From transformers and liquid cooling to structural materials and precision components, Ohio manufacturers are building the physical systems behind America’s digital and electrified economy.
AI begins with code, but it runs through a physical chain. Electricity travels from power plants across conductors and substations to the servers themselves. Fiber-optic cables move the data. Pumps, heat exchangers and precision fittings carry heat away. Steel, concrete, polymers and composites form the foundations and structures around it. Before any of that can happen, raw materials have to become components — and somebody has to manufacture them.
Every major shift in the American economy has presented a new challenge, and Ohio has always accepted it. Steel from Youngstown and rubber from Akron built industrial America. Dayton’s Wright brothers made powered flight possible. Cleveland inventor Charles Brush helped carry electric lighting across the country. Neil Armstrong and John Glenn helped America reach the stars.
Today’s challenge is manufacturing the infrastructure for artificial intelligence, automated factories, hospitals and a more electrified economy. The U.S. Energy Information Administration projects electricity demand will grow 25% to 50% by 2050, requiring 50% to 90% more installed generating capacity. That reaches far beyond any one facility — and Ohio can make the materials, components and production systems those markets cannot grow without.
The Supply Chain Is Already Here
In three years, JobsOhio and its partners have supported more than 20 advanced manufacturing projects tied to AI, power, cooling and critical electric infrastructure — across 20 communities, 16 counties and six JobsOhio regions. Those companies have committed to create 2,330 jobs, retain 4,151 more and support $558 million in annual payroll. Seventeen are domestic companies; manufacturers from France, Italy and Ireland chose Ohio for North American production.
Power and electrical equipment. Before electricity reaches a server, a production line or a hospital, it has to be transformed, switched, protected and distributed. LayerZero Power Systems is expanding production of static transfer switches and distribution units in Streetsboro, creating 535 jobs. Revere Plastics Systems is investing $111 million in Clyde on components for emerging aqueous zinc battery technology, creating 378 jobs. Schneider Electric is adding 250 jobs across its Butler County low-voltage distribution operations. Italian transformer manufacturer Westrafo chose Trotwood for its first U.S. plant, operational less than 14 months after signing.
Cooling and environmental systems. Concentrated electrical loads become heat, which makes thermal management part of the system itself. Steel & O’Brien Manufacturing is opening a West Chester facility for stainless-steel fittings, creating 230 jobs. Vertiv is expanding its Westerville global headquarters by roughly 210 jobs, and Danfoss Power Solutions is adding 40 jobs in Van Wert.
Structural materials and precision components. Large systems work only when thousands of parts meet exact tolerances. Integra Mission Critical is establishing an Akron facility for factory-assembled modular equipment, creating 150 jobs at average wages of at least $40 an hour. Ohio Gratings is adding in-house-designed automation in Perry Township, creating 60 jobs and retaining 528. Vanamatic is expanding precision machining in Delphos, adding 50 jobs.
Growth at Every Scale
Wallace Stud Welding began in Berlin Heights with one welder and one mobile rig. The woman-owned business is now adding a second unit, while international manufacturers build their first American plants a few counties away.
Ohio’s industrial strength does not reside in one marquee company. It lives in a statewide network: a transformer technician in Trotwood, a machine operator in Clyde, a machinist in Delphos, an electrical worker in South Point. The ultimate customer is not a building. It is the person whose work, health or livelihood depends on the systems inside it.
The Next Challenge Is Taking Shape
America is building two interdependent systems at once: the computing capacity behind artificial intelligence and the larger, more reliable power system required to run it. The manufacturing opportunity sits where those systems meet — generation, storage and grid equipment on one side; power distribution, thermal management, modular structures and precision components on the other.
Ohio already holds important pieces of that chain, from First Solar’s thin-film manufacturing and Ohio-made racking systems to energy storage and suppliers serving natural-gas and nuclear generation. That is why JobsOhio launched its $100 million Energy Opportunity Initiative — to advance natural-gas infrastructure, new power generation and the nuclear supply chain — while our Advanced Manufacturing team strengthens the rest of the system.
Come Build It With Us
Ohio offers one of the country’s largest manufacturing workforces, competitive operating costs, a deep supplier network and access to 60% of the U.S. and Canadian populations within a day’s drive. JobsOhio brings sector expertise, customized sites and incentives, and talent support.
If your company is developing the equipment, materials or production technologies behind that future, bring us your growth challenge — and come build it with us.
