Danfoss

Danfoss is a Danish multinational industrial group founded in 1933 by engineer Mads Clausen in Nordborg, on the island of Als. The company began by developing refrigeration components and grew into a broad supplier of engineered technologies for cooling, heating, air conditioning, motor control, mobile hydraulics, electrification, and energy management. Its products are sold to original-equipment manufacturers, contractors, distributors, utilities, food businesses, building operators, and industrial customers worldwide. The company originated as Dansk Køleautomatik- og Apparatfabrik. Its first major product was an expansion valve for refrigeration equipment, developed after Clausen studied imported American designs and adapted the technology for local production. Danfoss expanded into heating in the early 1940s and developed a thermostatic radiator valve in 1943. The valve was later patented and promoted as an energy-saving product, establishing a long-running connection between the brand and efficient control of energy flows. Danfoss changed its name to Danfoss in 1946 and began international expansion during the 1950s, including construction of a factory in Flensburg, Germany. It added power electronics in 1962, initially producing custom rectifiers, and entered hydraulics in 1964. Its VLT frequency-converter activities, launched in 1968, helped make variable-speed motor control a central part of the group’s industrial portfolio. These technologies allow motors and machinery to operate closer to actual demand, potentially reducing electricity consumption and improving process control. After Mads Clausen died in 1966, his widow Bitten Clausen became chair of the board while their sons were still too young to lead the business. The company subsequently developed into a multinational group with manufacturing, research, sales, and service activities across several regions. China became an important market and manufacturing base, while Europe remained central to the company’s operations and heritage. In 2014 Danfoss acquired Vacon, a Finnish manufacturer of variable-frequency drives, strengthening its position in power electronics and motor-control systems. Danfoss’s current activities span refrigeration and food cooling, air-conditioning systems, district and building heating, compressors, heat-transfer equipment, sensors, valves, controllers, drives, power modules, and hydraulic systems for mobile machinery. Its portfolio also includes electrification and powertrain technologies, including solutions associated with Danfoss Editron, as well as oil-free centrifugal compressor technology marketed under Danfoss Turbocor. Digital control and connected-building products such as Danfoss Ally extend the group’s traditional hardware businesses into monitoring and energy management. The company presents its purpose around engineering solutions that support decarbonization, energy efficiency, electrification, and more productive use of resources. Its technologies are used in buildings, supermarkets, cold chains, factories, data centers, renewable-energy systems, agricultural and construction machinery, and transportation. Danfoss remains privately held, with the Bitten og Mads Clausens Fond as its largest shareholder. Public reference material describes a workforce of more than 41,000 employees, although the precise employee count varies by reporting period.

Danfoss was established in 1933 by Mads Clausen as Dansk Køleautomatik- og Apparatfabrik. Working from the Nordborg area of Denmark, Clausen developed an expansion valve for refrigeration systems after examining imported American products. The device became the foundation of the business and established the company’s early specialization in refrigeration control. The company broadened its scope into heating during the early 1940s. In 1943 Clausen developed a thermostatic radiator valve, which was later patented and promoted as an energy-saving product. Danfoss changed its corporate name in 1946. By the middle of the 1940s, the business employed several hundred people and had outgrown the original farm-based premises, leading to plans for a larger factory. Internationalization began in the 1950s. Danfoss built a production facility in Flensburg, Germany, completed in 1958. The company then expanded beyond refrigeration and heating. It began producing power-electronics products in 1962, initially making custom rectifiers, and produced its first hydraulic component in Nordborg in 1964. In 1968 it started production of VLT frequency converters. Variable-frequency drives subsequently became one of the group’s defining technology areas, complementing its refrigeration, heating, and hydraulic businesses. Mads Clausen died in 1966. Because his sons were not yet old enough to manage the company, his widow, Bitten Clausen, became chair of the board. Under family stewardship, Danfoss continued to internationalize and develop a diversified industrial portfolio. The Bitten og Mads Clausens Fond was established in 1971 as a self-governing foundation and became the company’s largest shareholder, providing a long-term ownership structure. Over the following decades, Danfoss built businesses serving refrigeration, air conditioning, heating, industrial drives, and mobile hydraulics. It joined the United Nations Global Compact in 2002, linking its corporate responsibility work to international principles covering social and environmental conduct. The group also developed technologies for more efficient buildings, food cooling, industrial processes, and machinery. Danfoss sold its former domestic-compressor division in 2010; that business was renamed Secop. The company continued to expand in Asia, particularly China, where it added factories and treated the country as an important market. In 2014 it acquired Vacon, strengthening its position in variable-frequency drives and power electronics. Later activities increasingly included electrification, digital controls, data-driven energy management, and systems intended to reduce emissions from buildings, industry, transport, and mobile equipment. The modern Danfoss Group is a privately held multinational industrial business headquartered in Nordborg. Its principal technology areas include climate solutions, power solutions, drives, and related controls. The group serves equipment manufacturers and end users in sectors ranging from supermarkets and food logistics to district energy, factories, data centers, agriculture, construction, and transportation. Its strategic identity is closely associated with efficient control of energy, electrification, and engineering responses to climate and resource constraints.

