One Supplier for the Rack and Everything Around It: Fathom
We Were Building Rack Hardware Before the AI Buildout Made It Urgent
Fathom fabricates racks and hardware for data centers. We make the machined, formed, etched, printed and molded parts that hold all of it together, as well as the tooling your factory needs to assemble them.
We’ve got a proven track record in this fast-moving industry. Our Denver location has been fabricating server and data storage racks for years, including assembly and finishing. Our Austin, TX facility is helping local startups prototype liquid-cooling hardware for densely packed AI server racks.
What we hear from rack programs is consistent: The compute is secured but the schedule still tends to slip. Why? Because a bracket family changed with the coolant routing, the tray rails moved with the new sled, and the install kit for the next site wave was never quoted.
With our broad portfolio of manufacturing technologies, we can help you consolidate more of your build and help keep your data center projects on schedule.
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Structural and thermal hardware. Rack frames, panels, brackets, rails, thermal plates and manifold supports from CNC and precision sheet metal, with flatness, hole position and finish held where it matters.
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Fast iteration while the design moves. Additive fit-checks and CNC iteration sets while coolant routing, power shelves and tray geometry are still changing. We can also transition these components into pilot builds without a supplier reset.
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Factory and deployment enablement. Assembly fixtures, CMM and pressure-test fixtures, inspection nests, integration carts, protective packaging and kits labeled by site, rack generation and revision.
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Domestic and documented. Seven U.S. facilities under one quality system, ISO 9001:2015 certified, with lot traceability, revision control and inspection evidence on every order.
Send us a print. An engineer will review it for manufacturability before the quote goes out, so problems can be surfaced and solved now, not at first article. One contact stays with the program from prototype through deployment waves.
Hyperscaler-Grade Discipline, Without the Hyperscaler Queue
Most rack programs end up with one supplier for the cabinet, another for machined thermal hardware, a third for flat shields, a fourth for molded covers and a fifth for the fixtures and kits. Every one of them is a separate qualification, separate lead time and separate conversation when the coolant routing changes.
Fathom builds the rack and the hardware inside it. Our Denver, CO facility fabricates the cabinets, enclosures and cable trays; Austin, TX and Minneapolis, MN can machine the thermal plates, manifold supports and tray hardware; Newark, NY can etch the shields and shims; Hartland can print, mold and build the fixtures. One quote, one quality system, one accountable team. Four things make it work:
Domestic Manufacturing Across Seven U.S. Facilities
Mechanical content around compute, power and cooling stays onshore, with Fathom Edgeworks global sourcing used only for authorized, non-sensitive accessories once a design stabilizes.
Multi-Process Routing Under One Accountable Partner
CNC, precision sheet metal, photochemical machining, additive, molding, finishing, inspection, light assembly and kitting all done within a single supplier relationship. A second process doesn’t mean a second engineering relationship.
DFM, DFQ and DFE Review Before the Quote
Our engineers work through flatness and warpage, burr control, sealing-interface quality, thread and torque features, coating stack-up, cable routing and service access at print review instead of first-article rejection.
One Unified Quality System
Revision control, lot traceability and documented inspection across every site. Many of our facilities are ISO 9001:2015 certified. ITAR-registered facilities are available for secure and defense-related projects.
Your Data Center & Energy Infrastructure Team
Karl Satrum
Jake Delury
Bobby Youssefi
The Rack Got Deeper, Wider & Heavier. Every Bracket Downstream Changed With It.
Rack architecture is moving toward 48U and ORv3-style frames, 21-inch equipment bays, high-load structures approaching 1,400 kg and front-serviceable layouts. Each of those decisions ripples into panels, rails, stiffeners, adapter plates and latch hardware that have to be redrawn, requoted and requalified.
Fathom builds the cabinet and the structural hardware inside it, so a frame change and the twenty brackets it drives move through one supplier instead of four.
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Cabinet and enclosure sheet metal: Panels, doors, side skins, base plates, access covers and rack-mounted details can be fabricated by our Denver, CO and Ithaca, NY facilities.
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Machined structural details: Rails, stiffeners, adapter plates, mounting bars, guards and load-bearing brackets can be fabricated by our precision CNC shops in Austin, TX and Minneapolis, MN.
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Small turned hardware: Standoffs, spacers, bushings, pins and alignment details can be precision machined by our Elk Grove, IL facility, so the fastener stack isn’t a separate sourcing project.
