Two shifts in data center design have turned structural steel into a data hall product. Liquid cooling brought coolant distribution units, pumps, heat exchangers and manifolds into the building, all of them mounted on fabricated frames and skids. And the labor shortage pushed builders toward prefabrication — electrical and mechanical equipment assembled on steel skids in a factory and set in place with a crane. Add the mezzanines, equipment platforms and rooftop dunnage that carry the heavy gear, and structural fabrication is now inside the walls, not just in the yard.
Have drawings for a data center build? Call 601.892.5017 or email collin.t@fabtekindustries.com — we quote to print and respond fast.
- The product family: CDU and pump skids, heat-exchanger frames, electrical equipment skids, mezzanine steel, equipment platforms and roof dunnage.
- Liquid cooling for AI racks made CDU frames and manifold supports a new, fast-growing category of data center fabrication.
- Prefabricated skids move days of site labor into the shop — the equipment arrives mounted, piped or wired, and tested.
- Spec drivers: equipment footprints and weights, lifting and transport loads, vibration isolation, leveling, corrosion class and interface dimensions.
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What these products are
- CDU frames and liquid-cooling skids — structural frames that carry coolant distribution units, pumps, heat exchangers, filters and manifolds for direct-to-chip or rear-door liquid cooling; often with drip containment and leveling.
- Mechanical skids — pump packages, heat-exchanger assemblies and chemical-treatment skids for the chilled-water and process-cooling plant, piped and wired in the shop.
- Electrical equipment skids — steel bases that carry a transformer, switchgear section, UPS module or complete electrical block as one liftable unit.
- Mezzanine steel — beams, columns, decking supports and stairs for the electrical galleries above data halls in multi-level designs.
- Equipment platforms and dunnage — rooftop and yard steel for air handlers, dry coolers, condensers and pipe racks, with grating, handrail and access ladders.
At FabTek this work spans custom build-to-print fabrication and industrial services, which installs process equipment and platforms on site.
Where they live in the data center
CDU frames sit in or immediately adjacent to the data hall, at the end of rack rows or in a cooling gallery. Pump and heat-exchanger skids live in the mechanical rooms and central plant. Electrical skids are set in the electrical rooms or, increasingly, outdoors as prefabricated power blocks. Mezzanines span above the halls in multi-story designs; platforms and dunnage occupy the roof and the yard. We mapped the spaces in What’s Inside a Data Center?
What's different about data center skids and platforms
Density and the liquid-cooling shift. A 100 kW rack cannot be cooled with air, so direct-to-chip liquid cooling — with CDUs exchanging heat between the facility water loop and the rack loop — is now standard for AI halls, and every CDU, pump and manifold needs a frame that holds alignment, manages vibration and contains a leak. The frames are new, they are numerous, and they sit inside the most sensitive space in the building. On the electrical side, prefabricated skids are how builders get around the electrician shortage: assemble the block in a factory, ship it, set it, connect it.
Liquid cooling put plumbing and structural steel in the middle of the data hall. Prefabrication put the electrical room on a truck. Both arrive on a skid a fabricator built.
What to specify
| Equipment & loads | Manufacturer drawings and weights for every mounted item; operating, seismic, lifting and transport load cases; deflection limits for piping and alignment |
|---|---|
| Material & members | Carbon steel tube, channel, beam and plate (A36 / A500 / A572); stainless for CDU frames or wet areas where specified; grating and handrail per code |
| Interfaces | Equipment bolt patterns, pipe and manifold support locations, electrical conduit entries, anchor layout, leveling feet or vibration isolators |
| Containment & drainage | Drip pans or curbed decks under liquid-cooling equipment, drain connections, leak-detection provisions |
| Lifting & transport | Lift points rated for the assembled skid, fork pockets, tie-downs, shipping-split locations for over-road limits |
| Finish | Powder coat indoors; hot-dip galvanizing for roof, yard and wet areas; stainless as specified |
| Scope | Steel only, or steel with equipment mounting, piping, wiring and shop testing; documentation and test procedures |
How they're fabricated
Structural members are cut, drilled and marked on robotic plasma; plates, pans and brackets are laser-cut; frames are fit on fixtures to hold equipment bolt patterns and squareness; welded to AWS D1.1 by certified welders, with full-penetration welds at lift points; blasted; and powder-coated, galvanized or left stainless to spec. For skids delivered with equipment, the mounting, piping and wiring happen in the shop, followed by a documented test before the skid is braced for transport. Mezzanine and platform steel is detailed, fabricated and galvanized like substation steel, then erected by FabTek’s own crews when the customer wants a single source.
The prefabrication trend
Prefabricated power and cooling blocks exist because the industry ran out of the two things a site needs most: skilled trades and schedule float. Building a block on a skid in a fabrication shop — where welders, electricians and pipefitters work under a roof with a crane and a test bench — then shipping it complete is faster, safer and more repeatable than field-building it. It also compresses the on-site critical path: the pad is poured while the skid is built, and the two meet on a single day. For fabricators this means the skid is not just steel; it is the platform an entire scope is delivered on, and the shop that can mount, pipe, wire and test in one place is the one that gets the work. We made the broader case in Single-Source Metal and Electrical.
Lead time and sourcing
Steel skids and frames are weeks of fabrication; the equipment mounted on them is the long-lead item. Order the steel against the equipment drawings as soon as they are approved so the skid is waiting when the equipment lands, and for prefabricated blocks, sequence the equipment delivery to the fabricator’s floor rather than to the site. Domestic fabrication within trucking distance keeps oversize skids affordable to ship and makes on-site adjustments a crew visit rather than a redesign.
FabTek Industries fabricates equipment skids, CDU frames, pump and heat-exchanger skids, mezzanine steel, platforms and dunnage, with equipment mounting, piping and wiring available on the skid to print for data center, EPC, electrical contractor and OEM customers — robotic-plasma and laser-cut, fixture-fit, AWS D1.1 welded, powder-coated or galvanized, and shop-assembled and tested where scope includes equipment — under an ISO 9001:2015 quality system with AWS-certified welding, from four production sites in Hazlehurst, Mississippi, shipped nationwide. Dedicated production lines with reserved monthly capacity are available for recurring volume, and our field crews handle on-site installation of platforms, skids and process equipment. Send us your drawings or call 601.892.5017.
Frequently asked questions
What is a CDU frame in a data center?
A coolant distribution unit frame is the fabricated structural base that carries the CDU, its pumps, heat exchanger, filters and manifolds for a liquid-cooled rack row, providing alignment, vibration control, leveling and leak containment inside or adjacent to the data hall.
Why are data centers using prefabricated equipment skids?
Prefabricated skids move the assembly of electrical and mechanical blocks from a labor-constrained site into a fabrication shop, where they are mounted, piped, wired and tested, then shipped and set in a day — compressing the on-site schedule and reducing the trades hours needed at the site.
What finish should equipment platforms and dunnage have?
Rooftop, yard and wet-area steel is typically hot-dip galvanized; indoor frames and skids are powder-coated; CDU frames and other wet-area components are often stainless. The finish should match the environment the steel will live in.
Does FabTek install mezzanines and platforms?
Yes. FabTek fabricates mezzanine steel, platforms, skids and dunnage and its industrial services crews install them on site, so the steel and the erection come from one source.
