Daikin Industries, Ltd. (ダイキン工業株式会社, Daikin Kōgyō Kabushiki-gaisha) is a Japanese multinational conglomerate company headquartered in Osaka. Daikin is the world’s largest air conditioner manufacturer.
Daikin Industries Ltd was founded in 1924 as Ōsaka Metalworking Industries LP (大阪金属工業所, Ōsaka Kinzoku Kōgyōsho) by Akira Yamada. In 1953, Daiflon or polychlorotrifluoroethylene was developed. In 1963 the company was renamed Daikin Industries, Ltd. (ダイキン工業株式会社, Daikin Kōgyō Kabushiki-gaisha, Daikin deriving from the combined reading of the first kanji of 大阪 Ōsaka and the first of 金属 Kinzoku) and developed Neoflon. In 1982 it was renamed to the current Daikin Industries Ltd.
Daikin entered the North American air conditioning market in 2004.
In 2006, Daikin Industries acquired McQuay International, a Minneapolis, MN-based global corporation that designs, manufacturers and sells commercial, industrial and institutional heating, ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC) products. In 2008, McQuay International was rebranded as Daikin-McQuay as Daikin began implementing many of its technologies (including the Daikin Inverter Compressor) and manufacturing processes into McQuay equipment and factories. However, in November 2013, the Daikin-McQuay group was again rebranded as Daikin Applied, ending 80 years of business for the McQuay name in the United States. Meanwhile, the McQuay brand continues to be used in China and Hong Kong.
In the filtration realm, Daikin acquired American Air Filter (AAF) in 2007, and Flanders in 2016. The resulting entity is known both as AAF International and AAF Flanders.
In 2008, Daikin purchased a 75% share of All World Machinery Supply based in Roscoe, Illinois. In 2009, Daikin Airconditioning Philippines was established.
In August 2012 Daikin agreed to acquire Goodman Global from the San Francisco-based private equity firm Hellman & Friedman for $3.7 billion, after first planning to buy Goodman the previous year. In January 2011, Daikin had announced plans to buy Goodman Global at approximately US$4 billion valuation; however, the plans were delayed for a year by the 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami. The acquisition was expected to expand Daikin’s presence in the United States and in duct-type and split-system air-conditioners, and was expected to make Daikin the world’s largest maker of heating, ventilation and air-conditioning systems.
As of April 2014, Daikin Hydraulics marketed a line of piston pumps, vane pumps, manual pumps, solenoid valves, and flow and control valves, claiming their pump technology to be 50–70 percent more energy efficient than conventional technology.
In 2017, Daikin opened the Daikin Texas Technology Park, its largest plant and the fifth largest factory in the world. Costing $417 million, this 4.1-million-square-foot facility in Waller, Texas, will consolidate Goodman’s manufacturing operations.
As of 2021, other companies representing additional Daikin brands include Motili and Quietflex.
In 2023 Daikin announced they had acquired the San Diego-based custom air-handling equipment manufacturer Alliance Air Products.
