Weekly US Data‑Center Construction Digest (Feb 3 – Feb 9, 2026)
Summary
Over the past week, the U.S. data‑center construction landscape saw gigawatt‑scale projects, new policy proposals, and innovative approaches to power and site selection. Developers are racing to secure sites with ample power and are exploring both mega‑campuses and distributed micro‑data‑center models. At the same time, regulators and communities are scrutinizing impacts on grids, water, and local economies, leading to proposed moratoria and legal challenges. Utilities and technology suppliers are responding with partnerships and power‑smoothing technologies to support this rapid expansion.
Key announcements and projects
| Developer / project | Location & scale | Investment & timeline | Project status | Notes |
| Intersect Power (Project Pumpkin 2A) | Gray/Roberts County, TX – Intersect Power filed to build a single‑story 761 k sq ft data‑center building with central‑utility structures at 8830 County Road 21 near Pampa. | $400 M project; construction planned Feb 2026–Dec 2027. | Planning – application filed with Texas regulators. | Intersect Power (being acquired by Alphabet) owns the site via IP Meitner Land LLC. The development would sit near renewable‑energy assets and could be part of Google’s hyperscale expansion. |
| Meta Hyperion campus expansion | Richland Parish, LA – Meta bought 1,400 additional acres next to its planned 2,250‑acre Hyperion campus, which will host a 2 GW four‑million‑sq‑ft facility. | Original campus cost ≈$10 B; Meta formed a $27 B joint venture with Blue Owl Capital and early site work is underway. | Under development – site preparation ongoing, with more than 3,700 workers on the original 2,250‑acre phase. | Meta’s CEO has said the campus could scale to 5 GW. The additional land signals larger ambitions in Louisiana. |
| New York statewide data‑center moratorium (S.9144) | New York State – Senate bill S.9144 proposes a three‑year moratorium on new data‑center projects statewide. | If enacted, the state government would study impacts on the environment and utility rates. | Planning – bill is in the Environmental Conservation Committee. | Supporters such as Food & Water Watch argue data centers raise utility rates and strain grids and water supplies. New York would be the sixth state considering such a pause. |
| CyrusOne / Constellation (Freestone County campus) | Freestone County, TX – plan for a 760 MW data‑center campus adjacent to Calpine’s Freestone Energy Center. Constellation (a Calpine business unit) agreed to provide 380 MW for Phase I with another 380 MW for Phase II. | Investment details not disclosed; the campus will use existing gas‑fired infrastructure. The first data‑center at Calpine’s Thad Hill Energy Center campus is already under construction, expected to operate by Q4 2026. | Planning – project announced; phase‑I power contract signed. | Adjacent natural‑gas generation should offer reliable power. The site illustrates how developers are pairing data centers with on‑site generation to mitigate grid constraints. |
| Serverfarm CTX2 expansion | Houston (HOU2 campus), TX – Serverfarm topped out its CTX2 building, a 60 MW, 438 k sq ft facility that expands the HOU2 campus near Compaq/HP’s former HQ. | Part of a multi‑building campus that will offer 100 MW across almost 500 k sq ft when complete. | Under construction – CTX2 structure is topped‑out; fit‑out continues. | Serverfarm entered Houston by acquiring HP/DXC facilities in 2024; the CTX2 expansion builds on that footprint and signals continued interest in the Houston market. |
| Global AI / Humain (Windsor campus) | Weld County (near Windsor), CO – Global AI (with Saudi firm Humain) bought 438 acres at a former Kodak facility. Phase one will repurpose an existing building to create an 18–24 MW data center by year‑end. The campus could grow to 50–60 MW initially and eventually to ≈1 GW. | The investment could range from $2–20 B depending on scale. Additional grid transmission or on‑site generation will be needed to reach 1 GW. | Planning – site acquisition complete; first phase scheduled for completion by year‑end. | Global AI already operates a 32 MW facility in Endicott, NY. The Windsor project leverages an underutilized industrial site and aims to expand in stages while solving for power‑supply constraints. |
| Amp Z (Project Lufkin) multi‑gigawatt campus | Lufkin, Angelina County, TX – Amp Z, part of Amp Energy, intends to acquire ≈1,041 acres at the former Southland Paper Mill to develop a 2.1 GW data‑center campus. The site has a 55 MW grid connection today and could reach 175 MW in 2026, 1.1 GW by 2028, plus 1 GW of on‑site generation by 2029. | Investment is expected to be billions of dollars (exact figure not disclosed). The site could expand to 4,000 acres. | Planning – land‑option agreements signed; detailed timelines not yet released. | Lufkin’s mayor calls it a “once‑in‑a‑lifetime” project and says the investment could transform the county. Amp Z is pursuing multiple gigawatt‑scale campuses as part of Amp Energy’s growth strategy. |
