Irish Firm Opens Dallas HQ to Power AI Infrastructure Boom

H&MV Engineering, a Limerick-based firm specializing in high-voltage systems, announced Thursday the opening of its new headquarters at 3131 McKinney Ave. in Uptown Dallas. The company plans to add 1,000 jobs over the next five years, focusing on engineering, construction, and project delivery. This expansion is a direct response to the surging demand for electrical capacity driven by the global build-out of hyperscale data centers.

The move underscores a critical bottleneck in the technology sector: while AI models grow in complexity, the physical grid must expand to support their energy needs. H&MV designs and builds the substations and grid connections that allow data centers to access high-voltage power. As CEO P.J. Flanagan noted, the opportunity extends beyond just AI, with broader investments in renewables and battery storage also driving demand for this specialized infrastructure.

Revenue growth mirrors grid expansion

The company’s financial trajectory reflects the scale of this industry shift. H&MV’s revenue has grown from $70 million in 2020 to over $1 billion today. The firm currently has more than 24 gigawatts of projects in design and construction globally, representing a $2.3 billion order book and an $18.6 billion pipeline. This growth is fueled by the urgent need to connect new compute facilities to the electrical grid, a task that requires specialized high-voltage expertise.

To fund its U.S. expansion, H&MV secured a €750 million investment led by European private equity firm Exponent. The deal, which closed in August, valued the company at €1.4 billion. The investment also brought in new partners, including Apollo S3, Pantheon, and SQ Capital. This capital injection supports the company’s goal of reaching $3.5 billion in annual revenue within five years, positioning it as a key player in the global energy infrastructure market.

Dallas chosen for talent and proximity

Dallas-Fort Worth was selected as the headquarters location due to its status as a top data center market and its deep pool of engineering and construction talent. Ken Gilmartin, H&MV’s executive vice president for the U.S., explained that the location places the company close to major growth markets and customers. The firm is already active in Texas and Louisiana, and the new hub will serve as a base for delivering complex power infrastructure projects across the country.

This expansion is part of a broader trend of international firms entering the U.S. data center infrastructure space. H&MV, which employs over 1,900 people globally, recently acquired Cooke Power Services to bolster its substation construction capabilities. The company’s strategy aligns with other major deals in the sector, such as the acquisition of GDT by UK-based Softcat. As the race to deploy AI infrastructure accelerates, the focus is shifting from software to the physical systems that keep it running.

Infrastructure remains the primary constraint

The catch in this rapid growth is that power infrastructure is a long-lead, capital-intensive endeavor. Unlike software, which can be updated quickly, building high-voltage substations and grid connections takes time and requires specialized labor. H&MV’s expansion aims to alleviate this bottleneck by increasing its delivery capacity in the U.S. While the demand for AI compute is immediate, the physical grid expansion that supports it is a slower, more complex process. The company’s new Dallas headquarters is a bet that this infrastructure gap represents a durable and significant market opportunity.