Data Centre Watch

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147 entries · showing 76–90

1. 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]

2. 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]

3. 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]

4. 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]

5. 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.
6. 7 Oct 2026 Updated 13 Oct UK Fife, Scotland 600 MW Consultation open

   600MW campus planned beside a 1,000-year-old castle

   ILI Group's 600MW 'Cato' campus near Auchtertool would sit by Hallyards Castle; Historic Environment Scotland declined to designate the castle because the application is already underway, and Scotland has a de facto moratorium on new hyperscale consents. After 14,000+ representations, Fife Council has stopped accepting objections by email — the second council (after Dumfries and Galloway) to restrict submissions on a hyperscale application.

   Why it matters: Heritage, farmland and consent risk, while national rules are still being written.

   Source: Carbon Neutral Data Center [V]

   Changes (2)

   1. 13 Oct 2026 — Added the 14,000+ representations and Fife Council stopping email objections.
   2. 7 Oct 2026 — First filed.
7. 3 Oct 2026 Updated 13 Oct UK Wokingham, Berkshire 72 MW Submitted

   Thames Valley Park 72MW submitted — gas-backed

   Now formally submitted (applicant FH Trustees, acting for Mapeley's Beta HL unit trust, Jersey-registered), the 72MW scheme replaces three former Microsoft buildings near Reading and relies on natural-gas fuel cells as a bridge: only 1.8MW of grid power is available at first, the larger connection is backstopped to 2037, and even then only ~60MW of the site's ~110MW peak is secured. Microsoft vacates the offices by Dec 2027; comments close 29 Oct (ref 262274). The technical plan also proposes exporting waste heat to a future district heating network serving the Royal Berkshire Hospital, the University of Reading and local schools; a decision is expected by March 2027.

   Why it matters: 'Green' data centres running on fossil gas for years, because the grid can't deliver in time.

   Source: Planning Geek [V]

   Changes (3)

   1. 13 Oct 2026 — Added the waste-heat-to-district-heating plan (Royal Berkshire Hospital, University of Reading, schools) and the expected March 2027 decision.
   2. 12 Oct 2026 — Confirmed formal submission (FH Trustees for Mapeley's Beta HL unit trust); wired in the fuel-cell bridge and the 2037 grid backstop.
   3. 3 Oct 2026 — First filed.
8. 27 Sep 2026 Updated 13 Oct UK North Devon 1500 MW Pre-application

   North Devon revolt over a 1.5GW campus in a UNESCO biosphere

   Xlinks has secured ~850 acres for a 1.5GW AI campus plus a 1.8GW battery in the North Devon biosphere — five buildings up to 40m high and ~96 acres of lithium-ion batteries. The North Devon Data Centre campaign has now launched, backing a national petition for a moratorium on data centres outside designated growth zones. FOI documents obtained by CPRE Devon show Xlinks has applied for AI Growth Zone designation — for up to 5GW of data centres — and that Torridge District Council is being pressed to write the Torrington site into its emerging Local Plan.

   Why it matters: The datacentre revolt arriving in a protected landscape — the same fight, a different field.

   Source: The Guardian [V]

   Changes (2)

   1. 13 Oct 2026 — Added the AI Growth Zone bid (up to 5GW) revealed by FOI, and the Local Plan allocation being weighed by Torridge.
   2. 27 Sep 2026 — First filed.
9. 7 Oct 2026 Updated 13 Oct UK North Yorkshire 100 MW Pre-application

   Drax's AI Growth Zone bid rejected — but the 100MW scheme continues

   The government dropped the Drax / University of York bid for an AI Growth Zone, removing a route to national support. Drax says its separate first-phase ~100MW data centre is still being prepared for submission. New analysis estimates the plant would emit more CO₂ a year than all flights from Gatwick Airport.

   Why it matters: Losing a Growth Zone bid isn't a planning refusal — but it strips a signal investors watch.

   Source: Planning Geek / Land & Climate Review [C]

   Changes (2)

   1. 13 Oct 2026 — Added the emissions finding: the planned data centre would emit more CO₂ a year than all flights from Gatwick.
   2. 7 Oct 2026 — First filed.
10. 7 Oct 2026 Updated 13 Oct UK Kidlington, Oxfordshire Submitted

    Exeter College's £900m 'EXOq' campus heads to a decision

    A £900m data centre and innovation campus beside Oxford Parkway, funded by Exeter College, goes to Cherwell District Council in early November — pitched for AI and quantum research on the Oxford–Cambridge growth corridor. The decision awaits the council's independent golf-need report, the third such survey attached to the application.