| Google / White Rose Partners (Project Spring) | Sand Springs (near Tulsa), OK – City council approved plans for Project Spring, a data‑center campus covering 827 acres at 5615 OK‑97. The development could house three data‑center buildings, with only about 10 % of the site built‑up and 30–40 % preserved as open space. | Construction is expected 2027‑2029; Google will fund new infrastructure, including a substation and transmission lines. | Planning – development agreement and annexation approved. | Residents have filed a lawsuit challenging the annexation and argue the process was opaque. The project reflects Google’s continued expansion in Oklahoma. |
| TeraWulf / Raylan Data Holdings | Hawesville, KY – Century Aluminum sold its 750‑acre aluminum‑smelting site to Raylan Data Holdings (an affiliate of TeraWulf) for $200 M. TeraWulf intends to build a data‑center campus; 250 acres are buildable and the site has 480 MW of existing power capacity with potential expansion. | Development will occur in phases, scaling with customer demand. | Planning – acquisition completed. | Century retains ~6.8 % stake. TeraWulf also bought the 210 MW Morgantown Generating Station in Maryland and plans to expand it to 500 MW, signalling a strategy of repurposing energy‑rich sites for AI and high‑performance computing. |
| Prologis / Nvidia / EPRI / InfraPartners micro‑data‑center program | Multiple U.S. locations – Collaboration plans to deploy prefabricated 5–20 MW “micro” data centers at or near utility substations. The goal is to have at least five pilot sites in development by end of 2026. | Investment details and specific sites not yet disclosed. | Planning – program announced; pilot sites to be selected. | Partnership aims to use existing grid capacity to deliver AI inference compute close to customers. It reflects a trend toward distributed, containerized data centers to relieve grid stress. |
| Xcel Energy / NextEra Energy MoU | US (eight‑state service area) – Xcel signed a non‑binding memorandum of understanding with a NextEra subsidiary to jointly develop generation, storage, and transmission needed to serve large‑load customers, especially data centers. | Xcel serves eight states; the company has 8.9 GW of data‑center interconnection requests and plans to invest $45 B over five years in new generation. NextEra has 20 GW of interest from large‑load users and 9 GW in advanced discussions. | Planning – MoU; execution of commercial terms expected in coming months. | Collaboration aims to better anticipate system needs and streamline development timelines for large‑load projects. It underscores utilities’ recognition that power availability is a critical constraint for hyperscale data‑center growth. |
| Skeleton Technologies expansion | Houston, TX – Estonian energy‑storage company Skeleton opened its first US engineering facility to develop graphene‑based supercapacitors for AI data centers. | Plans to establish US manufacturing capacity for its supercapacitor solutions in the first half of 2026. | Operational / expansion – facility opened; manufacturing to follow. | Skeleton’s technology smooths power demand and can reduce energy consumption by up to 45 %. The expansion highlights how supporting technologies (energy storage and power‑smoothing) are emerging as critical enablers of AI data‑center growth. |
Trends and observations
- Scale‑up and megawatts: Developers continue to announce multi‑hundred‑MW and multi‑gigawatt campuses. Amp Z’s proposed 2.1 GW campus in Lufkin and CyrusOne’s 760 MW site show that gigawatt‑scale projects are no longer rare. Even municipal‑level campuses (Meta’s Hyperion and Global AI’s Windsor site) plan to scale to several gigawatts over time.
- Grid and power constraints: Almost every project highlights power availability as the defining bottleneck. Utility agreements (CyrusOne with Constellation), repurposing of industrial sites with existing substations (Hawesville and Lufkin), and on‑site generation plans (Amp Z’s 1 GW self‑generation) underscore that access to power drives site selection and timeline. Utilities are proactively partnering (Xcel/NextEra MoU) to anticipate data‑center demand.
- Distributed and modular strategies: Prologis–Nvidia–EPRI’s plan to deploy 5–20 MW micro‑data centers at substations suggests a move toward distributed compute for AI inference. These smaller, prefab facilities could reduce grid strain and shorten deployment timelines.
- Industrial brownfield redevelopment: Several projects reuse industrial sites, such as a former aluminum smelter in Kentucky (TeraWulf) and a former paper mill in Lufkin. Brownfield sites often come with existing transmission infrastructure, providing faster access to power and easing zoning hurdles.
- Community and regulatory pushback: As data‑center footprints grow, moratoria are gaining attention. New York’s proposed state‑wide pause follows local moratoria in Virginia and Oklahoma. Residents in Sand Springs are suing over the annexation for Project Spring. Communities are increasingly concerned about water use, grid stress, and transparency.
- Supporting technologies and energy storage: Companies like Skeleton Technologies are investing in power‑smoothing supercapacitors to handle AI loads. Such technologies could become essential components of data‑center design, enabling facilities to operate on constrained grids.