• 2025

  Hydro Holding acquisition completed

  [1]Danfossen.wikipedia.org

  Danfoss Power Solutions completed the acquisition of Italian hose-fittings manufacturer Hydro Holding and incorporated it into its fluid-conveyance activities.

• 2014

  Vacon acquired

  [1]Danfossen.wikipedia.org

  Danfoss acquired Vacon, adding scale and technology in variable-frequency drives.

• 2010

  Domestic-compressor division sold

  [1]Danfossen.wikipedia.org

  Danfoss sold its former domestic-compressor business, which became Secop.

• 2002

  Joins United Nations Global Compact

  [1]Danfossen.wikipedia.org

  Danfoss joined the United Nations Global Compact and its principles on social and environmental responsibility.

• 1971

  Family foundation established

  [1]Danfossen.wikipedia.org

  Bitten Clausen established the Bitten og Mads Clausens Fond, which became Danfoss’s largest shareholder.

• 1968

  VLT frequency-converter production begins

  [1]Danfossen.wikipedia.org

  Danfoss began production of VLT frequency converters, establishing a major drive-technology business.

• 1964

  Hydraulics introduced

  [1]Danfossen.wikipedia.org

  Danfoss produced its first hydraulic component at the Nordborg factory.

• 1962

  Power-electronics production begins

  [1]Danfossen.wikipedia.org

  The company entered power electronics with custom-built rectifiers.

• 1958

  German factory completed

  [1]Danfossen.wikipedia.org

  Danfoss completed a production facility in Flensburg, Germany, supporting its international expansion.

• 1946

  Name changed to Danfoss

  [1]Danfossen.wikipedia.org

  The company adopted the Danfoss name.

Showing the 10 most recent.

A privately held global industrial technology group positioned around energy efficiency, electrification, climate control, industrial automation, and decarbonization.

• Refrigeration · 1933

  Danfoss refrigeration controls

  This category includes expansion valves, controllers, sensors, compressors, and related components used to regulate refrigerant flow and temperature. Refrigeration products serve commercial food cooling, industrial refrigeration, cold-chain, and air-conditioning applications.

• Heating controls · 1943

  Thermostatic radiator valves

  Danfoss thermostatic radiator valves regulate heat output from radiators according to room temperature. The product family grew from Mads Clausen’s 1943 invention and remains associated with room-level heating control and energy conservation.

• Variable-frequency drives · 1968

  VLT drives

  VLT frequency converters control the speed and torque of electric motors. They are used in pumps, fans, conveyors, compressors, production equipment, and building systems to improve process control and align motor energy use with demand.

• Compressors

  Danfoss Turbocor

  Danfoss Turbocor is associated with oil-free centrifugal compressor technology for commercial and industrial air-conditioning and cooling systems. The offering is designed for efficient, electronically controlled compression in large cooling installations.

• Electrification

  Danfoss Editron

  Danfoss Editron develops electric and hybrid powertrain technologies, including motors, generators, power converters, and system controls. Applications include marine equipment, off-highway machinery, and other vehicles requiring electrified propulsion or auxiliary power.

• Connected heating controls

  Danfoss Ally

  Danfoss Ally is a connected heating-control offering intended to let users monitor and adjust heating systems through digital interfaces. It extends Danfoss’s heating-controls business into connected-home and energy-management use cases.

• Mobile hydraulics · 1964

  Danfoss Power Solutions hydraulics

  Danfoss Power Solutions supplies hydraulic components, controls, valves, motors, pumps, and related systems for mobile machinery. Customers and applications include construction, agriculture, material handling, and other off-highway equipment.

• 2026

  French PM orders ANSSI to investigate supermarket refrigeration cyberattack

  French Prime Minister Sebastien Lecornu ordered France's National Cybersecurity Agency (ANSSI) to investigate a large-scale cyberattack that affected connected refrigerators at several major food retailers across France, according to a person in his office. ANSSI identified a vulnerability in software supplied by Danish company Danfoss, whose affected units were running outdated firmware according to the company. France was coordinating with European counterparts because other countries could also be affected, and authorities were assessing whether other French companies were at risk.

