After an extensive search for a new headquarters and its first manufacturing plant, data center cooling innovator LiquidStack has planted its flag in DFW. Previously headquartered in the Boston area, the company’s new 20,000-square-foot space in Carrollton can hold upwards of 100 employees.
After considering a dozen potential locations, the cost of doing business in DFW drove the selection. “Part of our manufacturing process and testing involves developing and manufacturing high-powered systems, so the availability of power and cost of energy was a main factor that attracted us to the area,” CEO Joe Capes told D CEO. “Additionally, this is a market that has a wealth of highly skilled engineers.”
LiquidStack specializes in controlling computer hardware temperature by circulating a liquid coolant through a dedicated system. LiquidStack has pioneered two-phase immersion liquid cooling and is currently developing universal cooling distribution units for direct-to-chip cooling. This method applies cooling solution directly onto the surface of a computer chip without the use of an intermediary heat spreader or heat sink. Additionally, the company has expanded its product offering to single-phase immersion liquid cooling in recent months.
“We’re seeing a huge scale-up in direct-to-chip liquid cooling driven by generative AI,” Capes says. “We’re seeing a proliferation of AI applications across multiple technology platforms, and I think AI is going to become embedded across our social mesh. We think that LiquidStack will be a huge facilitator of the cooling systems that support generative AI. We think AI is the future, and that’s what we’re facilitating.”
To date, LiquidStack has finalized two funding rounds. Its Series A raised $10 million, and its Series B round is undisclosed. Now that LiquidStack is in DFW, Capes says, “We are looking to do a supplemental B-plus raise to facilitate the expansion of our facility in addition to workforce and working capital. Our plan involves taking up additional space for logistics and warehousing as the year goes on.”
Spurred by its new facility, Capes says, “We’re projecting in excess of 100 percent growth in revenue in 2024. We’re also adding additional shifts to our labor workforce going into the year’s second half. So, it will be a huge year for growth in our business.”
LiquidStack has been contract-manufacturing through a partnership in Germany, but now has its first in-house production facility. “We’re excited about bringing those jobs to the United States, and specifically Texas,” Capes says.
Texas has emerged as a hub for data centers, with Aligned Data Centers, CyrusOne, DataBank, and others thriving in the region. In fact, data center vacancy is at an all-time low, at just 3.73 percent in DFW. “This is a market where companies desire to build data centers,” Capes says.
According to Cushman & Wakefield, Dallas ended 2023 with a total data center absorption of 386.12 megawatts. Shell inventory was more than 1.7 million square feet, total supply was 4.5 million square feet, available space was just 177,000 square feet, and more than 1.4 million square feet were under construction. The market is only set to grow as Oncor has committed to a multibillion-dollar capital expenditure plan to bring additional power infrastructure to the region.
LiquidStack is already striking local partnerships. The company has aligned with the University of Texas at Arlington’s Ph.D. and graduate student programs to spur innovation in liquid cooling technologies.
LiquidStack was founded in 2012 as Allied Control Limited and rebranded to LiquidStack in 2021. Its holding company is based in the Netherlands.
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