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Two Case-connected companies with reputations for innovation and quality are adding hundreds of jobs in Northeast Ohio.

LayerZero Power Systems expects to expand its factory and add more than 500 jobs, more than doubling the size of its workforce. That expansion is the largest of a dozen projects approved for job-creation tax credits Oct. 27 by the Ohio Department of Development.

LayerZero designs and builds electrical parts—including transfer switches, power panels, and monitoring systems—used by data centers, microchip fabricators, and advanced manufacturers.

The company was founded 24 years ago by Malind Bhanoo ’88, MS ’91, MBA ’92, and Jim Galm ’84, MS ’87, PhD ’91, electrical engineers who promised high-quality parts for critical power systems.

“We positioned ourselves as the Cadillac of the industry,” Bhanoo, the company pres-ident, told Case Alumnus. LayerZero is now riding the data center boom fueled by the rise of artificial intelligence systems. It experienced 100% growth rates over the last three years, Bhanoo said, and is unable to keep up with demand for its product.

“We dreamed of this. We wished for it. But who can plan for 100% growth year after year?” he said.

In June, LayerZero was acquired by a global private equity firm in a deal that values the company at about $1 billion.

Meanwhile, south of Cleveland in Wayne County, the venerable Prentke Romich Co. is growing outside of Wooster. Barry Romich ’67 and the late Ed Prentke ’26 founded the company 60 years ago to pioneer speech-generating devices for people with communication challenges.

In October, the company was approved for state tax credits that will help to create 60 full-time jobs in an expanding factory, augmenting the current local workforce of about 225 people.

CEO Sarah Wilds said in a statement that the company is seeing rising global demand for its life-changing devices.