Racine's factory floors are about to get a lot busier. Modine Manufacturing's Airedale brand has locked in a long-term capacity agreement that guarantees more than $4 billion worth of data center cooling equipment for delivery between 2027 and 2029, along with an upfront payment aimed at jump-starting a production ramp. Company managers say the contract accelerates recent expansions of Airedale's chiller lines and effectively reserves manufacturing slots as hyperscale data center builders step up orders.
In a press release, Modine said it will guarantee capacity to supply more than $4 billion of Airedale data center cooling products for sale during calendar years 2027 through 2029 and has received $165 million in upfront cash to support capacity investments, according to PR Newswire. The news was also covered by the Milwaukee Business Journal, which emphasized the deal's implications for local manufacturing.
Capacity build-out already in motion
Modine has been scaling U.S. production for months. Last fall it opened a 155,000-square-foot Airedale manufacturing plant in Franklin as part of a roughly $100 million multi-year investment to boost data center output. That expansion and other North American site upgrades are intended to turn upfront payments like the one in this deal into real factory lines and new hires, according to Data Center Dynamics.
What Airedale makes that hyperscalers want
Airedale's TurboChill family of chillers, including air and water cooled models engineered for high capacity and low global warming potential refrigerants, is built for the heavy thermal loads of modern AI and hyperscale data halls. The product line touts high efficiency, free cooling capabilities and modular sizing that operators say helps reduce power use, according to Airedale by Modine.
Jobs and the Racine supply chain
The Franklin plant alone was projected to create more than 300 jobs by March 2026 and eventually house roughly 430 workers, according to PR Newswire. Modine's investor presentation shows the company operates dozens of manufacturing sites and employs roughly 11,300 people worldwide, a footprint industry watchers say helps it scale capacity quickly, according to Modine.
How markets reacted
Investors liked what they saw. Market coverage reported that Modine shares jumped sharply after the announcement, reflecting fresh revenue visibility for the company's data center segment. Coverage also noted that Modine received a sizable upfront payment that can be used to de-risk execution while the company builds out production capacity, according to Investing.com.
Modine did not name the hyperscale customer in its release, leaving industry watchers to focus on execution risks and the delivery schedule that starts in 2027 and runs through 2029. Analysts and trade outlets say the key question now is whether Modine can turn the headline figure into on-time shipments and long-term margin gains as AI-driven data center builds accelerate, according to Data Center Dynamics.
