Weekly US Data‑Center Construction Digest (Jan 22 – 29 2026)
This digest captures U.S. data‑center construction announcements and policy developments over the past seven days. It summarizes the key projects, their scale, investment and schedule, and notes whether each is in planning or under active development. The entries are ordered by announcement date, with the newest items first.
| Developer / Project | Location & scale | Investment & timeline | Status* | Notes & citations |
| New Orleans City Council – moratorium | New Orleans, Louisiana – citywide | Council voted to impose a one‑year moratorium on new data‑center proposals. The move comes after a proposed facility near Interstate 10 in New Orleans East raised concerns about water and energy demand. Officials plan to use the year to draft zoning rules and may extend the ban permanently. | Planning / halted | The moratorium shows increasing pressure on policymakers to address water and power impacts before allowing new projects. The Sierra Club and local residents supported the pause. |
| Project Jupiter (Stack / BorderPlex – Oracle) | Doña Ana County, New Mexico – ~1,400‑acre campus with four data‑center buildings, microgrid & natural‑gas plants. Closed‑loop, non‑evaporative cooling will minimize water use. | Up to US$165 billion investment. Oracle is the anchor tenant and will pay more than $600 million in gross‑revenue taxes to the state/county and $320 million for schools and infrastructure. The project promises 4,000 construction jobs and 1,500 permanent jobs. | Planning / early development | Developers claim the campus will run on its own microgrid and will include battery storage and desalination. Local residents and the Empowerment Congress have filed a lawsuit over the approval process. |
| Project Bus (Atlas Development) | Near Temple, Georgia – 350‑acre campus that could host up to 12 data‑center buildings and two substations. | Estimated US$11 billion project value with completion by 2036. | Planning | Atlas says it has a pipeline of sites totaling 7.5 GW across multiple states. Local permitting and community review are just beginning. |
| Western Hospitality Partners – 320‑acre campus near Peoria | Pekin, Illinois – city considering selling about 320 acres of the 1,000‑acre Lutticken Farm to Western Hospitality Partners for a large technology park. | No investment figure yet; project is conceptual. | Planning | A local group collected more than 2,000 signatures opposing the project. WHP has faced delays on other data‑center projects in Kentucky and Pennsylvania. |
| Braidwood Data Center (Western Hospitality Partners) | Braidwood, Illinois – planned campus near I‑55 & Reed Road with up to eight buildings and an on‑site substation. | Project is paused due to ComEd’s transmission infrastructure constraints. | Paused | The project highlights grid‑capacity limitations that can delay or stop large‑scale data‑center developments. |
| Microsoft Mount Pleasant expansion | Mount Pleasant, Wisconsin – village board approved building 15 additional data centers on land already owned by Microsoft. The expansions would join two data centers already under construction, creating one of the world’s largest AI compute hubs. | Investment details undisclosed. Project will roll out over several years. | Under development | Local officials celebrated the decision, expecting it to transform the area into a technology center, though some residents voiced concerns over resource use. |
| Project Flex (Verrus / Sidewalk Infrastructure Partners) | Lyon Township, Michigan – 180‑acre campus with six data‑center buildings totaling 1.8 million sq ft and a utility substation. | Project received conditional site‑plan approval in Sept 2025 but still requires permits; energy audit and sound study are pending. | Planning | Developer Verrus (backed by Sidewalk Infrastructure Partners) faces strong local opposition; residents formed a Facebook group with over 2,000 members and are calling for a moratorium. Lyon Township currently has no data centers. |
Trends and observations
- Mega‑campus ambition vs. infrastructure constraints: Projects like Project Jupiter (New Mexico) and Project Bus (Georgia) continue to push campus sizes into the hundreds of acres and multi‑billion‑dollar investment range, often with integrated microgrids and on‑site power. Yet the Braidwood project’s pause and New Orleans’ moratorium underscore how limited transmission capacity and resource concerns can quickly stall these plans.
- Intensifying community and regulatory pushback: Local opposition groups in Lyon Township, Pekin and New Orleans reflect a growing pattern of residents questioning data centers’ impact on water, energy, noise and tax benefits. Cities are responding with moratoria or tighter zoning, as seen in New Orleans and earlier in states like Virginia and Michigan.
- Closed‑loop and off‑grid solutions: Many proposals now advertise closed‑loop or waterless cooling and on‑site power generation to address environmental concerns and grid limitations. Project Jupiter uses a microgrid with battery storage and desalination, and Project Flex and Project Bus mention closed‑loop cooling.
- Scale of AI and hyperscale demand: The Mount Pleasant expansion and Project Jupiter illustrate the ongoing race to build AI‑ready capacity. Microsoft’s plan for 15 more data centers and Oracle’s massive commitments signal the escalating scale of AI compute needs and the associated capital outlays.
These developments show that while the data‑center boom continues, it is increasingly shaped by regulatory scrutiny, community activism, and the need for innovative power and cooling strategies.