    Why it matters: Universities and colleges are becoming data-centre backers, on the government's 'Europe's Silicon Valley' corridor.

    Source: Cherwell [C]

    Changes (2)

    1. 13 Oct 2026 — Decision now expected in early November, after the council's independent golf-need report.
    2. 7 Oct 2026 — First filed.
11. 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.
12. 11 Oct 2026 Updated 13 Oct UK Gwynedd, Wales Consultation open

    Menai Strait campus draws 22,500-signature petition

    Gwelyfenai's ~41-hectare campus on the former Ferodo site between Caernarfon and Y Felinheli — up to five buildings with a proposed 450MW grid connection — now faces a 22,500+ signature petition and a protest of ~300 people on 10 Oct. Objectors cite scale, SSSI/SAC wildlife, water and the loss of agricultural land; the developer points to ~200 permanent jobs and closed-loop cooling. On 13 Oct the Welsh Government confirmed it has received a request to call the application in; Cyngor Gwynedd says it has had no direction and will still determine it unless ministers intervene.

    Why it matters: The same questions — scale, water, wildlife, and how many lasting local jobs — on the shore of a protected strait.

    Source: Bylines Cymru / North Wales Live [C]

    Changes (3)

    1. 13 Oct 2026 — Added the request for the Welsh Government to call the application in.
    2. 12 Oct 2026 — Petition updated to 22,500+; added the ~41ha site area and the proposed 450MW grid connection.
    3. 11 Oct 2026 — First filed.
13. 12 Oct 2026 Updated 13 Oct World Thailand Policy

    Thailand approves 750bn baht of data centres — and tightens screening

    Thailand's Board of Investment has approved 42 data-centre projects worth 750bn baht (2024–26) under a new four-pillar screening framework covering national benefit, energy security, water and environment; Gulf Development separately plans $4.3bn to reach 2GW, with Microsoft, Google Cloud and Singtel. It has now paused approvals on 166 projects pending the new standards, against a US$15.9bn investment boom, with US$3.1bn of further projects just approved. Google has confirmed a $1bn data centre at Chonburi plus a Bangkok cloud region (projected ~14,000 jobs a year to 2029), and Microsoft has opened its first Thai regional data centre.

    Why it matters: Countries are racing for the investment and, at the same time, writing the rules to manage its power and water.

    Source: Thai Times [C]

    Changes (2)

    1. 13 Oct 2026 — Added the pause on approvals for 166 projects, the US$15.9bn boom, US$3.1bn of further approvals, and the Google/Microsoft commitments.
    2. 12 Oct 2026 — First filed.
14. 12 Oct 2026 Updated 13 Oct World Texas, US 17000 MW Submitted

    Project Matador: a 17GW energy-and-AI campus in the Texas Panhandle

    The planned campus (also called the Donald J. Trump Advanced Energy and Intelligence Campus) has cleared a federal environmental review milestone for four Westinghouse AP1000 reactors (~4GW of baseload), alongside natural gas, solar, batteries and grid power. Initial phases are estimated at $3bn+; full 17GW depends on tenants, financing and phased build. AMD has now signed credit support for the first 222MW phase, with a framework for expansion to 650MW.

    Why it matters: Gigawatt-scale compute is now being planned as a power station first — nuclear included.

    Source: Construction Review [C]

    Changes (2)

    1. 13 Oct 2026 — Added AMD's credit support for the 222MW first phase, with a framework for expansion to 650MW.
    2. 12 Oct 2026 — First filed.
15. 12 Oct 2026 World United States Policy

    Big Tech promises its AI data centres will ride out grid faults

    Google, Meta, Microsoft and Nvidia published a grid-interface specification through the Open Compute Project: during a voltage dip a site's compute load (about 70–90% of its draw) must stay connected and climb back to 90% within two seconds, rather than dropping off and shocking the grid. It follows events in which 1,500MW and more shed in an instant (2024, and a larger one on 22 July 2026). Cooling is excluded and the commitments are voluntary.

    Why it matters: AI data centres are now big enough to destabilise the grid everyone shares — and the industry is writing its own rules before regulators do.

    Source: madrobot / OCP [C]