Hewlett Packard Enterprise is putting $75 million into its Chippewa Falls operations over the next five years, a move state officials say will create 75 new high-skill jobs and expand the company's testing, warehousing and manufacturing capabilities at the site. The company already employs nearly 500 people there, and the fresh investment builds on an incentive relationship with the state that dates back five years.
The announcement, detailed by the Wisconsin Economic Development Corporation, comes alongside a new round of state support: Gov. Tony Evers announced that WEDC will authorize up to $5.1 million in performance-based Enterprise Zone tax credits for HPE's next project in the city, according to The Daily Reporter. HPE, based in Palo Alto, California, bought the Chippewa Falls factory from Cray; it acquired Cray, a supercomputer maker, for $1.3 billion in 2019, per reporting cited by The Daily Reporter.
A Five-Year Bet on AI and Supercomputing
Mark Bakker, an HPE executive, said the expansion will help the company meet rapidly growing demand for artificial intelligence and “high performance computing,” according to Wisconsin Public Radio. State officials similarly frame the investment as a response to surging global demand for AI and high-performance computing technologies, per WEDC. The new positions are expected to be high-skill roles, the station reports.
Evers struck a similar tone in his own remarks on the deal. He said the partnership with HPE and WEDC is ensuring Wisconsin continues to advance its position and is bringing in new, family-supporting jobs, according to The Daily Reporter. He also pointed to a longer-term push behind the announcement, saying his administration has worked for more than seven years to boost homegrown talent and opportunities for Wisconsin's workforce, per the same account.
Building on a 2021 Agreement
This isn't the state's first incentive package for the Chippewa Falls site. Wisconsin and HPE entered an Enterprise Zone tax credit agreement in 2021 worth up to $8 million in performance-based credits, contingent on HPE retaining nearly 500 high-paying jobs, according to a 2021 announcement from the governor's office. Under that agreement, HPE went on to invest more than $25.9 million in Wisconsin, create 120 new jobs and retain 486 positions, per WEDC.
That original 2021 contract has since been reworked. The WEDC Board of Directors amended the agreement in July, increasing the total available credits to $13.1 million and extending the contract by five years, the Daily Reporter's sourcing shows. The earlier phase of HPE's Chippewa Falls buildout also included a roughly $22 million investment aimed at modernizing the former Cray research and development facility, a project tied to plans for a Global Center of Excellence for High Performance Compute Manufacturing, according to Data Center Dynamics. That phase was expected to create 30 new roles at the facility, the outlet reported.
Manufacturing Footprint Already Growing
The Chippewa Falls site has carried real weight in the supercomputing world. Data Center Dynamics has reported that four large supercomputer systems for the U.S. government were being manufactured there, including the Department of Energy's exascale-class El Capitan machine. Separately, Chippewa County approved a developer's agreement for a 124,000-square-foot warehouse to hold HPE's manufacturing components, with the facility expected to employ 30 to 40 workers and designed to allow for future expansion, according to the Leader-Telegram. DHL Real Estate Solutions was slated to build that $6.5 million facility, with HPE as the eventual tenant, the paper reported.
Local coverage has long anticipated this kind of growth. Chippewa.com reported that the Chippewa Valley may soon see an increase in manufacturing jobs as HPE moves more manufacturing work to the city. HPE's website described the shift as “permanent.” With the newly announced $75 million commitment, that trajectory appears to be continuing, with the company and state both betting that Chippewa Falls will remain a key manufacturing hub as demand for AI infrastructure keeps climbing.
