Vertiv to expand Slovakia plant for AI cooling demand

Vertiv will expand its campus in Nové Mesto nad Váhom, Slovakia, adding about 22,000 square metres of manufacturing space.

The extra capacity is intended to increase production of power, switchgear and thermal management equipment, including liquid cooling and power systems used in dense artificial intelligence and high-performance computing installations across Europe, the Middle East and Africa.

Work will take place over the next 18 to 24 months as part of a wider build-out of Vertiv's manufacturing base. The company has also expanded facilities in Ireland, Italy, Croatia, Malaysia, Mexico and the United States.

The Slovak site is expected to play a larger role in supplying infrastructure for data centres and other digital operations that require power and cooling equipment. Vertiv plans to develop the campus into a more integrated manufacturing and technology site, bringing engineering and production functions together.

This structure is intended to improve the company's response to customised orders and support its regional supply chain. Demand for digital infrastructure has been rising across cloud, colocation, enterprise and AI-related markets, the group said.

Regional demand

The expansion reflects a broader push by suppliers to increase production of equipment used in AI computing environments, where higher rack densities and heat loads have raised demand for specialist cooling and electrical systems. Liquid cooling has become a growing area of investment as operators seek to manage the energy and thermal requirements of advanced computing systems.

Vertiv linked the Slovak investment to customer demand in EMEA, where businesses and service providers are building new data centre capacity and adapting existing sites for more intensive AI workloads. It added that speed of deployment has become a more important consideration for customers rolling out such systems.

"As AI and other critical digital applications increase in the region, we continue to invest in our manufacturing capabilities across EMEA," said Paul Ryan, President of Vertiv in EMEA.

"The expansion of Nové Mesto nad Váhom will enhance our ability to support customers deploying increasingly critical digital infrastructure while further strengthening our capabilities for next-generation AI and high-performance computing applications.

"As organisations accelerate AI adoption, speed of deployment has become a critical competitive advantage. Reducing time-to-token, the time required to move from infrastructure deployment to business value generated by AI workloads, is becoming a key priority for customers. This investment further strengthens Vertiv's ability to help bring critical power and cooling capacity online faster and at scale," Ryan said.

Jobs impact

The project is expected to create hundreds of jobs between 2027 and 2029, spanning manufacturing, engineering, operations, supply chain, quality, technical and leadership functions.

Vertiv also plans to support the expansion with employee training and professional development, while adding programmes focused on recruitment, workforce mobility and community development in the surrounding region.

Nové Mesto nad Váhom is one of the group's established manufacturing locations in Europe, and the latest investment suggests it will become a more central production base for products tied to AI-related infrastructure demand. The campus model also points to closer alignment between design, technical and factory operations at the site.

Chris Hales, Vice President of Operations EMEA at Vertiv, outlined the facility's longer-term role.

"We envision Nové Mesto nad Váhom as a world-class manufacturing campus where people, technology, and innovation come together to serve some of the most technically advanced customers and demanding applications in the market," said Hales.

"This investment will strengthen our industrial capabilities while creating an environment where talent can grow, innovation can flourish, and operational excellence can thrive," he added.