Power Transmission, Data Centers a Driving Force Behind U.S. Wire & Cable Manufacturing

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Written by Eric Funderburk for IIR News Intelligence (Sugar Land, Texas)

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Summary

New power transmission and the medium- and low-voltage wiring used for power connections are a driving force behind construction investments in the U.S. wire and cable sector.

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A Growing Need

Utilities are scrambling to meet new power transmission needs as renewable energy projects come online, natural gas power plants see a resurgence in U.S. construction, and hyperscale data centers and other large-load consumers remain a driving force behind the need to move new power to new places. Both between and within those generation facilities, data centers and other large-load projects, electrical wiring is needed for in-plant connections and power distribution.

Behind all this stand the companies that manufacture the wire and cable used for these connections, be it overhead, underground or subsea transmission power cables or lower voltage wiring for in-plant uses.

Current Construction

One of the largest power cable projects underway in the U.S. was recently expanded in scope and comes from Hellenic Cable, a Greece-based cable manufacturer that is a subsidiary of a Belgian holding company Cenergy, which is itself part of Belgian industrial group Viohalco, which has holdings in cable-manufacturing and other metals-related businesses.

The European corporate chain aside, since late 2024, Hellenic has been at work on a new grassroot manufacturing plant in Baltimore, Maryland, geared toward power cable production. Land-based transmission cables are in the cards for Hellenic's new plant, and while the company had originally scoped the potential manufacture of subsea cables from the facility down the road, the systematic dismantlement of the U.S. offshore wind industry seems to have caused the company to change its tune, and Hellenic recently announced that it will expand the scope of the plant to include cable-insulation lines, allowing it to substantially increase the plant's land cable output. Hellenic is targeting an initial completion date next year. Subscribers can access details of the project, including construction timelines, key contact details, and equipment and service needs, by clicking here.

The distribution and interconnections needed between and within facilities are driving multiple U.S. projects geared toward the manufacture of low- and medium-voltage cabling. One company, LS Cable & System USA Incorporated, is actually expanding the scope of a line addition planned toward lower voltage cables into a broader project for overhead power transmission, although details are only just being confirmed regarding LS Cable's exact plans.

In the meantime, at its manufacturing plant in Tarboro, North Carolina, LS Cable is very much underway with its line addition adding capacity for the medium-voltage cable used extensively within the artificial intelligence (AI) data center sector. Work is expected to finish up next summer, when the company will broaden its focus on high-voltage transmission cable.

Wire and cable company Southwire is taking aim specifically at medium-voltage cables used primarily for power distribution from substations to communications or facilities with the expansion of its plant in Heflin, Alabama, including a new 340,000-square-foot building addition equipped and ready to begin production by the end of 2027.

Southwire also is just getting started on another construction project in the southern U.S. at its Starkville, Mississippi, plant, where a groundbreaking ceremony took place earlier this month for a planned 380,000-square-foot building addition. While Southwire hasn't elaborated on the voltage ratings and types of cabling that the new construction is targeting, the plant currently produces a range of cable products.

Future Construction Projects

While cable and wiring company Viakable hasn't specifically elaborated on what products an expansion of its plant in LaSalle, Illinois, is aiming for, electricity transmission and distribution are very much in the company's product offerings and will probably feature in the new equipment and systems planned for installation in 22,000 of new building space. Construction is expected to kick off next year and be wrapped up before the year is out.

Another company is preparing for the future of large-load power transmission and distribution: MetOx aims to manufacture its Xeus high-temperature superconducting (HTS) wire at a new plant in Chatham County, North Carolina. HTS wire can be incorporated into cables capable of carrying large loads of electricity of more than five than 10 times larger than conventional copper cables depending on the design specs, according the company, which is taking clear aim at both large-load transmission and hyperscale data centers sitting within a confined footprint. While MetOx's Xeus HTS wire represents the future of power transmission and distribution to some degree, it's not without its own headwinds as it must be cooled to extremely low temperatures to maintain its superconductivity.

About Fiber Optic Cabling

Fiber optic cable, a key component of data centers not covered in this article, represents a substantial amount of U.S. construction related to nonferrous wire and cable production that's not directly tied to large-load power transmission. Projects related to fiber optic cable were recently discussed in October 16 article - U.S. Fiber Optic Cable Construction Progresses Alongside Data Centers.

Key Takeaways

• Power transmission and the large-load power needs of hyperscale data scale centers are leading U.S. wire and cable manufacturers to invest in capacity growth and extended product offerings.
• Some of the largest projects on the books come from Hellenic Cabe in Baltimore and Southwire Company at locations in Alabama and Mississippi.
• Substantial spending in Maryland and North Carolina help the Mid-Atlantic region at the top of the leaderboard for electric cable and wire manufacturing investments.
• Fiber optic wire and cable represent another element of nonferrous wire accounting for more than $3.8 billion worth of planned investment.

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