Dec. 4, 2025

This piece is sponsored by Sioux Metro Growth Alliance.

Think of a data center and it’s easy to picture massive buildings housing hyperscale facilities.

But a longtime South Dakota company is finding significant growth opportunities in the industry by creating structures on a much smaller and more rapid scale.

Thermo Bond Buildings was founded in 1987 in Elk Point to serve the early wireless and telecom industry with durable equipment shelters.

The Muth family acquired the company more than a decade ago and kept investing in quality, capability and people. That long-term commitment is why the company was perfectly positioned when the market evolved, CEO Bill Riley said.

“A few years ago, we saw the potential massive build-out of middle-mile fiber and the explosion in data demand,” Riley said.

“Customers who already trusted us for telecom huts started asking for larger, fully integrated modular solutions they could deploy in months instead of years. We listened, expanded our designs, and the modular data center side of the business took off, built on the same concrete shelter expertise we’ve had for nearly 40 years.”

Thermo Bond’s modular integrated data center shelters start with precast concrete walls that then are erected into a complete building and fully integrated inside with the technical solutions requested by customers. Clients then handle final installation of their server equipment.

“When I walked in the door in August, the company was already on a remarkable run,” said Steven Tims, who joined Thermo Bond as chief operating officer in August after a long career in IT and operations leadership at Raven Industries and Viaflex.

“The team had spent years earning an unmatched reputation for quality and speed in fiber and telecom infrastructure. All the success we’re seeing now is because of the foundation they built long before I arrived — I’m just here to help scale it.”

A typical modular building is 12-by-36-feet and is hurricane-resistant. “Increasingly, customers are combining multiple units in the field to create larger configurations,” Tims said. “The speed of deployment — often just months versus years for traditional builds — is what sets this approach apart in today’s fiber and telecom infrastructure market.”

Thermo Bond also produces a lightweight shelter option that does not involve concrete for various applications.

“Across the country, thousands of miles of new fiber are being laid, and these structures are typically needed every 50 miles to regenerate the signal,” Tims said.

While Thermo Bond works through intermediaries, many ultimate users of the modular data centers are Fortune 100 companies.

Thermo Bond continues to run its original facility in Elk Point, a plant in Elkhart, Indiana, and just over a year ago moved into the Encore Park development in Brandon, repurposing the former Hegg Modular building. The company recently announced it will be expanding operations to Beresford and expects to add more than 50 jobs in 2026.

“We see a lot of potential to continue to grow in the Sioux Metro area,” Tims said. “We love the workforce and feel like the talent is here to support even our extreme growth.”

The company now has more than 600 employees, including more than 200 new jobs added to the Sioux Metro area in just the past year.

“We hire a lot of assemblers, welders and electricians in our temperature-controlled facilities. We have also added various leadership and support roles, including project management, sales, drafting and engineers,” Tims said. “You can imagine shipping a giant concrete structure down a highway. There’s a lot of art that goes into that.”

Major customers continue to visit South Dakota to see the various production facilities, he added.

“Everybody that comes to one of our plants is just impressed at the process and our people,” Tims said.

The company’s success is indicative of the industry’s potential in the Sioux Metro area, said Tyler Tordsen, president and CEO of Sioux Metro Growth Alliance.

“This is an incredible under-the-radar success story that shows every sign of just getting started,” he said. “For communities like Brandon and Beresford, these are fantastic jobs with so much growth potential.”

Energizing Tomorrow

Thermo Bond’s success in the data center industry is one example of the economic development opportunities the energy field presents to Sioux Metro communities.

Take a deep dive into this fast-evolving field at the upcoming Sioux Metro Growth Summit from 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Dec. 9 at the Sanford Event Barn in Sioux Falls.

For details, visit here.