  Source

• 2026

  Danfoss controversy: Unprecedented cyberattack disrupts refrigeration at hundreds of French supermarkets, causing food losses and fires

  An 'unprecedented' cyberattack remotely triggered forced defrosting of connected supermarket refrigeration systems across France, raising fridge and freezer temperatures to as high as 50 degrees Celsius, destroying stocks of fresh and frozen products and causing fires at several stores. At least 300 Intermarche or Netto shops, more than 100 Cooperative U outlets, 80 Carrefour supermarkets, about 5 percent of Monoprix's roughly 490 stores and several E Leclerc stores were targeted or affected. Intermarche said affected stores would have to throw away all fresh or frozen products, and its CEO estimated losses of 'tens of millions of euros nationwide in a single day'. A threat-intelligence analyst said Spain, Portugal, Poland, Germany and Belgium were also affected.

  Source

• 2026

  Cyberattack disrupts refrigeration at French supermarkets, causing food losses and fires

  A large-scale cyberattack remotely triggered forced defrosting of connected refrigeration systems at hundreds of supermarkets in France, disrupting refrigeration from Sunday night, raising fridge and freezer temperatures to as high as 50 degrees Celsius, destroying stocks of fresh and frozen products, and causing fires at several stores. At least 300 Intermarche or Netto shops, more than 100 Cooperative U outlets, 80 Carrefour supermarkets, about 5 percent of Monoprix's roughly 490 stores and several E Leclerc stores were affected; Intermarche CEO Thierry Cotillard estimated losses of tens of millions of euros nationwide in a single day. ANSSI identified a vulnerability in software supplied by Danish company Danfoss, which said the affected units were running outdated firmware, and an analyst said Spain, Portugal, Poland, Germany and Belgium were also affected.

  Source

• 2026

  Cyberattack disrupts refrigeration at French supermarkets, heating fridges to 50°C

  A large-scale cyberattack on connected refrigeration systems disrupted hundreds of French supermarkets, raising temperatures to as high as 50 degrees Celsius for about six hours overnight, spoiling food and causing fires. Intermarche reported approximately 150 affected stores, Carrefour 80 affected supermarkets, Cooperative U 80 of roughly 2,000 stores, and Monoprix about 25 locations (5 percent of its approximately 490 French stores). Retailers discarded affected food to eliminate health risks; potential losses were put at up to €200,000 at a larger hypermarket, with Intermarche's CEO estimating tens of millions of euros in nationwide losses in a single day. ANSSI identified a vulnerability in software supplied by Danfoss, which said the affected units were running outdated firmware, and a threat-intelligence analyst said Spain, Portugal, Poland, Germany and Belgium had also been affected.

  Source

• 2026

  French prosecutors open cyber-crime investigation into supermarket fridge hack

  French prosecutors opened a specific cyber-crime investigation into an attack that disrupted supermarket refrigeration. The Paris prosecutor's office described the incident as a large-scale cyber-attack affecting the refrigerators of several major food retail chains across France. The investigation focuses on the cyber-crime aspects of the disruption to refrigeration systems used by supermarkets.

  Source

• 2026

  French prosecutors open investigation into supermarket refrigeration cyberattack

  French prosecutors opened an investigation into a cyberattack that compromised Danfoss AK-SM and AK-SC refrigeration-management systems across hundreds of French supermarkets on 11–12 October. CERT-FR confirmed numerous compromises. The perpetrators and the intrusion route remain publicly unestablished.

  Source

• 2026

  Cyberattack manipulates Danfoss refrigeration controllers across hundreds of French supermarkets, spoiling stock and triggering fires

  A cyberattack overnight on 11–12 October manipulated Danfoss AK-SM and AK-SC refrigeration-management systems across hundreds of French supermarkets; defrost and temperature settings were reportedly altered to as high as 50 degrees Celsius, spoiling fresh and frozen stock and triggering fires at some premises. CERT-FR confirmed numerous compromises, while the perpetrators, the intrusion route, and any AI involvement remain publicly unestablished.

  Source

• 2026

  Cyberattack disrupts refrigeration systems at approximately 700 French supermarkets

  A cyberattack disrupted refrigeration systems at approximately 700 of France's 10,000 supermarkets. French broadcaster BFM-TV reported that hackers forced refrigeration systems into continuous defrost cycles and raised temperatures as high as 122 degrees Fahrenheit, with damage including spoiled food and reported fires. France's national cybersecurity agency reported numerous compromises involving remote refrigeration control modules manufactured by Danfoss and Copeland in connection with the attacks. Store staff encountered hot freezers on the morning of Monday, Oct. 12, 2026, and French Finance Minister Roland Lescure told Parliament on Oct. 13 that about 700 supermarkets were affected and that the attack posed no risk to France's overall food supply. The Paris prosecutor's office said its cybercrime unit was investigating the attack. Danfoss said most affected systems in France were older products that no longer received software or security updates and that it was working with affected customers.

