Today, Americans increasingly live, work and enjoy their free time online by using digital apps and tools. With more workers telecommuting from the home office, more students taking online classes, and the average household now having 22 devices connected to the internet, the need to process large amounts of data through the cloud is greater than ever. All of this is made possible thanks to data centers — the facilities (many of which are in Northern Virginia) that provide the digital infrastructure that is the backbone of our modern lives.
The servers that power the cloud generate a lot of heat while they support our collective computing demands 24 hours a day, seven days a week. To function properly, those servers need to be kept from overheating with large cooling systems installed on-site at a data center. Operating like the much smaller heating, ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC) systems found in your home, these cooling systems move warm air away from the servers and out of the data center through a chilled water loop.
In November 2022, we opened our first dedicated data center manufacturing facility in Rockbridge County, creating 70 jobs and investing $13 million to convert a warehouse into a new manufacturing plant that produces specialized chillers, which are the largest component of a data center cooling system.
In the 18 months since, Virginia has continued to be the world leader for data centers, and demand for our products has only increased. That’s why just last month, we announced an expansion to our Rockbridge presence, where we plan to add another 211 jobs and invest $18.1 million. This expansion will allow us to increase the size of the facility, expand our on-site R&D test lab and service team, and hire more skilled assembly technicians and production supervisors. Ultimately this all means producing more chillers, as future demand for our solutions will likely increase further as digital applications like AI enter the mainstream.
We hope this investment will be part of a long-term partnership with the commonwealth because we see it as an ideal location for us to expand. Finding qualified workers is a consideration for any business these days, but Virginia’s skilled workforce gives us a reliable labor pool for our operations. We’ve received significant support from the local community and elected officials, including Gov. Glenn Youngkin, Congressman Ben Cline, Virginia Sen. Christopher Head, Virginia Del. Terry Austin, and across Rockbridge County local government. Operating this facility in Virginia also means we’re closer to our customers, which makes it easier to demonstrate our technology in person while also reducing the length of our supply chains and limiting environmental impacts.
For a company that was founded decades ago to cool computer server rooms in the U.K., Airedale by Modine has come a long way, and our progress in Virginia — the state I am proud to have made my home — over the past two years is testament to that. Given Modine’s established relationships with the local community and our world-class data center solutions, in some ways we’re not surprised by our progress, but we’re extremely excited and committed to seeing it continue. We’re grateful to have been welcomed to the commonwealth and look forward to even greater success in the future together.
Rob Bedard is the general manager of North America Data Centers for Airedale by Modine.