60MW AI factory cooling reference architecture
14th November 2026
USA: Daikin Applied has announced a 60MW cooling blueprint for AI factories based on the NVIDIA DSX AI factory platform with NVIDIA Vera Rubin NVL72.
The NVIDIA DSX AI Factory Platform is an end-to-end framework that unifies the design, simulation, deployment, and operation of large-scale AI data centres.
The architecture gives data centre developers, engineers and operators a starting point for designing cooling from rack to ambient, connecting cooling equipment and controls into a single system.
Based on Daikin Applied’s water-cooled chillers with dry coolers, D60-W supports a 60 MW IT load across six deployable units. Liquid cooling handles 92% of the load and air cooling handles the remaining 8%. The design runs two temperature loops. A high-temperature liquid loop serves the coolant distribution units (CDUs) and a dedicated low-temperature loop serves the air-cooling rack containment units, improving overall plant efficiency.
D60-W is built around Daikin Applied’s oil-free Magnitude WME magnetic bearing centrifugal chillers that offer capacities up to 10MW. Dry coolers carry the cooling load for most of the year in suitable climates, with chillers supporting the operation during the hottest days.
“D60-W draws on the full depth of Daikin Applied’s portfolio, giving customers a single partner as they scale AI operations,” said Yu Nishiwaki, president and CEO of Daikin Applied.
The D60-W racks are primarily liquid cooled via CDUs, while the DDC Solutions S-Series rack containment units capture the remaining heat at the rack and move it directly to the low-temperature loop, with fire suppression and water-loop protection built into every rack.
“An AI factory is a system of systems,” said Karim Shalash, director of Data Center Solutions at Daikin Applied. “A cooling decision at the rack carries implications for water temperatures, flow requirements, plant operation and heat rejection. D60-W gives engineering teams a framework for working through those dependencies and developing a cooling architecture around the facility’s operating requirements.”
Daikin Applied’s RideThrough and RapidRestore chiller technologies address brief power disturbances and restart after shutdown.
D60-W switches between dry cooling, hybrid cooling and full mechanical cooling based on outdoor conditions. In dry cooling mode, the chiller compressors are off. In hybrid mode, waterside economisers pre-cool the return water and the chillers handle the remaining load.
Heat rejection relies on dry coolers instead of evaporative cooling towers, which eliminates cooling-tower make-up water and supports low water usage effectiveness.
Within D60-W, Daikin Applied’s iDCM supervisory layer coordinates RCUs, CDUs, chillers and dry coolers as one plant. It manages load sharing, balances equipment operating hours and controls transitions between the three operating modes. Built-in redundancy and integration with site management systems provide greater control resilience and centralized visibility, while energy optimisation and predictive maintenance capabilities support plant efficiency and equipment reliability.
