WED AM News: Boldt Co. aims to play active role in state’s data center development; Atrility Medical developing AI platform for better cardiac monitoring

August 27, 2025

— The Boldt Company aims to play an active role in data center development in Wisconsin as the state attracts attention from developers and more of these projects arise.

Dale Lewis, the Appleton-based company’s recently appointed director of data centers, yesterday discussed the path ahead for Boldt’s new division focused on this sector. He previously worked for Microsoft as the tech company’s director of construction for its campus in Mount Pleasant.

“It’s an emerging market sector that’s very hot right now, volatile in its growth,” he said yesterday. “There’s a lot of cash being injected into this market sector on a global scale, and Wisconsin is starting to gain the attention of data center developers, and is rapidly becoming a hotter market.”

Before joining Microsoft, Lewis had been working for Walsh Construction, the primary general contractor for the first phase of the company’s Mount Pleasant project. He was then recruited by Microsoft to lead construction for that project, and was connected with Boldt as the general contractor was doing structural steel, concrete work and more for the campus.

While Boldt has worked on smaller data center projects across the country, Lewis noted the Microsoft campus was the first of its kind given its large scale and focus on AI.

“As Wisconsin becomes more and more attractive to developers, for whatever reason, Boldt being a large contractor in the state wants to make sure that we participate in Wisconsin’s growth and help guide the industry through our collective expertise,” he said.

He noted the state has seven “hyperscale” data center projects either proposed or scheduled for construction.

“Boldt’s intent with standing up this division is to play an active role in some of that development, so we’re out pursuing and building relationships with developers, having those conversations on how Boldt could offer value,” Lewis said.

Typical campus-style data center projects are energy-intensive installations that require working with the local utility to develop substations to power them, he said. But he added the industry is evolving rapidly, with some centers leaning more on renewable and low-emission energy sources. Others are looking to generate their own energy, Lewis said, noting small modular reactors are one avenue for leveraging nuclear energy to power data centers.

“But for the interim right now, over the next couple of years, the reliance on the local utility is paramount for data center development,” he said.

Meanwhile, data center designers are “getting more creative” in minimizing their projects’ impact on both infrastructure and ecology, Lewis said. Along with SMRs, carbon-neutral fuel cells and low-CO2 natural gas power plants, he noted data centers are exploring closed-loop cooling systems.

“We are getting away from impacting local resources like water,” he said, adding “you fill it once, just like a car’s radiator system … and there’s no additional water usage once the system is initially filled. So we’re finding creative ways to become more energy-efficient and friendly to the ecology of the state or any surrounding area.”

— A Madison-based company called Atrility Medical is developing an AI platform for improved cardiac patient monitoring, based on data from its FDA-cleared AtriAmp device.

Rather than connecting to surface leads like other heartbeat monitoring devices, the device connects to wires that are placed on the patient’s heart during open-heart surgery. It can display signals from the heart on a bedside monitor, providing “rich detail” that can’t be seen from standard surface leads.

That’s according to CEO Dr. Sean McCormick, who presented the company last week during the Greater Madison Chamber of Commerce’s Pressure Chamber pitch competition, held as part of Forward Fest.

The more in-depth data from the company’s device is key for diagnosing arrhythmias, or abnormal heartbeats, he explained.

“Now we’re using our patented device with this rich data to create a one-of-a-kind database in which we’re building software and AI models that will take us far beyond the ICU,” he said.

The AtriAmp is already being used in pediatric hospitals around the country, and is being trialed in adult intensive care units as well, he said. The devices have collected more than 300,000 hours of cardiac waveform data.

Starting next summer, the company plans to release the first version of its software built with this information, aimed at helping care teams intervene more quickly in cases of arrhythmia. Using its predictive algorithm, the platform can provide up to 12 hours of lead time for a coming arrhythmia, according to McCormick.

“Essentially, our data is so good, we can detect subtle variations in the waveform that can spiral out of control and turn into an arrhythmia downstream,” he said. “This will allow the care team to prevent that arrhythmia, improving clinical outcomes, reducing total cost of care and shortening the all-important length of stay in the ICU.”

Using the AtriAmp waveform data alongside standard surface lead data, the company will teach its AI to “pick out subtle but critical” elements of the heart signal. Along with better identification of arrhythmias for all cardiac patients — not just those with atrial wires — the system can also reduce the “frequent over-alarming,” McCormick says, helping to address provider burnout.

The business expects to hit $1 million in revenue by next year, he said.

See coverage of Pressure Chamber and more from Forward Fest.

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— Gov. Tony Evers celebrated $18.6 million in federal funding for community improvement projects, while warning the money is in jeopardy under proposed cuts in President Donald Trump’s federal budget.

The money will be used to support projects in 21 municipalities to improve roads, drainage, water and sewer systems, sidewalks and more through the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s Community Development Block Grant Public Facilities program. The program would be eliminated under the proposed federal budget.

Evers’ office said the Dem guv will travel across the state this week to put the spotlight on the funding and the impact of potential cuts. The guv in a statement said the projects help ensure kids and families can get to school and work safely, that Wisconsinites have access to clean and safe water, and that communities have the resources they need to improve local infrastructure.

Evers yesterday noted he’s “deeply concerned” about the possibility the investments could go away.

“We cannot afford to let up on our work toward building the 21st-century infrastructure and economy we need here in Wisconsin, and I’m urging President Trump and Republicans in Congress to reconsider their plans to gut this critical program and the investments that help support kids, families, and communities across this state,” Evers said.

A spokesperson for the state GOP did not immediately return a request for comment.

— Edge Dairy Farmer Cooperative is calling for U.S. and EU leaders to finalize a new trade framework.

The Green Bay co-op this week called the framework “a major step forward” for improving market access and trade alignment between the United States and European Union.

Under the framework released Aug. 20, the EU intends to end tariffs on all U.S. industrial goods and provide “preferential market access” for various U.S. agriculture and seafood, including dairy products, according to the co-op. Edge is one of the largest dairy co-ops in the country based on milk.

“We are encouraged by the Framework Agreement between the U.S. and the E.U. and what it means for dairy farmers,” Edge’s board President Heidi Fischer said in a statement.

The group also points to progress on non-tariff barriers in the framework, under which the U.S. and EU would commit to addressing other hurdles for trade in food and agriculture. That includes “streamlining” requirements for sanitary certificates for pork and dairy products, the release shows.

See the release.

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