LG Electronics to Build Chiller Plant for AI Data Center Cooling

LG Electronics said on October 1, 2026, that it will spend a total of USD 110.24 million to broaden its chiller manufacturing footprint, adding a new factory in the United States while raising output at two existing plants in South Korea.

The company frames the expansion as a way to supply complete cooling systems for AI data centers and to deepen its role as a "Chip-to-Chiller" solutions provider spanning components from semiconductor-level heat absorption to facility-scale chillers.

Windsor, Virginia, Site to Start Output in First Half of 2027

The centerpiece of the announcement is a new air-cooled chiller plant in Windsor, Virginia. The facility will occupy a 170,000-square-meter site with 30,000 square meters of gross floor area, and production is scheduled to begin in the first half of 2027.

Its output will be aimed squarely at AI data centers. LG tied the site selection to the geography of demand: more than half of the world's AI data centers are located in North America, and Virginia itself hosts a large concentration of data centers run by major technology companies. The company said the plant will give it a stable, responsive supply system for rising chiller demand in the region and act as a strategic base for its North American expansion.

Conveyor-Based Lines at Pyeongtaek and Changwon

The second leg of the plan involves LG's existing factories in Pyeongtaek and Changwon, South Korea, where the company is expanding its air-cooled chiller production lines. To lift throughput, LG is introducing a conveyor-based mass production system in which products travel through the manufacturing process on a single conveyor. According to the company, this arrangement enables more efficient manufacturing and allows faster responses to surging demand.

The USD 110.24 million investment covers all three sites, the new U.S. facility plus the Pyeongtaek and Changwon plants — and is intended to expand chiller manufacturing capacity in both countries in response to growing demand for air-cooled chillers.

From Chips to Chillers: A Full Thermal Management Portfolio

Beyond factory floors, LG is widening its AI data center thermal management business under its Chip-to-Chiller strategy. The product lineup includes chillers, Coolant Distribution Units (CDUs), and cold plates that absorb heat directly from chips.

Through what the company calls its "One LG" approach, it is assembling integrated AI data center solutions that range from chillers and Direct-to-Chip cooling to energy and data center infrastructure. The Direct-to-Chip liquid cooling solution circulates coolant straight to the chips that generate heat, forming part of the broader offering.

Market Growth Behind the Investment

LG grounded the expansion in third-party market projections. Citing global research firm Omdia, the company said worldwide data center capacity is expected to grow from 226 GW in 2026 to 420 GW in 2030, an increase of 194 GW, with 60 percent of that additional capacity concentrated in North America.

Against that backdrop, LG said the expanded manufacturing base in the United States and South Korea, combined with its integrated cooling solutions, positions it to meet the rising demand for data center cooling. The company also noted that as AI adoption accelerates, AI data centers have become critical infrastructure for large-scale data processing and high-performance computing, and that their stable operation depends on effective heat management, the underlying driver of its capacity build-out.