Modine announced the start of commercial production on November 11, 2026 at a new 682,000-square-foot Airedale chiller factory in Grand Prairie, Texas, adding U.S. manufacturing capacity for data-center cooling equipment.
The purpose-built plant is dedicated to manufacturing 2MW and 3MW chillers with free cooling. The added capacity is aimed at hyperscale cloud providers, colocation operators and high-density AI computing environments.
President and CEO Neil D. Brinker described the launch as a milestone in Modine’s U.S. capacity-expansion plan and said locating capacity near customers is intended to support delivery of engineered cooling systems.
Staged Production Ramp at Grand Prairie
The initial production line is operating. Modine is targeting four operational lines by the end of its current fiscal year, subject to equipment commissioning, workforce readiness and other operational considerations. The facility currently runs one shift, with plans to scale systematically to three.
Modine expects Grand Prairie to become the largest Airedale chiller manufacturing facility in its global footprint.
Chillers sit within a wider Airedale portfolio that includes dry coolers, coolant distribution units and intelligent controls. Modine describes the systems as designed for complex, high-density thermal demands while maximizing energy and water efficiency.
U.S. Capacity Investment Behind the Plant
Modine announced the $100 million investment on July 29, 2025, with deployment then expected over the following 12 to 18 months to expand manufacturing capacity for North American data-center cooling products. The plan covered a new Dallas-area facility, an expansion in Grenada, Mississippi, and possible repurposing of existing Performance Technologies sites in Franklin, Wisconsin, and Jefferson City, Missouri.
It also included enhancements to engineering, product-development and testing capabilities, alongside new jobs and support for redeploying and retraining existing employees.
Eric McGinnis, president of Modine’s Climate Solutions segment at the time, described the expansion as a local-for-local strategy focused on regions where Modine was seeing the greatest demand.
Grand Prairie Site and Employment Plans
The City of Grand Prairie announced Modine’s site selection on October 14, 2025, identifying 2100 Refuge Way as the location and projecting more than 1,000 new jobs with an average annual wage of $66,760.
Modine cited the Dallas–Fort Worth location, transportation infrastructure, proximity to DFW International Airport, access to a skilled workforce supported by regional training programs, and cooperation with city staff.
The city’s original schedule called for groundbreaking in the fourth quarter of 2025 and operations in the first quarter of 2026. The announced production start came later than that initial operating expectation.
In the same investment announcement, Brinker set a management target for total data-center revenue to approach $2 billion in fiscal 2028. Grand Prairie turns part of that program into operating capacity; the scale of its near-term contribution to that ambition now rests on completing a ramp conditioned on equipment commissioning and workforce readiness.
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