BSRIA reports sustained global cooling demand as market diverges
BSRIA has released its latest analysis of the global cooling sector. The BSRIA Worldwide Air Conditioning and Heat Pump reports reveal a complex and diverging global cooling market.
While overall demand has risen 245% since 2010, the market now has two distinct tracks: a high value commercial sector driven by specialist applications and a high volume residential sector where intense competition is suppressing prices. The new studies, covering 18 key AC markets and 15 heat pump markets, identify the key forces shaping the industry; enhanced technology, tighter regulation and the rapid proliferation of data centre cooling systems.
The reports show a clear divergence in pricing. In the commercial sector, average selling prices for products like chillers and air handling units rose by 3.6% and 4.5% respectively in 2025. This contrasts with the residential segment, where the average price for ductless split systems has declined.
A major growth has been the data centre industry, where AI’s expansion is creating demand for more advanced liquid cooling solutions. This is accelerating the sales of chillers, with some systems, namely oil-free centrifugal chillers, driving more than half of the market in countries like Indonesia, Mexico, Turkey, the UAE or the USA.
Aline Breslauer, Research Manager at BSRIA, commented: “2025 was a year of uncertainty, and in the AC market we saw rising competition with increased M&A activity driving consolidation. However, globally the need for cooling technologies remains high, with demand jumping 245% over the past 15 years. We predict that growth will continue, though it will remain uneven amid ongoing economic and geopolitical volatility.”
