Data Centre Watch

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62 entries matching · showing 31–45

1. 15 Oct 2026 Updated 16 Oct World Kentucky, US 2200 MW Reported

   Meta named behind a 3,000-acre Kentucky campus

   Meta has been confirmed as the developer of a data-centre campus in Mason County, Kentucky — described as almost 3,000 acres by DCD and about 2,000 acres by Fox19. Under the community-benefits agreement it will invest roughly $10–15bn initially (reported as 'up to $800bn' over the life of the 40-year plan), fund $115m of road, water-treatment and pipeline works, and create 4,000+ construction and 300 permanent jobs — in return for a 40-year local property-tax break. Payments are $5m a year to local government and $2m a year to schools per phase, rising to $30m and $12m once fully built. Meta is expected to close on the property in November, with two lawsuits still pending; filings suggest up to six large buildings and capacity that could reach 2.2GW.

   Why it matters: A 40-year tax break for a campus of up to 2GW — the incentive bargain at its largest.

   Source: DCD + Fox19 / Ledger Independent [C]

   Changes (2)

   1. 16 Oct 2026 — Added the Fox19 detail: ~$15bn initial investment ('up to $800bn' over the life), per-phase payments of $5m/yr to local government and $2m/yr to schools, closing in November, and two pending lawsuits; noted the acreage is reported as ~2,000 (Fox19) and ~3,000 (DCD).
   2. 15 Oct 2026 — First filed.
2. 15 Oct 2026 Updated 16 Oct World United States Reported

   The data-centre debt is being repriced

   After Firmus abandoned its ~A$44bn float, a bond sell-off hit data-centre names: CoreWeave's high-yield bonds fell to ~77 cents (yields ~17%), with Nebius and TeraWulf down too. Its five-year credit-default swaps blew past 1,000bp — implying roughly a 63% chance of default within five years, up from ~30% a year ago — as Oracle (288bp) and SoftBank (424bp) widened and CDS for Amazon, Alphabet, Meta and Nvidia hit records. Gartner warns ~$3.5tn of AI-infrastructure investment could be written down by 2030. Later on 15 October, PitchBook reported CoreWeave's unsecured notes yielding 15–16.5%, JPMorgan cutting Applied Digital's project debt to Neutral on a looming 'supply overhang', and Cipher Digital raising $850m in convertibles. On 16 October the picture steadied: CoreWeave shares fell 15.5% on Wednesday but recovered ~5.9% on Thursday on Nvidia's public backing, and its backlog exceeds $100bn (about two-thirds investment-grade) — though analysts note Bell Canada's Regina campus still carries tenant-credit risk from CoreWeave and Cerebras, with Nebius and Iren shares down ~14% on the week. Reuters also reported on 15 October that the sell-off is testing the AI data-centre deal boom: PowerHouse paused a planned $4bn share sale, and lenders are demanding tougher terms.

   Why it matters: The debt under the build-out is being repriced — the financing side wobbling harder than any single float.

   Source: Reuters / The Telegraph [C]

   Changes (2)

   1. 16 Oct 2026 — Added Reuters' 15 Oct 'market selloff tests the AI data-centre deal boom' report — PowerHouse paused a planned $4bn share sale and lenders are demanding tougher terms.
   2. 15 Oct 2026 — First filed.
3. 15 Oct 2026 Updated 16 Oct World National Capital Region, Canada 60 MW Reported

   Canada's federal government plans a 60MW hyperscale data centre

   Defence Construction Canada has issued an early notice for a $1.5–1.8bn, 60MW 'hyperscale' data centre somewhere in the National Capital Region, for Canada's cyber agency, the Communications Security Establishment. The project is not yet approved — the notice gives suppliers time to obtain security clearance ahead of a possible solicitation next winter — and comes as Ottawa publishes a framework for private data centres (lasting local benefit, no cost-shifting to consumers, minimised water and environmental impact) alongside an extra $500m of AI funding.

   Why it matters: A government building its own AI-scale data centre — while the same city reaches for the brakes on private ones.

