HVAC, controls, fire and security to hospitals, data centers, universities, Class-A offices and airports across three regional segments. The key is that 32% of revenue is recurring service: a decades-long installed base converts into maintenance, retrofit and digital (OpenBlue) service, a cash source more defensive than the new-build cycle.Mentions EN MarketScreener Published Jun 1, 2026: Johnson Controls analyst consensus and price targetConfirms EN SEC EDGAR Published Nov 14, 2025: Johnson Controls Annual Report Form 10-K (FY2025, ended Sept 30) - 하이퍼스케일러 (사일런트에어 모듈 냉각) High confidence
As AI data centers' rack density (NVIDIA DSX-class GPUs) outstrips air cooling, liquid cooling becomes mandatory, and JCI holds the full chip-to-room stack — Silent-Aire CDUs (0.5-10MW), YORK YVAM waterless magnetic-bearing chillers and Accelsius 2-phase D2C — engineered to NVIDIA's DSX reference architecture. Hyperscale customers stay undisclosed, but this demand is the order engine behind the record $16.6B backlog.Confirms EN SEC EDGAR Published Nov 14, 2025: Johnson Controls Annual Report Form 10-K (FY2025, ended Sept 30)Confirms KO Newswire Published Sep 9, 2025: Johnson Controls launches scalable liquid-cooling solution for high-density data centersConfirms EN Johnson Controls Published Sep 8, 2025: JCI expands thermal management with scalable liquid cooling (CDU 0.5-10MW), supporting NVIDIA DSX reference architectureConfirms EN Johnson Controls Published Aug 1, 2025: JCI completes sale of residential HVAC to Bosch ($8.1B)
Pays to
- Components & materials (compressors, control electronics, refrigerants, steel, copper) Medium confidence
The cost base of chiller/CDU/fire/controls hardware — it procures compressors, control electronics, refrigerants and commodities like steel and copper. Because the backlog is largely fixed-price, input-cost inflation is a structural squeeze on near-term margins.Mentions EN SEC EDGAR Published Nov 14, 2025: Johnson Controls Annual Report Form 10-K (FY2025, ended Sept 30) - Microsoft (Azure — OpenBlue digital platform) Medium confidence
JCI's 'digital brain,' OpenBlue, runs on Microsoft Azure — a co-development partnership using Azure Data Lake, Time Series, AI/ML and Azure OpenAI to power generative-AI building agents. JCI sells building outcomes but rents the cloud/AI compute beneath them from Microsoft, so its software margin and AI features ride Azure.Confirms EN Memoori Published Jan 15, 2026: Johnson Controls AI strategy — OpenBlue built on a Microsoft Azure co-development partnershipConfirms EN Johnson Controls Published Nov 12, 2024: Johnson Controls expands AI features in OpenBlue digital ecosystem
Investments
- Bosch divestiture (R&LC HVAC business) High confidence
Sold the R&LC HVAC business (including the Hitachi JV) to Bosch in July 2025 — $8.1B total, JCI's share $6.7B, ~$5.0B after-tax net cash. Bosch's largest-ever acquisition, and the turning point that reshaped JCI into a commercial-buildings/datacenter pure-play and funded buybacks/investment.Confirms EN HPAC Magazine Published Aug 1, 2025: Bosch completes $8.1B acquisition of Johnson Controls' HVAC business and Hitachi JV - JCH (Johnson Controls 60% / Hitachi 40% HVAC JV, unwound via 2025 Bosch sale) High confidence
The global residential air-conditioning JV (JCH) in which JCI held 60% and Hitachi 40% — it was JCI's residential HVAC arm, but was divested to Bosch in July 2025 together with the R&LC HVAC business. The key piece shed in the pivot to a pure-play commercial/datacenter company.Confirms EN SEC EDGAR Published Nov 14, 2025: Johnson Controls Annual Report Form 10-K (FY2025, ended Sept 30)Confirms EN HPAC Magazine Published Aug 1, 2025: Bosch completes $8.1B acquisition of Johnson Controls' HVAC business and Hitachi JV - Datacenter-cooling M&A (Silent-Aire, Accelsius) High confidence
The forward bets that built today's liquid-cooling stack — acquiring hyperscale modular-cooling firm Silent-Aire for $755M in 2021 and investing in 2-phase direct-to-chip (D2C) specialist Accelsius in 2022. Seeds planted before the AI boom, now harvested in a record backlog.Mentions EN Johnson Controls Published Sep 8, 2025: JCI expands thermal management with scalable liquid cooling (CDU 0.5-10MW), supporting NVIDIA DSX reference architecture
Value-chain ripple (2 tiers)
Following node-to-node links up to 2 tiers; each firm is shown once, at its nearest tier.
