St. Pete tech giant to invest $500M in new US facility

St. Petersburg-based technology giant Jabil announced Tuesday morning it is planning to invest about $500 million to support its artificial intelligence and cloud data center infrastructure.

Jabil CEO Mike Dastoor, in a statement, says the multiyear investment is “a key element of our long-term strategy to diversify our commercial portfolio and strengthen Jabil’s presence in the U.S.”

While the announcement is short on exact details, a Jabil spokesperson in an email says that the investment is for a single facility to be built in the Southeast. Jabil is in the final stages of site selection and expects the facility to be fully operational by the midway point of next year. It is an investment over several years, the spokesperson adds. 

Jabil’s Executive Vice President of Global Business Units Matt Crowley says of the new facility that to secure AI’s future in the U.S., “it is crucial to build the hardware that powers AI domestically.”

“Domestic manufacturing isn’t just an economic priority; it’s a matter of national security.”

The company says in the statement that this latest investment builds on its purchase last year of Mikros Technologies, which makes liquid cooling solutions for thermal management.

Liquid cooling has become an energy-efficient alternative to air cooling as the adoption of artificial intelligence, energy storage and electric vehicles drives higher-power density systems across consumer and commercial industries, the company said when it bought the company.

Mikros services several industries, including AI data center infrastructure, energy storage and semiconductor testing.

Jabil also released its third quarter earnings report Tuesday. Its revenue for the quarter was up 15.7% to $7.8 billion when compared with the same period last year.