Carrier - the first air conditioner in the world

The first practically working air conditioner was developed by Dr Willis Carrier in Buffalo, New York, USA in 1902.

In the following years, he made several important discoveries within air treatment, humidity and temperature that made it possible to design air-conditioning systems to precisely fit the requirements at hand.

In 1915, Dr Carrier and seven fellow engineers pooled together their life savings to form the Carrier Engineering Corporation in New York.

Three decades later, in 1932, Carrier air-conditioning made its debut in Singapore, when United Engineers installed the first Carrier unit at the Chinese Club.

Since then, Carrier's blue, oval logo is well known in Singapore and has become synonymous with quality air-conditioning.

Establishment and Growth

In 1954, Carrier entered a joint venture with local businessmen to form International Airconditioning Company Limited (IAC Limited) to distribute and service air-conditioning equipment in Singapore, Malaysia and the region.

In the ‘50s, air-conditioning systems became more popular in Singapore, with the pioneering installations in Robinson's former store at Raffles Place, at Radio Singapore and at Tai Thong Restaurant.

The Elizabeth Grill at Raffles Hotel and the Adelphi Grill followed suit. Carrier also installed air-conditioning in some of Singapore's landmark buildings: the Hong Kong Bank at Collyer Quay, the Bank of China Building and the Goodwood Park Hotel, as well as in the main government buildings and the Supreme Court.

Consolidation of Operations

In 1962, IAC Limited was reorganised into three companies in Singapore, Malaysia and Hong Kong. In 1971, IAC Limited was listed on the Stock Exchanges in Singapore and Malaysia.

With the boom in the construction industry, the ‘70s saw a record number of Carrier installations. International companies’ headquarters, such as Philips, Hewlett-Packard and Siemens, were cooled by Carrier.

Leading hotels like Marco Polo, Pavilion Intercontinental Hotel and the Royal Holiday Inn chose Carrier. The A&W fast food chains also used Carrier air-conditioning.

In 1976, Carrier acquired IAC limited, and in 1979, IAC (Singapore) changed its name to Carrier (Singapore) Pte Ltd.

Industry Leader

Carrier has remained the industry leader in Singapore over the past six decades.

Landmark buildings in Singapore like Singapore Changi Airport, Marina Square, Raffles City, Suntec City, and Singapore Expo all chose Carrier for cool comfort.

In 1999, Carrier integrated Toshiba’s air-conditioning division and started marketing and servicing all Toshiba air-conditioning systems as well.

According to Singapore Top 1000, an annual survey of the top 1000 locally incorporated companies, Carrier Singapore has ranked first in the air-conditioning industry in terms of revenue, income, shareholders' funds and assets since 1987.

Advanced Technology

Carrier is the only company in Singapore that provides a full range of air-conditioning equipment for residential, commercial and industrial use.

On the technology front, Carrier leads the field with 20 design and engineering centres worldwide developing solutions to constantly match the practical needs of its millions of customers.

This is proven by Carrier being the preferred choice of international airports in major cities in Asia such as Singapore, Xiamen (China), Taipei (Taiwan), Hong Kong, Bangkok (Thailand), Kuala Lumpur (Malaysia), Bali (Indonesia), Manila (Philippines), Macau, and Cairns, Sydney and Melbourne (Australia).

Residential Sector

We have also developed customised products according to market needs. This is most evident in our designed-for-HDB units.

Here, we have developed our existing systems to create new products. Our System 6 is an innovation specifically designed to cool up to 6 rooms at one time. Our Intelligent Energy Saving Multi-system is built around variable speed compressor technology, giving significant energy savings.

A Short Timeline