   Source: CTV News / Ottawa Citizen [C]

   Changes (2)

   1. 16 Oct 2026 — Added that the facility is for Canada's cyber agency (CSE), the $1.5–1.8bn figure, and the new federal data-centre framework plus $500m of extra AI funding.
   2. 15 Oct 2026 — First filed.
4. 15 Oct 2026 UK National Reported

   Energy chiefs warn data centres could push up household bills

   The Times reports that energy chiefs have warned of a public backlash against data centres if a large rise in their number pushes up what households pay for power. It lands as the 'who pays for the grid?' question moves to the centre of the UK debate, echoing Moody's warning that Europe's data-centre demand could lift consumer prices unless governments intervene.

   Why it matters: Who pays for the power is becoming the fault line — not just whether it's green.

   Source: The Times [C]

5. 14 Oct 2026 World Kentucky, US 1800 MW Reported

   Brookfield and NextEra plan a $100bn AI hub on a Cold War nuclear site

   The US Department of Energy announced a ~$100bn private investment to turn the former Paducah uranium-enrichment site in Kentucky into the 'Paducah American Energy Hub': Brookfield will build a 1.8GW AI/HPC data-centre campus and NextEra 2GW of gas-fired generation plus 2.6GW of batteries, on dedicated supply designed to return excess power to the grid. Phased to 2032; about 8,000 construction and 600 permanent jobs; closed-loop cooling.

   Why it matters: Decommissioned nuclear and industrial land, repackaged as an AI power campus — the pattern the UK keeps reaching for.

   Source: Yahoo Finance [C]

6. 14 Oct 2026 UK National Reported

   Gas microgrids pitched as 'sustainable' power for data centres

   AVK-SEG — the firm behind Europe's first gas-microgrid data centre (Pure DC's 90MW Dublin site) — is piloting gas turbines plus carbon capture to power data centres in northern England and lobbying to gas-power the AI boom, DeSmog reports. It notes the UK undercounted data-centre emissions by more than 100×; revised figures predict 123 Mt CO₂ from data centres by 2035.

   Why it matters: Fossil gas is being rebranded 'sustainable' — with carbon capture experts call unproven.

   Source: DeSmog [C]

7. 14 Oct 2026 UK National Reported

   UK 'one of Europe's slowest-growing' data-centre markets

   Kearney puts UK demand growth at ~17.6% a year to 2030 — second-last in Europe behind Germany — against 37.6% (Finland) and 36.8% (Norway). Build cost is ~€2.25m/MW in the UK and Western Europe versus ~€600k in the Nordics; the fix is cheaper power, cheaper land and faster grid connections.

   Why it matters: The investment is mobile: as one consultancy put it, 'everything else will go where it is easier to build'.

   Source: Kearney via City AM [C]

8. 14 Oct 2026 World United Kingdom Reported

   Photonic-switch startup raises $125m to cut data-centre power

   Oxford's Salience Labs has raised $125m (£94m) — led by Bullhound, with AMD Ventures, Intel Capital and the British Business Bank — to scale silicon-photonic optical circuit switching, which keeps data as light to cut the energy spent moving it between chips. It follows a 64-port switch demonstration, with 128- and 256-port products on the roadmap.

   Why it matters: Power, not silicon, is the bottleneck — so money is flowing to anything that cuts energy per unit of compute.

   Source: City AM / Unite.AI [C]

9. 13 Oct 2026 World Singapore / Australia Reported

   AirTrunk delays its $1.5bn Singapore listing

   Blackstone-backed data-centre operator AirTrunk has postponed a planned $1.5bn Singapore REIT IPO into next year amid an AI-stock sell-off, higher interest rates and cautious investors — the latest AI-infrastructure listing to stall after Firmus scrapped its float.

   Why it matters: The money behind the build-out is wobbling again — the financing side, not the planning or the power.

   Source: WSJ / The Business Times [C]

10. 13 Oct 2026 UK National Reported

    The carbon bill for the UK's data-centre boom

    A fresh count puts the running UK estate at only ~1.5GW (about 1.5 Mt CO₂e a year), but the committed pipeline at 173 projects / 14.6GW — which would add roughly 12 Mt a year on today's grid, or 38 Mt if it all ran on gas. Weighted by region, about a third of the pipeline sits in the dirtiest areas (South England, Yorkshire, South Wales), and most planning documents say nothing about clean energy.

