AAON (AAON)

Custom HVAC / data-center cooling (AAON) — BASX-branded mission-critical cooling is now the majority of revenue

AI exposure 50% — derived from reported segment revenue, not asserted.

Where it sits

Physical Infrastructure → Thermal & Cooling · figures rebased to Q2 2026, reported 2026-08-10

BASX-branded mission-critical cooling — data-center liquid cooling + custom air-handling leads 2 businesses in this sub-tier that together are 100% of revenue, so Thermal & Cooling is effectively the whole company rather than one leg of it.

Reported segments

BASX-branded (mission-critical cooling) — 55% of revenue
AAON-branded (commercial HVAC) — 45% of revenue

AAON ($627.0M Q2 2026, +101.2% YoY; FY2026 growth guidance raised to 55-60% from 40-45%). AAON reports a single product spine rather than segments, but it DISCLOSES the brand split, and that split is the company: BASX-branded mission-critical cooling is 55% of sales and $1.43B of the $1.97B backlog, having grown 216% year over year, while AAON-branded commercial HVAC is the remaining 45% with backlog up just 9.4%. Data centres are no longer a fast-growing side line — on management's own account they are the largest single growth contributor. The Atlas models the two brands as separate lines…

How the 50% is built

BASX-branded (mission-critical cooling) — 55% of revenue × 80% AI-driven (estimate). Mission-critical cooling where management names data-centre activity as the largest single growth contributor, and which grew 216% year over year. Shaded below full attribution because BASX also serves cleanrooms, healthcare and industrial process cooling
AAON-branded (commercial HVAC) — 45% of revenue × 13% AI-driven (estimate). Rooftop units and custom air handling for commercial buildings — schools, retail, offices. Some AAON-branded custom air handling does go to data centres, which is why this is not zero, but backlog grew only 9.4% and the demand driver is commercial construction

Investment read

Moat. Semi-custom engineering plus BasX purpose-built data-center cooling — and Q2 gave the first clean read on whether that engineering earns anything. BASX ran a 30.0% gross margin, up 210bps, while AAON Oklahoma fell 560bps to 24.3% and Coil Products managed 16.0%: the advantage is real and sits precisely in the mission-critical work, with BASX-branded revenue now 55% of the company. Backlog is $1.97B (+98.0% YoY), $1.43B of it BASX-branded (+185.4%), but it fell 7.4% sequentially for the first time this cycle, so book-to-bill dipped below 1.0. What is being defended remains configurable…

Bottleneck / pricing power. Pricing power is real, but it is confined to the data-center line and the rest of the P&L is eating it. Consolidated gross margin fell 230bps YoY to 24.3% and the FY2026 outlook was cut to 25-26% from 27-28% — a second cut, and still below the 29-31% target that underwrote the 2025 re-rating — on capacity-ramp cost, outsourcing and inflation at Memphis and Longview. BASX expanding to 30.0% while the consolidated line contracts is the whole argument: the mix shift toward data centers is margin-accretive and the drag is legacy absorption. The binding constraint is still manufacturing throughput…

Role in the AI stack. The custom data-center cooling-unit supplier — now majority data-center by revenue.

Connected companies

Microsoft (MSFT) — AAON supplies: BASX custom air-side + liquid cooling for hyperscale DCs — large customer(s) undisclosed
Amazon (AMZN) — AAON supplies: custom data-center cooling units (BASX) — hyperscale customers undisclosed
Alphabet (GOOGL) — AAON supplies: air-side + liquid cooling for hyperscale facilities — Google not publicly named
Equinix (EQIX) — AAON supplies: custom cooling for colocation data centers
ON Semiconductor (ON) — AAON is supplied by: power semiconductors for cooling equipment controls
Modine Manufacturing (MOD) — AAON competes with: mid-cap data-center cooling specialists — AAON BASX vs Modine
Vertiv Holdings (VRT) — AAON competes with: data-center liquid + air-side cooling
Johnson Controls (JCI) — AAON competes with: data-center cooling — AAON BASX vs JCI Silent-Aire
Carrier Global (CARR) — AAON competes with: air-side + liquid cooling for data centers
Digital Realty Trust (DLR) — AAON supplies: data-center cooling (BasX) for Digital Realty
Meta Platforms (META) — AAON supplies: data-center cooling for META AI data centers
Oracle (ORCL) — AAON supplies: custom liquid-cooling thermal management units for AI data centers (BASX brand; end customer undisclosed)
CoreWeave (CRWV) — AAON supplies: data-center cooling for CRWV AI data centers
Alcoa (AA) — AAON is supplied by: primary aluminum feedstock for fin stock and coil tube used in cooling coils

Others in Thermal & Cooling

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