Daikin Applied has opened an expanded Modular Solutions plant in Phoenix that grows the operation from 58,000 to 191,000 square feet and raises production capacity for factory-built hydronic and electric systems by about 150%, the Minneapolis-based HVAC maker said Oct. 14. Data centers are the market it names first.
The floor area more than tripled while capacity rose 2.5 times. The company didn’t explain the gap. It’s common for a first phase to add space ahead of the equipment and crews that fill it, and Daikin Applied says the plant is still ramping to full production.
What Daikin Applied’s modular plant builds
According to the company’s announcement, the Phoenix plant assembles and tests complete custom systems before they ship. The expansion lets it build in Daikin-owned products, including Chilldyne direct-to-chip liquid cooling distribution units and DDC Solutions S-Series rack containment. Daikin Applied says it’ll offer design, manufacturing, commissioning and service as one package.
The markets it lists are data centers, healthcare, higher education and industrial plants. Stephen McGee, general manager of Modular Solutions, said the extra capacity lets the unit take on larger projects. The release gives no investment figure, headcount or unit output, so the 150% is the only scale measure available.
Factory-built cooling and the mechanical contractor
The case for modular mechanical systems is schedule. Data center electrical contractors are already working 12- to 18-month schedules, and every skid that arrives tested is piping and controls work that doesn’t happen in a crowded building. Daikin Applied pitches it as less schedule risk and simpler installation.
For mechanical contractors, that’s a scope shift. Factory-built skids move fitter and controls hours off the jobsite and into a plant, which helps where labor is short and hurts a sub whose margin lives in field installation. Contractors have been responding by buying factories. Everus paid $295 million for a modular MEP plant last month.
An equipment maker selling turnkey cooling packages competes with that model as much as it supplies it. If Daikin Applied designs, builds, commissions and services the skid, the mechanical contractor sets it and connects it.
What to check before specifying modular cooling
Delivery slots matter more than square footage. Anyone carrying a modular cooling package on a 2027 data center should ask when the Phoenix plant reaches full output and what its lead times look like, because the release gives neither. The direct-to-chip CDUs are the other question. Liquid cooling at rack density is still settling, and integrating it in a factory only helps if the design is frozen before the skid is built.
The plant itself runs Daikin’s own R-32 rooftop units and LED lighting. The bigger test is whether 150% more capacity shows up as shorter lead times or just a longer order book.