| Company | Chain | '21 | '22 | '23 | '24 | '25 | YTD |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Johnson Controls | node | +77.4 | -19.3 | -7.6 | +39.8 | +53 | +21.7 |
| Microsoft | benef1 | +52.5 | -28 | +58.2 | +12.9 | +15.6 | +4 |
| Seagate Technology | benef2 | +87.5 | -51.4 | +69.1 | +4.1 | +225.3 | +209.1 |
| Western Digital | benef2 | +17.7 | -51.6 | +66 | +13.9 | +283.7 | +171.6 |
| Marvell | benef2 | +84.6 | -57.5 | +63.7 | +83.8 | -22.8 | +163.4 |
| Intel | benef2 | +6.1 | -46.6 | +94.6 | -59.6 | +84 | +159.6 |
| AMD | benef2 | +56.9 | -55 | +127.6 | -18.1 | +77.3 | +123 |
| Wiwynn | benef2 | +24.7 | -22.3 | +206.4 | +3.5 | +64.4 | +120.2 |
| Astera Labs | benef2 | · | · | · | · | +25.6 | +86.6 |
| Vertiv | benef2 | +33.8 | -45.3 | +251.8 | +136.8 | +42.8 | +73.2 |
| Arista Networks | benef2 | +97.9 | -15.6 | +94.1 | +87.7 | +18.5 | +47.9 |
| Occidental Petroleum | benef2 | +67.7 | +119.1 | -4.1 | -15.9 | -14.9 | +47.4 |
| GE Vernova | benef2 | · | · | · | · | +99 | +44.4 |
| Caterpillar | benef2 | +16 | +18.6 | +25.9 | +24.7 | +60.3 | +42.9 |
| Ciena | benef2 | +45.6 | -33.8 | -11.7 | +88.4 | +175.8 | +37.3 |
| Equinix | benef2 | +20.3 | -21.1 | +25.4 | +19.5 | -16.9 | +37.3 |
| Super Micro | benef2 | +38.8 | +86.8 | +246.2 | +7.2 | -4 | +35.3 |
| Eaton | benef2 | +46.7 | -7.2 | +56.2 | +39.5 | -2.8 | +30.1 |
| Quanta Computer | benef2 | +22.2 | -12.8 | +254.5 | +12.7 | +8.9 | +28.5 |
| NVIDIA | benef2 | +125.5 | -50.3 | +239 | +171.2 | +38.9 | +23.7 |
| Schneider Electric | benef2 | +25.9 | +1.6 | +25.8 | +36.1 | +0.5 | +20.7 |
| Foxconn (Hon Hai) | benef2 | -5.1 | +2.8 | +7.8 | +80.1 | +26.9 | +19.6 |
| Credo Technology | benef2 | · | · | +46.3 | +245.2 | +114.1 | +18.5 |
| IREN | benef2 | · | -92.3 | +472 | +37.3 | +284.6 | +18.3 |
| Cummins | benef2 | -1.7 | +14.1 | +1.7 | +48.9 | +49.4 | +11 |
| Automatic Data Processing, Inc. | benef2 | +42.6 | -1.3 | -0.2 | +28.4 | -10.2 | +9.6 |
| 3M Company | benef2 | +4.9 | -29.6 | -3.3 | +46.1 | +26.4 | +6.8 |
| Brookfield Asset Management Ltd. | benef2 | · | · | +45.6 | +39.7 | -0.2 | -0.4 |
| IonQ | benef2 | · | -79.3 | +259.1 | +237.1 | +7.4 | -11.9 |
| Constellation Energy | benef2 | · | · | +37.2 | +92.7 | +58.8 | -15 |
| Take-Two Interactive Software, Inc. | benef2 | -14.5 | -41.4 | +54.6 | +14.4 | +39.1 | -16.1 |
YTD as of 2026-09-04 · source: Yahoo Finance
Johnson Controls operates across S&P 500, commercial buildings & datacenter cooling. It is +21.7% in 2026. The stock (+21.7%) and its supply side (avg +4%) are moving in step. Its digital brain, OpenBlue, runs on Microsoft Azure, so the software layer rides Microsoft.
Analysis generated from returns as of 2026-09-04