U.S. Data‑Center Construction Digest (Dec 1 – Dec 5, 2025)
This week’s U.S. Data Center Construction Digest highlights several large‑scale data‑center and supporting‑infrastructure projects announced or progressed in the United States. The week highlights a trend toward hybrid power solutions (nuclear & gas), megawatt‑scale campuses tailored for AI workloads, and the continued expansion of hyperscale footprints. Controversy over water use, local opposition and regulatory hurdles also feature prominently. The table below summarizes the projects.
| Developer / Project | Location & scale | Investment & timeline | Project status | Notes |
| Deep Atomic / nuclear‑powered AI campus proposal | Idaho National Laboratory (Idaho Falls, ID). Proposal for an integrated energy & data‑center campus using Deep Atomic’s MK60 small‑modular reactor (SMR). The MK60 produces 60 MW of electricity plus 60 MW of integrated cooling and 200 MW of thermal output. | Project cost undisclosed; partners include Parker Tide, Clayco, Gleeds, Paragon Energy Solutions, EvapCo Dry Cooling, Bedrock Labs, Azimuth Renewables, Future‑Tech and Moonlite AI. The consortium plans to begin operations within 24–36 months using grid/geothermal/solar power while the SMR gains design certification. | Planning – proposal submitted to the U.S. DOE. | The campus would serve as a national demonstration site for nuclear‑powered AI infrastructure. Additional reactor modules and data‑center blocks can be added for future expansion. |
| RadiusDC expansion of 55 Marietta carrier‑hotel | 55 Marietta St NW, Atlanta, GA. 403,000‑sq‑ft, 21‑story carrier hotel with 22 on‑net carriers; RadiusDC (backed by Blue Owl) will add 8 MW of utility capacity, raising total power to 18 MW. | Purchase price undisclosed. Announced Dec 2 2025; expansion will provide more capacity in a supply‑constrained Atlanta market. | Under development – recently acquired and being expanded. | Facility acts as a major network hub for the Southeast US; legal counsel Akin Gump represented RadiusDC. |
| Entergy’s Franklin Farms power station for Meta | Richland Parish, Louisiana. Entergy Louisiana broke ground on a two‑plant, ~1.5 GW gas power station designed to supply electricity to Meta’s $27 billion AI‑hyperscale campus. Two gas plants will generate about 1,500 MW, and a third plant at the Waterford nuclear site will bring total capacity to about 2,200 MW. | Power‑station cost not disclosed; part of Meta’s $27 bn Hyperion AI campus. Construction of the power plants began Dec 1 2025; the Franklin Farms site is expected online late 2028, with the third plant following by end 2029. | Under development – groundbreaking for power infrastructure; Meta’s data‑center campus also under construction. | Received expedited approval from Louisiana regulators. The plants will connect to the grid and could supply other customers. |
| Meta’s Beaver Dam data center (Mortenson GC) | Beaver Dam Commerce Park, Beaver Dam, WI. Planned 700,000‑sq‑ft facility on 520 acres; uses dry‑cooling to eliminate operational water demand. Meta will fund nearly $200 million in energy‑infrastructure upgrades. | Meta plans to invest > $1 billion; campus expected online by 2027. Restoration of 570 acres of wetlands and prairie will accompany construction. | Under development – site announced and early work under way. | Mortenson is general contractor; Alliant Energy will build substations and transmission upgrades. Meta committed to restore 100% of water used and will invest $15 m to assist local energy affordability. |
| CleanArc Data Centers VA1 hyperscale campus | Caroline County, Virginia. CleanArc broke ground on the VA1 campus, planned to deliver 900 MW of hyperscale capacity. The $3 bn campus will be built in three phases: 300 MW in 2027, 300 MW in 2030, and 300 MW between 2033–2035. | $3 billion investment. Uses closed‑loop cooling and modular, pre‑engineered components to reduce water consumption and accelerate deployment. | Under development – ground broken Dec 1 2025. | Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin called it the largest economic investment in Caroline County’s history. Closed‑loop cooling avoids water use, highlighting sustainability. |
| Applied Digital – completion of Building 1 at Polaris Forge 1 campus | Ellendale, North Dakota. Applied Digital completed Building 1 (two 50 MW phases) at its Polaris Forge 1 AI Factory Campus. The campus will eventually deliver 400 MW of capacity and has >1 GW of power under load study. | Construction began Sept 2022; the entire campus is under a 15‑year, $11 bn contract with CoreWeave, which increased from 250 MW to 400 MW. | Under development – Building 1 complete; further phases planned. | Applied Digital rebranded from Applied Blockchain and still operates cryptomining data centers, but the Ellendale campus is dedicated to AI/HPC. All capacity is contracted to CoreWeave. |
| Burt Jones family (River Park) – Butts County mega‑campus proposal | Butts County, Georgia. Proposal for a mixed‑use development called Highway 16 Interstate Health Development / River Park including a 450,000‑sq‑ft hospital, 1.2 million‑sq‑ft medical offices and 11 million sq ft of data‑center space. The project is estimated at $10 bn and would consume >4.5 million gallons of water per day, generating $92 m in annual tax revenues by 2040. | $10 billion investment; completion targeted around 2040. Local planning commission hearings begin December 2025 with county commissioners to decide in January. | Planning – developers must secure rezoning and state/regional impact review. | Many details (MW capacity, cooling technology) remain unknown. Environmental advocates worry about water usage and cumulative impacts. |
| Amazon AWS – $10 bn North Carolina investment | Richmond County & other NC locations. Amazon announced plans to invest $10 bn to expand its data‑center infrastructure in North Carolina, creating 500 new high‑skilled jobs and supporting thousands more in the supply chain. Details of specific campus locations or capacities were not provided. | Investments will fund data centers supporting AI and cloud computing, plus workforce training programs and community grants. Amazon has invested $12 bn in the state since 2010. | Planning – large investment plan without specific site details. | Amazon plans to launch a community fund and partner with colleges to train data‑center technicians. |
| CME outage prompts cooling‑system upgrades at CyrusOne Aurora data center (context) | Aurora, Illinois. A cooling failure at a CyrusOne data center serving CME Group caused a 10‑hour outage that halted futures trading. CyrusOne responded by installing additional redundancy and restoring stable operations. | Not a construction project but underscores the importance of resilient infrastructure. Upgrades implemented immediately after the incident. | Operational incident – highlights reliability risks. | The outage, which occurred Nov 28, disrupted global markets. CyrusOne’s facility now has bolstered backup cooling. |
Key themes from the week:
- Scaling AI infrastructure with novel power solutions – Deep Atomic’s proposal for a nuclear‑powered campus and Entergy’s gas plants for Meta underline the race to secure firm, large‑scale power for AI workloads. Alternative energy strategies (small modular reactors, dry‑cooling, closed‑loop cooling) aim to reduce environmental impact while meeting massive power demands.
- Megawatt‑scale campuses breaking ground – CleanArc’s 900 MW VA1 campus and Meta’s 700,000‑sq‑ft Beaver Dam campus show continued hyperscale expansion. Both projects incorporate advanced cooling and environmental mitigation strategies and expect phased build‑outs stretching into the 2030s.
- Regional economic stakes and community concerns – The $10 bn River Park development in Georgia and Amazon’s $10 bn North Carolina investment highlight the economic promise of data centers, while local leaders and residents worry about water use, energy demand, and transparency. Public hearings and regulatory reviews continue to shape project trajectories.
- Upgrades and resilience – The week also saw important non‑construction news: CyrusOne’s cooling failure underscored the critical need for resilient operations and led to immediate upgrades.