LG Electronics has signed a long-term agreement to supply chillers for more than 5 gigawatts of AI data center capacity in North America, The Korea Herald reported Monday. The buyer is AIR Control Concepts, a Virginia-based group of mechanical and electrical contractors that works on large data center builds.

What Happened

AIR Control Concepts, headquartered in Norfolk, Virginia, is a network of HVAC, electrical, service and controls companies that supports major data center projects for large operators. Under the multiyear program, LG will provide chillers for data centers AIR works on in the U.S. and Canada. Neither company disclosed the financial value of the agreement or a delivery schedule.

LG said the arrangement gives it a steadier stream of business than competing for individual projects one bid at a time, and strengthens its position in the North American data center supply chain. The two companies are also discussing adding coolant distribution units, the equipment that circulates liquid coolant to server racks in liquid-cooled systems, but that part has not been finalized.

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The product at the center of the deal is LG's air-cooled centrifugal chiller with refrigerant free cooling. When outdoor temperatures are low enough, the system uses that cooler air to take load off its compressors, which are typically the largest energy draw in a chiller.

Why It Matters

Cooling has become one of the main constraints on AI data center construction. Racks filled with AI accelerators draw far more power than conventional servers, and nearly all of that power ends up as heat that chillers and other equipment must remove. Equipment that cuts cooling energy frees up more of a site's limited grid connection for computing.

LG's efficiency claim comes with caveats the company spelled out. Its internal simulations found annual energy use about 30% lower than a waterside free-cooling system, but that figure assumed a single unit running at full cooling capacity in Seoul-area climate conditions. LG said actual savings will depend on the installation and how it is operated, and North American sites span very different climates.

Scale is the other draw. A commitment covering more than 5 gigawatts of capacity, through a contractor that serves multiple operators, gives LG a channel into many projects at once instead of one site at a time.

Context

LG's AI data center cooling orders topped 600 billion won in the first half of the year, according to the report. The company now expects to reach its target of 1 trillion won in annual chiller revenue before the end-2027 deadline it had set. LG said it began supplying and installing cooling equipment this year for a large North American AI data center project it had already won, and it is pursuing data center work in the Middle East and Indonesia.

James Lee, president of LG's ES Company, which houses its heating, cooling and energy business, said LG aims to become a major player in the global market for AI data center cooling. AIR Chief Executive Brad Hobbs said LG's chillers give his company a dependable platform to deploy across its AI data center portfolio as customers expand.

What to Watch

Signs to watch include whether the coolant distribution unit supply is finalized, which would move LG into liquid cooling for the same projects, and any disclosure of the contract's value or first deliveries. LG's progress toward its 1 trillion won chiller goal and its projects in the Middle East and Indonesia will show how far the data center push extends beyond North America.