Caterpillar Inc. is reporting the biggest expansion of factory capacity in 15 years. After years of closing factories, laying off workers, and slumping sales of its earthmoving equipment, Caterpillar’s sales are now expected to grow from 5% to 7% per year over the remainder of the decade. These growth figures are fueled not by its traditional products, but by its fastest growing division—power generation and turbine generators designed to power data centers, crypto mining, and AI development.
Caterpillar is heavily involved in a large data center complex being built by Joule Capital Partners in central Utah. When completed in 2028, this complex is projected to draw 1.5 gigawatts of electricity. This is about one-quarter of all the power currently being consumed in the entire state. Managers at Joule know that the area’s power grid can’t supply that level of power, so the they are purchasing more than 700 natural-gas-fueled generators from Caterpillar. To keep these generators operating, Caterpillar will provide a small army of workers on site and the local Caterpillar dealership will have needed parts and entire replacement generators on hand.
