LG Electronics plans to invest more than $63.9 million to build its first U.S. chiller manufacturing plant in Isle of Wight County, a move expected to create 164 jobs. The South Korean electronics giant will produce large-scale air-cooled chillers for industrial clients at a 352,000-square-foot facility inside the Shirley T. Holland Intermodal Park, with production slated to begin in the first half of 2027.
Governor Abigail Spanberger announced the investment and job creation plans on Wednesday, September 30, according to The Virginian-Pilot. The project marks LG's entry into domestic chiller production as the company works to meet surging demand for advanced cooling solutions tied to digital infrastructure across North America, the newspaper reported. LG's air-cooled centrifugal chillers are refrigerant-free and rely on cool outdoor air to reduce compressor cooling load, a design the company says helps conserve energy.
A Speculative Building Finds Its Tenant
The facility at 460 Commerce Center wasn't built with LG in mind — at least not at first. Developer W.M. Jordan Development broke ground on the $44 million speculative Class A industrial cross-dock building in April 2024, according to Commercial Property Executive. At the time, the surrounding Hampton Roads industrial market was gripped by tight inventory, per the same outlet's reporting on W.M. Jordan Company's own account of the project.
That scarcity helped drive speculative construction ahead of demand — a bet that's now paying off with LG's commitment. The site sits within the Shirley T. Holland Intermodal Park, a 1,200-acre publicly owned industrial complex in Isle of Wight County that already hosts more than 1.6 million square feet of industrial space, including World Market's 1-million-square-foot distribution center and Safco Products, according to the Isle of Wight Department of Economic Development. The park was developed in three phases by the county's Economic Development Authority, the department notes.
Tax Breaks and Port Access Sealed the Deal
Location mattered as much as timing. The 460 Commerce Center site carries designation within a Virginia Enterprise Zone and Foreign Trade Zone #20, offering tax and port grant incentives, the county's economic development office notes. It also sits roughly 35 miles from The Port of Virginia's marine terminals.
Don Kwack, an LG executive, said Virginia offers the workforce, location, and infrastructure needed to support the company's long-term growth, according to the state's announcement cited by the Pilot. LG Electronics reports annual revenues exceeding $60 billion and an international workforce of more than 75,000 people, with global headquarters in Seoul, South Korea, and North American headquarters based in New Jersey.
Part of a Much Larger Global Push
The Isle of Wight plant isn't an isolated bet — it's one piece of a roughly 150 billion Korean won global investment, or an estimated $105 million to $110 million, that LG announced Thursday, October 1, one day after Gov. Abigail Spanberger announced the Virginia project, according to The Korea Times. That spending also expands chiller production lines at existing LG facilities in Pyeongtaek and Changwon, South Korea. The outlet reports that global data center power requirements are projected to leap from 226 gigawatts in 2026 to 420 gigawatts by 2030, with 60 percent of that demand concentrated in North America — a surge driven largely by the heavy thermal output of high-density AI computing workloads.
To keep pace, LG is retooling its South Korean operations with automated single-conveyor flow-line systems at Pyeongtaek and Changwon by late 2026, according to The Elec. The system strings together assembly stages on continuous conveyors to boost throughput, letting multiple production lines run simultaneously. The Virginia plant is expected to support LG's broader Chip-to-Chiller strategy, which bundles large industrial chillers with coolant distribution units and direct-to-chip liquid cooling cold plates built for AI data centers, according to HVAC Insider.
A Rollout With Political Friction
Not everyone felt included in the celebration. U.S. Representative Jen Kiggans, who represents Virginia's 2nd District, released a statement on September 30 praising LG's investment in her district while expressing disappointment that Governor Spanberger's office had excluded her from the official announcement release, according to a statement from the Office of Congresswoman Jen Kiggans. The governor's initial release also quoted state and local officials, per that same statement.
LG's new chiller plant, built to cool AI infrastructure, arrives amid growing demand for advanced cooling solutions.