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Fit and finish control: Hole-position and flatness verification, edge quality, coating consistency, repeatable assembly, packaging and inspection evidence tied to each revision.
The Cold Plate Passed Qualification. The Manifold Bracket Is Six Weeks Out.
Direct-to-chip cooling rewrote the mechanical bill of materials around the rack. Manifold supports, hose guides, leak trays, sensor mounts, service shields and flow- and pressure-test fixtures all became schedule-critical. As a result, small issues with flatness, burr, cleanliness or finish can turn into rework at exactly the wrong point in the program.
Fathom builds that hardware with the tolerance and documentation discipline it requires, so thermal validation keeps moving while the rack architecture stabilizes.
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Machined thermal hardware: Thermal plates, cold-plate blanks and prototypes, manifold blocks and supports and CDU brackets in aluminum, copper and stainless can be supplied by our Austin, TX and Minneapolis, MN locations.
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Routing and containment details: Hose guides, leak trays, sensor brackets, protective covers and service shields can be fabricated by our Denver, CO and Ithaca, NY locations.
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Flat precision parts: Photochemically machined shields, shims and burr-free flat components can be produced by our Newark, NY shop, one of the leading sites in the country for this technology.
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Validation hardware: Additive fit-checks, flow- and pressure-test fixtures and inspection nests can be produced by our Hartland, WI facility, with material traceability and dimensional inspection on qualification parts.
You Don’t Need Another Busbar Vendor. You Need the Hardware Around It.
Rack power is moving toward 48V DC shelves, rack-level busbars and higher-density distribution, and every one of those changes brings a new set of covers, shields, brackets and standoffs that must be burr-free, correctly labeled and dimensionally accurate around live components.
Fathom manufactures the mechanical and insulating hardware around your power architecture. Your team keeps design authority, certification and electrical validation; we keep the part families moving.
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Covers, shields and guards: Busbar-adjacent covers, insulating shields, terminal covers and connector guards can be produced in molded, cast and machined non-conductive materials from our Hartland, WI facility.
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Structural power hardware: Power-shelf brackets, cable strain-relief brackets, grounding hardware and access panels can be built using CNC machining and sheet metal fabrication from our Austin, TX and Denver, CO facilities. Precision flat and turned details: Photochemically machined shields and shims can be supplied by our Newark, NY location plus standoffs, spacers and bushings from Elk Grove, IL.
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Precision flat and turned details: Photochemically machined shields and shims can be supplied by our Newark, NY location, while standoffs, spacers and bushings can be supplied by our Elk Grove, IL facility.
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Documentation that holds up: Material specs where dielectric or flammability ratings are called out, burr-free edge verification, labeling accuracy, lot and revision traceability and controlled packaging.
Cable Routing Becomes a Manufacturing Problem Long Before It’s an Install Problem
Dense GPU racks depend on clean optical links, controlled bend radii and fast service access. The mechanical hardware that enforces all of it, including trays, combs, guides, filler panels and service covers, tends to get drawn last and needed first.
Get it wrong, and you’re paying for it in airflow, repair time and install quality on every rack at every site.
Fathom carries those part families as a group, so a routing change doesn’t scatter across five niche suppliers with five different lead times.
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Routing and management hardware: Cable trays, combs, routing guides, optical-fiber guides and strain-relief brackets can be fabricated by our facilities in Denver, CO and Ithaca, NY.
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Service and access details: Filler panels, service covers, quick-access guards, panel inserts and label carriers, with fit to rack datum verified against your drawings.
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Molded and printed details: Connector protectors, cable guides and routing aids in ESD-safe or flame-rated materials where required, built using the injection molding and polymer additive manufacturing capabilities of our Hartland, WI location.
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Kits, not loose parts: Cable-test fixtures and install kits assembled, labeled and packaged by rack generation and configuration, with revision tracking on every kit.
The Tray Holds the Most Expensive Hardware in the Building
Rack-scale systems concentrate accelerators, networking, storage and cooling into serviceable trays, where hole-pattern accuracy, warpage, latch feel and guide-pin fit decide whether a tray seats cleanly, survives shipping and comes out fast during service.
Fathom builds tray and retention hardware to the tolerances those interfaces require, with the same fixtures and inspection thread carried from prototype through repeat builds.