  Source

• 2026

  Unprecedented cyberattack disrupts refrigeration at hundreds of French supermarkets, causing food losses and fires

  An 'unprecedented' cyberattack remotely triggered forced defrosting of connected supermarket refrigeration systems across France, raising fridge and freezer temperatures to as high as 50 degrees Celsius, destroying stocks of fresh and frozen products and causing fires at several stores. At least 300 Intermarche or Netto shops, more than 100 Cooperative U outlets, 80 Carrefour supermarkets, about 5 percent of Monoprix's roughly 490 stores and several E Leclerc stores were targeted or affected. Intermarche said affected stores would have to throw away all fresh or frozen products, and its CEO estimated losses of 'tens of millions of euros nationwide in a single day'. A threat-intelligence analyst said Spain, Portugal, Poland, Germany and Belgium were also affected.

  Source

• 2011

  Refrigeration-compressor cartel

  Danfoss was fined in European and United States proceedings connected with unlawful coordination among refrigeration-compressor manufacturers between approximately 2004 and 2007. The conduct was treated as a competition violation that harmed customers through reduced competition and coordinated pricing.

  Source

Read more(11)

• 2025

  Acquire Hydro HoldingM&A

  Background

  Danfoss Power Solutions expanded its fluid-conveyance capabilities through an acquisition in the hose-fittings sector.

  Action taken

  Danfoss completed the acquisition of Italian manufacturer Hydro Holding after regulatory approval.

  Aftermath

  Hydro Holding was integrated as a separate business unit within Danfoss Power Solutions’ fluid-conveyance division.

  Source

• 2014

  Acquire VaconM&A

  Background

  Danfoss sought to strengthen its position in variable-frequency drives and power electronics.

  Action taken

  The group acquired Finnish drive manufacturer Vacon.

  Aftermath

  Vacon’s technology and operations became part of Danfoss’s broader drives and power-solutions activities.

  Source

• 2010

  Divest domestic-compressor businessM&A

  Background

  Danfoss restructured its compressor activities and separated its former domestic-compressor division.

  Action taken

  The domestic-compressor business was sold and subsequently renamed Secop.

  Aftermath

  Danfoss retained focus on its wider refrigeration, climate, controls, drives, and hydraulics portfolio.

  Source

• 2025

  Danfoss Power Solutions completes Hydro Holding acquisition[1]Danfossen.wikipedia.org

  M&A

  Danfoss announced completion of the acquisition of Italian hose-fittings manufacturer Hydro Holding after regulatory approval, integrating it into the fluid-conveyance activities of Danfoss Power Solutions.

• 2014

  Danfoss completes acquisition of Vacon[1]Danfossen.wikipedia.org

  M&A

  Danfoss acquired Vacon, a Finnish variable-frequency-drive manufacturer, expanding its power-electronics and motor-control business.

• 2013

  Danfoss expands Chinese manufacturing footprint[1]Danfossen.wikipedia.org

  Other

  The company opened two factories in China on the same day, reflecting the importance of China as a manufacturing and commercial market.

1. 1Danfossen.wikipedia.org
2. 2Danfoss official websitedanfoss.com
3. 3Danfoss managementdanfoss.com
4. 4French PM orders ANSSI to investigate supermarket refrigeration cyberattackdominicanrepublicpost.com
5. 5Cyberattack disrupts refrigeration at French supermarkets, causing food losses and firesgrenadachronicle.com
6. 6Cyberattack disrupts refrigeration at French supermarkets, heating fridges to 50°Cinfotechlead.com
7. 7French prosecutors open cyber-crime investigation into supermarket fridge hackbbc.co.uk
8. 8French prosecutors open investigation into supermarket refrigeration cyberattackeurasiareview.com
9. 9Cyberattack disrupts refrigeration systems at approximately 700 French supermarketssecurityinfowatch.com
10. 10‘Unprecedented’ cyberattack hits French supermarkets as hackers trigger fridge defrosting- Moneycontrol.commoneycontrol.com
11. 11Danfoss collaborates with Microsoft on IoTcoowor.com
12. 12Danfoss Introduces the New CO2 Valve CCMT Light for Small Format Storescoowor.com
13. 13Nelumbo Raises $14 Million In Series-A Fundingprnewswire.com