Airsys, a global provider of mission-critical cooling for data centers and artificial intelligence infrastructure, officially opened its new global headquarters campus in Woodruff on May 13, 2026, marking the culmination of a multi-year effort to anchor the company’s corporate and manufacturing operations in Spartanburg County.
The 60-acre campus, situated in Woodruff’s growing industrial corridor along Highway 101, represents a $60 million investment and is projected to create 215 new jobs once full manufacturing operations begin in the first quarter of 2027. The facility is less than two miles from a BMW Group EV cell assembly facility currently under construction in the same corridor — a proximity that underscores Woodruff’s accelerating profile as a hub for advanced manufacturing.
Yunshui Chen, Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Airsys, characterized the Woodruff campus as a strategic foundation designed to serve the company’s domestic and international customers as AI and data center demand continues to surge globally. The site is intended to house engineering teams, corporate leadership, and high-density liquid cooling production lines, including customizable spray-liquid cooling components for high-density computing servers. The company has operated in South Carolina for more than three decades, previously headquartered in Greer.
South Carolina Gov. Henry McMaster attended the ribbon-cutting ceremony alongside Allen Smith, president and chief executive of OneSpartanburg, Inc., and Sara Hazzard, president of South Carolina Manufacturing and Commerce. McMaster cited the investment as evidence that the state’s workforce continues to attract companies at the frontier of technological manufacturing.
Woodruff Mayor Kenneth E. Gist said the opening adds to a string of economic development wins for a city that once had about 4,500 residents and is now expected to more than double its population by 2027. More than 6,000 new homes are either under construction or permitted over the next five years. Gist said additional economic announcements are anticipated before the end of 2026, pointing to new school construction, a new high school on track to open in August, and several downtown dining additions as indicators of the city’s trajectory.
Spartanburg County Council Vice Chairman and Economic Development Committee Chairman David Britt attended the groundbreaking ceremony in May 2025 and highlighted that Spartanburg County has sustained strong capital investment commitments across multiple consecutive years — including $4 billion pledged in 2022, $1.1 billion in 2023, and approximately $1 billion in 2024 — as evidence of the county’s sustained attractiveness to advanced manufacturers.
The Coordinating Council for Economic Development approved job development credits for the Airsys project. The council also awarded a $500,000 set-aside grant to Spartanburg County to help with site preparation and building construction costs at the Woodruff location. General contractor Choate Construction and architect LS3P managed the campus buildout.
Airsys specializes in air, liquid, and hybrid cooling architectures for mission-critical environments including data centers, AI workloads, telecom cabinets, and medical imaging systems. The company serves clients globally from 16 locations and employs more than 1,000 people. By concentrating its global headquarters and primary manufacturing in Woodruff, the company aims to shorten its North American supply chain and strengthen quality controls for customers operating critical digital infrastructure.
The opening of the Woodruff headquarters comes as Spartanburg County continues to navigate broader conversations about the role of data centers in the region’s economic future. County leaders earlier this year declined tax incentive agreements connected to a proposed $3 billion AI data center project known as Project Spero, citing the need for statewide regulatory frameworks before authorizing large-scale energy-intensive facilities. The Airsys facility, a manufacturing and corporate headquarters operation rather than a hyperscale data center, represents a distinct type of tech-sector investment — one focused on producing the cooling infrastructure that powers facilities elsewhere.
