Three ex-SpaceX engineers are building a robot factory to make steel parts for AI data centres
Their startup, 1872, opened its first facility in Cincinnati this month. The goal: automate most of the steel fabrication process by 2027, starting with the frames that hold modular data centres together.
Key points
- Startup 1872 officially launched on 22 July 2025 with a factory opening in Cincinnati, Ohio.
- Three former SpaceX engineers founded the company, which uses AI software and robots to fabricate steel parts.
- The factory's first product is steel skids, rectangular steel frames that act as a moveable base for modular buildings.
- Primary customers are companies building AI data centres or small modular nuclear reactors.
- CEO Dan Summers says the target is roughly 80 percent automated operations by 2027, not necessarily 100 percent.
Three engineers who used to build rocket engines for SpaceX have turned their attention to something a little more earthbound: making steel parts, faster and with far fewer humans on the factory floor.
Their company is called 1872. It held a ribbon-cutting at its first facility, Factory One in Cincinnati, Ohio, on 22 July. The name is a nod to the year steel became a mass-market material, which gives you a sense of how seriously these founders take the history of the stuff.
What does 1872 actually make?
Right now, the factory produces steel skids. A skid is essentially a heavy rectangular steel frame, think of a large, sturdy pallet, that sits underneath a modular building and lets it be moved or repositioned. It is the kind of unglamorous component that every data centre or portable facility needs but nobody talks about.
The company is targeting two types of customer. First, the firms racing to build AI data centres, the warehouse-sized buildings packed with computers that run artificial intelligence. Second, developers of small modular nuclear reactors, compact power plants designed to be built in a factory and shipped to a site rather than constructed from scratch outdoors.
Both markets need a lot of precision steel work, delivered quickly. That is the gap 1872 is trying to fill.
How much of the process is actually automated?
Most of it, eventually. The factory uses AI-driven software to plan and coordinate production, combined with industrial robots that handle the physical cutting, welding and assembly. As first reported by Ars Technica, CEO Dan Summers is targeting roughly 80 percent autonomous operations by 2027.
He is not chasing 100 percent for its own sake. "We may achieve 80 percent autonomous operations, and we may decide that it makes sense to stop there because there's just diminishing returns to go to full 100 percent," Summers said. Practical, not dogmatic.
Think of it like a dishwasher. You still scrape the plates yourself, but the machine does the hard part.
What does this mean for ordinary people?
If you are a construction or facilities manager sourcing components for a data centre project, a factory that can deliver precision steel frames faster and at scale is genuinely useful news to watch.
If you are worried about factory jobs: the company has not published staffing plans, so that picture is not yet clear. Automation in fabrication is a real trend, and 1872 is an early example of what an AI-coordinated factory floor could look like at scale.
Common questions
Is 1872 a public company I can invest in?
No. 1872 is a privately held startup and has not announced any public funding rounds or stock listing as of its July 2025 launch.
Why focus on steel skids first?
Skids are high-demand, relatively standardised parts, which makes them a good fit for automation. Once the production process is dialled in on a simpler component, the factory can expand to more complex steel fabrication.
