‘This is a time to negotiate’: Recent AI data center deals signal boom for some Wisconsin businesses

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At least $46 billion worth of data centers are being developed in Wisconsin. One analyst told WPR some Wisconsin businesses are cashing in on the rush to develop these facilities in the state.

Earlier this month, Waukesha-based manufacturer Generac announced that it signed an agreement to provide backup generators for an unnamed hyperscale data center operator like Google or Microsoft. While Generac CEO Aaron Jagdfeld did not disclose the full amount of the deal, he told CNBC the unnamed data center customer provided Generac $650 million for 2027 alone.

This comes as Modine Manufacturing, a producer of data center cooling systems, announced at the end of May that it entered a $4 billion contract to provide cooling systems for an unnamed data center customer through 2029.

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Tom Kertscher is a reporter with Wisconsin Watch who has covered the burgeoning artificial intelligence data center industry. He told WPR’s “Wisconsin Today” that just three companies — Generac, Modine and the Milwaukee motor manufacturer Regal Rexnord — had already completed more than $1 billion in data center work as of March.

“There’s no question that if you look at stock prices, for example. Some of these companies have seen their stock prices go up quite a bit,” Kertscher said. “You can’t attribute all of that to data center business, but it’s certainly a big part of it.”

Both Generac and Modine’s stock price more than doubled since January.

Dijo Alexander is a professor of practice at the Lubar College of Business at UW-Milwaukee specializing in technology management, digital transformation and artificial intelligence….

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