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Tray and sled hardware: Tray and sled prototypes, support plates, rails, retention brackets and thermal-interface supports supplied by our precision CNC facilities in Austin, TX and Minneapolis, MN.
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Interface and handling details: Latches, handles, guide pins, spacers, module guards, protective caps and shipping supports, with turned components provided by our Elk Grove, IL CNC shop.
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Fit validation: Additive fit-checks and urethane pilot parts from Hartland, WI, plus CMM and alignment fixtures so tray-to-rack fit is proven before a build wave is commited.
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Controlled short runs: Inspection-backed qualification sets and bridge builds with flatness and hole-pattern verification, ESD-aware handling where required and lot and revision traceability.
The Rack Ships in Six Weeks. The Install Kit Was Never Quoted.
Rack programs must assemble, inspect, test, ship, install and service repeatable hardware faster than traditional data-center work. The tooling and kits that make that possible are usually the hidden pacing item. A missing $12 bracket holds up a rack full of compute that’s already been paid for.
Fathom treats factory enablement as a product line rather than an afterthought, so your integration cell will never need to wait on hardware it was never scoped to build.
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Line and integration tooling: Assembly fixtures, alignment tools, workholding fixtures, inspection nests, cable-routing gauges and rack-integration carts fabricated using CNC machining and additive manufacturing by our Austin, TX and Hartland, WI facilities.
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Test and inspection hardware: CMM fixtures, flow- and pressure-test fixtures and load-check plates built with calibration-ready features and documented fixture revisions.
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Deployment and retrofit kits: Site-specific install packs, retrofit kits, service tools, field spares, shipping supports and protective inserts, packaged and labeled by site wave and configuration.
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Repeat accessory sourcing: Once a kit stabilizes, Fathom Edgeworks routes authorized, non-sensitive repeat accessories through the same accountable team and documentation thread.
Same-Day Answers From an Engineer Who Signed Off on the Print
Fathom isn’t a transactional machine shop. We’re not a broker sending you automated quotes and generic DFM feedback, either. Our human-first approach is what makes the difference for hardware that must sit inside a coolant loop, carry a rack’s worth of accelerators or come apart cleanly during a service window.
Our engineers review your prints for flatness and warpage, burr control, sealing-interface quality, thread and torque-critical features, material and finish pairing, cable bend radii, fastener access and service clearance. Manufacturability problems surface at print review instead of at first article or during a rack integration build.
That posture is what keeps a deployment schedule moving. A named program contact instead of a ticketing queue. An engineer on the phone the same day, not three quote cycles later. Revision management, lot traceability and inspection packages built into the flow rather than bolted on at the end.
So, when the coolant architecture changes, a GPU generation lands early or a site wave doubles, the hardware absorbs it instead of resetting your schedule. That’s white-glove service applied to infrastructure-grade manufacturing, and it’s why fast-scaling AI hardware teams keep coming back to Fathom.
Fathom Edgeworks: Built to Support AI Infrastructure Programs
Our global sourcing solution provides rack and data-center hardware manufacturers with access to an extended network of sourcing options through one accountable Fathom team.
Our domestic manufacturing capabilities are built to support AI infrastructure programs, from prototyping through bridge production to deployment-scale volumes. That includes everything from precision thermal and structural components to rugged enclosures and cable-management hardware, all matched to the right source.
What Every Data Center Infrastructure Program Gets With Fathom
You keep design authority over the rack and the systems inside it. We build the cabinet, the mechanical hardware it holds, and the tooling and kits that get it assembled and installed.
The Rack and What Goes In It
Cabinets and enclosures plus the thermal, structural, power-adjacent and cable hardware inside them, on one purchase order instead of five.
Seven U.S. Facilities, One Documentation Thread
Multi-site domestic capacity with second-source routing that doesn’t fragment engineering intent or restart a qualification.
Built for the Coolant Loop
Flatness, burr control, sealing-interface quality, material traceability and cleanliness reviewed before the quote, not after a rework cycle.
Factory Enablement as a Product
Fixtures, gauges, nests, carts, packaging and kitting, not just rack parts — designed per build station and per site wave.
Prototype to Bridge to Deployment Wave
One team and one documentation thread as volumes grow from qualification sets to site-wave kits and field spares.
Specialty Processes In House
Photochemical shields and shims, CNC machining, sheet metal, additive, molding, finishing and light assembly. All under one accountable partner.