    Why it matters: The emissions are a by-product of siting for grid access, land and demand — not a technology accident.

    Source: Computer Weekly [C]

11. 13 Oct 2026 World Batam, Indonesia 285 MW Reported

    Batam residents blockade a data centre over dried-up water

    Around 300 residents of the Sambau district blockaded Nongsa Digital Park on 5 Oct, saying their piped water had been cut for up to six months while the data centres next door kept running; tankers restored supply to only ~53% of households. Nine planned centres there would need ~285MW and ~29 million litres of water a day — about 8.4% of Batam's entire supply.

    Why it matters: The data-centre water fight made physical: two pipelines, two outcomes, same drought.

    Source: Startup Fortune / Jakarta Post [C]

12. 13 Oct 2026 World Osaka, Japan 500 MW Reported

    NTT Data nears Anthropic's first Japan data centre — ¥1tn, 500MW in Osaka

    NTT Data is reportedly near a deal to build Anthropic's first Japan data centre, in Osaka: construction alone up to ¥1tn (~$6.3bn), drawing up to 500MW, with a deal targeted by the end of March 2027 and part of the site opening as early as 2028. Power is the hurdle — 500MW from the grid would be slow, so on-site generation and fuel cells are the reported fallback.

    Why it matters: AI compute keeps following the power and the land — and Japan is now in the queue.

    Source: Nikkei Asia via TNW [C]

13. 12 Oct 2026 Updated 13 Oct World Netherlands 600 MW Reported

    Nebius signs as anchor tenant for Volt's €7bn Rotterdam 'AI gigafactory'

    Nebius has signed a long-term lease as anchor tenant for Volt's planned Rotterdam 'AI gigafactory' — 100,000 GPU slots and up to 200MW, the deal that unlocks the ~€7bn construction financing. The campus is planned to reach 600MW (with an 800MW ambition) on a Port of Rotterdam brownfield with its own 380kV connection; first capacity is targeted for late 2029–early 2030. It remains a construction project — no permit or build yet.

    Why it matters: Demand still has to come before the wires — even on a power-station-sized site, and even as the Dutch grid pauses new connections.

    Source: De Telegraaf / FD via TechTimes [C]

    Changes (2)

    1. 13 Oct 2026 — Added the deal scale: lock-in of 100,000 GPU slots and up to 200MW, the ~€7bn financing it unlocks, the 600–800MW build-out and the late-2029/early-2030 first phase.
    2. 12 Oct 2026 — First filed.
14. 10 Oct 2026 Updated 13 Oct World Kaluga, Russia 63 MW Reported

    Drone strikes knock out three Yandex data centres

    Ukrainian drones hit Yandex facilities at Sasovo, Kaluga (~63MW) and now Vladimir within four days; the strikes took the ru-central1-b and ru-central1-a cloud zones offline, and Yandex says some are unlikely to be restored soon — a second cloud provider lost to drones this year, after AWS's Bahrain site. By 13 Oct, 80+ Yandex services (ride-hailing, payments, maps, AI APIs) had been disrupted, the company had declared an emergency operating mode and its shares had fallen about 4%.

    Why it matters: Data centres are now targets in war — the physical fragility behind the cloud.

    Source: Tom's Hardware / TASS [C]

    Changes (2)

    1. 13 Oct 2026 — Added the wider fallout: 80+ Yandex services disrupted, an emergency operating mode, and a ~4% share-price drop.
    2. 10 Oct 2026 — First filed.
15. 12 Oct 2026 World Finland / South Korea / India Reported

    Three more gigawatt-scale plans — Finland, Korea, India — on paper only

    Sesterce plans a '€10bn' AI campus at a former Finnish paper mill (200MW first, then 600MW, aiming past 1GW); Sejong signed an MOU for a 360MW AI data centre (₩7tn through 2029); ReNew signed an MOU for a 750MW 'green' park near Mumbai. None shows financing, land, a grid deal or permits — all are announcements or MOUs.

    Why it matters: A headline number is not a built data centre: the gap between the press release and the energised site is the whole story.

    Source: TSN Media [C]