AIRSYS Invests $40M in New HQ With “One of the World’s Largest” 3D Printing Factories

AIRSYS, a leading supplier of cooling solutions hardware, has announced that it’s investing $40 million to establish its new global headquarters in Woodruff, South Carolina, not far from its current base in Greer. The new 264,000-square-foot facility will include what AIRSYS says will be “one of the world’s largest 3D printing factories,” dedicated to the production of customizable liquid cooling hardware for high-density servers.

In addition to data centers, AIRSYS also has a foothold in markets including telecom, cooling, and air quality systems for schools, as well as battery storage cooling equipment. The company claims its data center cooling infrastructure can enable operators to lower their total cost of ownership (TCO) by up to 40 percent over a 10-year period, compared to conventional HVAC (heating, ventilation, and air conditioning) systems.

In its construction of the new facility, which is expected to come online sometime next year, AIRSYS will benefit from job development credits approved by South Carolina’s Coordinating Council for Economic Development. The company anticipates that its investment will ultimately lead to the creation of over 200 new jobs in the state.

In a press release about the investment and new additive manufacturing (AM) capacity, AIRSYS President Paul Quigley said, “Today marks a major milestone for AIRSYS as we break ground on our new global headquarters here in Woodruff, South Carolina. This investment represents the realization of a dream we have been working towards for many years: to establish AIRSYS’ headquarters in the United States. It reflects our long-term vision of strengthening our presence in America, expanding our innovation in data center cooling, and building a foundation that supports our customers, employees, and communities for decades to come. We are proud to deepen our roots in Spartanburg County and the city of Woodruff and honored to contribute to the growth of this remarkable region.”

AIRSYS was founded in Beijing in 1995 and established its global HQ in South Carolina in 2020, only four years after its initial expansion into North America. Its relocation to and subsequent continuous expansion in the US market are among a series of developments over the course of this decade, which signal just how significant manufacturing for the data center infrastructure market is in terms of its role in catalyzing reshoring.

And, with AIRSYS’ framing of its new manufacturing facility as “the world’s largest 3D printing factory”, the company confirms the argument that AM Research made in a report published in March, “AM for Data Centers: a 3D Printing Market Opportunity.” Notably, that report argued that the AM market for data center applications will see exponential growth through 2033.

It is also interesting to see this announcement made amidst the ongoing uncertainty in global trade dynamics instigated by US-China power-jockeying. Despite the minor thaw in tensions conveyed by American and Chinese leadership this week, it nonetheless appears that increased tariffs on both sides will be the reality for the foreseeable future.

At the same time, there is all the difference in the world between the preposterous numbers that had been floated prior to the talks and the still substantial, but far more realistic, rates that officials from the two countries have been referencing in the aftermath. It is a shift that could mean the difference between the destruction of the global economy’s underpinnings on the one hand, and, on the other, a genuine long-term recalibration of the geography of international supply chains.