A decades-old air vent made by a family-owned factory in Michigan has become an unexpected beneficiary of the rapid expansion of artificial-intelligence data centres, with orders rising from small batches to consignments of more than 1,000.
Armstrong International, which has been owned by the same family for five generations, manufactures equipment for steam and compressed-air systems at its plant in Three Rivers.
Andrew Witteck, the company’s North American sales director, said the sudden demand initially left staff unable to identify who was buying the product or where it was being sent.
The vent, designed in 1972 when personal computers were not yet widespread, had generally been sold in batches of about a dozen. Earlier this year, however, Armstrong began receiving orders totalling 1,000 or more.
Witteck began making enquiries after an engineer who had ordered one of the vents through a contractor revealed that it was intended for a data centre.
“We got tipped off. It was [going] to a data centre,” he said. “That’s how data centres work. They don’t want anyone to know where they’re going, what they’re doing, how they’re doing it.”
Why the air vents are needed in data centres
Semiconductor chips used in data centres require specialist liquid-cooling systems to prevent them from overheating. Rather than relying only on air, liquid is brought closer to processors and other high-power components, where it absorbs heat directly.
The cooling systems still need to expel excess air, creating an unexpected role for Armstrong’s niche ventilation equipment.
“That was the biggest ‘Holy moly, this is insane!’ moment,” Witteck said. “It’s not like everyone and their brother makes an air vent.”
He believes many of the bulk orders may be destined for South Carolina, where a number of data-centre projects are being developed, although the precise locations have not been disclosed.
“People do a soft wink: ‘They’re going to South Carolina. You can easily go google data-centre projects in South Carolina towns…. You’re pretty much left to deduce with 98% positivity that it’s going there,’” Witteck said.
The surge has forced Armstrong’s Three Rivers factory to add a second shift. Demand for the air vents is reported to be 80 per cent higher than a year ago and is expected to increase further.
Chris Teddy, a data-centre director at JE Dunn Construction, described the wider challenge facing projects as “trying to put 10 pounds of stuff in a five-pound bag”.
Small suppliers and contractors have struggled to keep pace as AI data centres expand and alter their designs. The secrecy surrounding projects has added to the difficulties for Armstrong, according to Kyle Higginbotham, the company’s director of North American sales and marketing.
He said the lack of information about customers and destinations made it harder to find new buyers, adapt designs and plan factory maintenance.
“Orders of this magnitude, you would think people are working on them for months. All of a sudden it’s like, ‘Nope, we got it. Let’s ship it,’” Higginbotham said.
The vent was designed by Charlie Reynolds, a retired Armstrong engineer, who chose stainless steel instead of cast iron to reduce erosion.
Reynolds said he would be open to future developments at the factory, but added that when it came to AI data centres, “everybody around here doesn’t want them.”
