Hitachi Begins Construction on US$457m Virginia Facility

Hitachi Energy has officially begun building a state-of-the-art power transformer plant in South Boston, Virginia, aimed at boosting domestic energy production.

This will introduce new job opportunities across the county, as well as build a more resilient domestic supply chain.

This is a part of Hitachi's wider commitment to US-based manufacturing – a trend which has picked up pace in recent years. 

Current construction goals

Representing an expansion of Hitachi Energy's current operations, this new US$457m project is being hailed as the country's largest manufacturing site for power transformers. The facility's output will be essential for reinforcing the national electric grid, providing critical support for data centres, industrial clients and power generation and transmission infrastructure throughout the US.

The new centre currently supports 850 employees and is projected to generate an additional 825 jobs within Halifax County, Virginia. This US$457m project constitutes a significant portion of the organisation's broader US$1bn commitment to increasing energy manufacturing across the United States.

Greg Callahan, Head of Hitachi Energy’s Transformer Business in North America, explains: “Every transformer that comes out of this facility is built by our skilled Virginia workforce, helping power communities across the country.

“With 825 new jobs to come, this expansion marks the continuation of our long-term commitment to South Boston and our local workforce.”

Mark Warner (D-VA), US Senator, adds: “Today’s groundbreaking is a testament to the work this region has done to make itself an attractive place for economic development, and this project will create opportunities in the region that extend well beyond today’s announcement.

“Hitachi Energy’s investment further solidifies the region’s reputation as a global leader in transformer manufacturing and will help ensure that our nation can generate, deliver and secure the reliable electricity and grid infrastructure needed to power our economy for decades to come. Thank you to everyone who worked hard to get this done.” 

Expanding opportunity

“For more than five decades, this site has been a cornerstone of Halifax County’s economy, and today, Hitachi Energy builds on that proud legacy,” says Carrie Chenery, Virginia Secretary of Commerce and Trade.

“From its beginnings as a Westinghouse site in 1968, this plant has never stopped delivering high-quality products to customers and meaningful careers to Virginians. With new housing, expanded opportunity and continued investment, Southern Virginia is positioned for the next generation of growth.”

In 2024, Hitachi Construction Machinery partnered with Oracle Cloud to restructure its business operations for future AI integration. 

Noriko Momoki, Senior Officer and President of the DX Promotion Group at Hitachi Construction Machinery, explained the decision: 

“OCI is the only public cloud that can securely migrate mission-critical databases running on Oracle Exadata and VMware virtualisation environments. 

“This means we can migrate quickly without configuration changes and reduce costs. Other clouds would have increased our costs due to having to rebuild applications.”

Through the collaboration, Oracle handles all accounting, development, production, design, sales, parts management, export, human resources and services.