LG Electronics is establishing its first US chiller manufacturing plant in Windsor, Virginia, while expanding production at two South Korean factories, committing KRW150 billion across the programme as data-centre developers increase orders for cooling equipment able to handle rising AI computing densities.
The Virginia operation will occupy around 30,000 square metres of gross floor area on a 170,000-square-metre site, with production of air-cooled chillers scheduled to begin during the first half of 2027. LG is also expanding existing plants at Pyeongtaek and Changwon, where it is introducing conveyor-based production intended to move chiller manufacture towards a more repeatable, higher-volume assembly model.
AI data centres are changing the thermal load placed on building infrastructure because high-density accelerators concentrate greater electrical consumption and heat output into each rack. Cooling equipment therefore has to expand alongside power distribution, transformers, switchgear and backup generation, while delays in any of those systems can restrict how quickly computing hardware can be installed and brought into service.
LG’s manufacturing programme is aimed initially at air-cooled chillers, which reject heat from a circulating water or coolant system into the outside environment. The company is also developing coolant distribution units and direct-to-chip cold plates, creating a wider cooling portfolio that extends from facility-scale heat rejection towards the equipment handling heat much closer to processors.
The new factories follow LG’s September launch of an air-cooled centrifugal chiller developed specifically for AI data-centre applications. Available from 480 to 600 refrigeration tons, the system uses an oil-free magnetic-bearing compressor and refrigerant free-cooling technology, while LG says it can restore full cooling capacity within three minutes after power returns following an interruption, placing restart performance alongside efficiency and nominal cooling output.
Manufacturing large chillers in Virginia alters the logistics around North American projects because completed units are heavy, high-value systems whose international transport can add time and cost to already compressed construction programmes. Local production gives LG a shorter route into one of the world’s largest data-centre markets and more flexibility when customers adjust project sequencing, equipment specifications or delivery dates during construction.
Virginia provides particularly direct access to demand because the state contains a dense concentration of major data-centre campuses. LG cites Omdia forecasts showing global data-centre capacity increasing from 226GW in 2026 to 420GW by 2030, with 60% of the additional capacity expected in North America; those figures describe forecast infrastructure rather than guaranteed projects, but they provide the commercial basis for adding manufacturing before every planned facility has secured power or entered construction.
Spreading the investment between a new US plant and established Korean operations reduces the amount of additional capacity tied to one greenfield location. Pyeongtaek and Changwon provide existing manufacturing infrastructure while Windsor establishes a regional production base, allowing LG to raise output through several routes as orders develop rather than relying on a single factory to absorb the full increase.
The conveyor system being introduced in Korea points to greater standardisation in equipment that has traditionally involved a substantial amount of stationary assembly and project-specific work. Sequential production can improve throughput and consistency when designs share enough common components and process steps, although data-centre chillers still require configuration around capacity, ambient conditions, redundancy, refrigerant choice, controls and the customer’s wider cooling architecture.
Those project differences prevent the manufacturing process from becoming equivalent to a high-volume appliance line. Core compressor, heat-exchanger, controls and structural assemblies can be repeated, while final configuration has to retain enough flexibility to match the installation without creating excessive engineering work or delaying commissioning once equipment arrives on site.
LG is presenting the expansion within a broader “Chip-to-Chiller” strategy that links building-scale chillers with coolant distribution and processor-level cooling hardware. Combining those layers offers a route into more of the thermal system around AI computing, although commercial success depends on the individual products integrating with pumps, controls, power systems and server hardware supplied by other companies rather than operating as a closed LG architecture.
The Virginia schedule now leaves a relatively short period for equipment installation, recruitment, supplier qualification and production validation before the first half of 2027. LG has not separated the capital committed to Windsor from the KRW150 billion combined programme, so factory readiness, output and delivery performance will provide clearer evidence of the US investment than the headline group figure.
Once production begins, the practical benefit of the regional factory will be visible through lead times, configuration changes, field support and the ability to respond when data-centre construction schedules move. LG is adding both manufacturing capacity and a broader cooling product range, with Windsor becoming the first test of whether that strategy can supply North American projects at the speed expected by a data-centre market still expanding faster than much of the infrastructure serving it.
