US Data Center News & Briefings
Power, grid, permits & projects across every US county — verified, cited, updated daily.
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Intel

Data center news, project activity, and monthly briefings for Intel.

Recent news

  • How NASA’s Artemis Lessons Apply to AI Infrastructure Planning

    Data Center Knowledge published commentary comparing NASA’s Artemis cost overruns with ERCOT’s handling of AI data center load forecasts and grid planning. It argues that utilities and regulators should require stronger evidence before treating proposed AI demand as firm infrastructure need.

    • ERCOT told Texas regulators it has “concerns with using the preliminary load forecast values” for reliability and transmission planning, and said planners should use historical realization rates and “other objective, credible, independent information.”
    • The article says FERC has directed six regional transmission organizations and independent system operators to explain or revise large-load rules, while ERCOT’s summer peak demand outlook is 220.9 GW by 2032 versus ERCOT’s 145.6 GW projection.
    • It cites NASA OIG findings that Boeing’s Exploration Upper Stage rose from $962 million to $3.7 billion, and Bechtel’s Mobile Launcher 2 from $383 million to about $2 billion, before those efforts were ended or repurposed.
  • Quantum Meets the Data Center: Hybrid Systems Take Off

    The article explains a shift in quantum computing toward hybrid quantum-classical infrastructure and cites policy support, vendor roadmaps, and conference remarks rather than a single standalone company announcement.

    • The U.S. Department of Commerce announced more than $2 billion in incentives in May 2026 to accelerate quantum commercialization, including quantum manufacturing and utility-scale, fault-tolerant systems; the White House followed with a June 2026 Executive Order on the Next Frontier of Quantum Innovation.
    • The piece also cites vendor and industry developments: IBM outlined quantum-centric supercomputing in March 2026; Nvidia launched NVQLink at GTC 2026; HPE said in June 2026 it is working with multiple partners on hybrid quantum configurations; and AMD said it is working with OQC and JPMorgan Chase on quantum, AI, and HPC workloads.
  • Intel to invest $5.7bn in Irish fab to expand Xeon production capacity

    Intel has announced plans to invest €5 billion to expand semiconductor production capacity at its Leixlip campus in Ireland.

    • Intel said the investment will increase capacity at Fab 34 to manufacture Intel Xeon processors, including Xeon 6 and next-gen Xeon built on its 3nm process node.
    • The upgrade will include leading-edge manufacturing equipment and expansion of the automated track system; Intel said it has invested more than €30bn in Ireland since 1989 and that the site employs 4,900 people.
    • The article also says Intel repurchased the 49 percent stake in Fab 34 in April 2026 for $14.2bn, after Apollo Global Management’s joint venture acquired it in 2024 for $11.2bn.
  • FBI considers deploying AI LLM supercomputers with Nvidia B300 GPUs or Google TPUs

    The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is considering acquiring AI supercomputer hardware through a request for information (RFI).

    • The FBI said it seeks information on AI computing products for LLM training, inference, advanced analytics, computer vision, and other secure government workloads.
    • The RFI outlines four hardware categories, including rack-scale AI systems, AI pod architectures, and AI inference accelerators; most deliveries would go to the CJIS Division facility in Clarksburg, West Virginia.
    • The document notes that RFIs are a precursor to procurement and do not guarantee purchase; the FBI could acquire equipment in varying quantities and configurations through delivery orders.
    • Category details include Intel Xeon 6767P or equivalent, HGX B300 eight-GPU assembly, GB300 NVL72-equivalent systems, Google TPU-equivalent architectures, and Nvidia L40-S-equivalent inference hardware.
  • SambaNova raises $1bn in Series F round, AI compute company valued at $11bn

    SambaNova has announced a $1 billion Series F funding round led by General Atlantic, alongside a new deployment plan with JPMorganChase for on-prem AI inference workloads.

    • The round valued SambaNova at $11bn and included investors such as Seligman Ventures, T. Rowe Price Associates, Inc., Capital Group, BlackRock, Intel Capital, Qatar Investment Authority (QIA), and Vista Equity Partners.
    • SambaNova said it develops Reconfigurable Data Units (RDUs) and packages them with Intel hardware; it also previously unveiled the SN50 RDU and an Intel partnership, while JPMorganChase said it will test the hardware for performance, control and reliability on on-prem inference.
  • Marvell boosts custom silicon push with AMD engineering lead hire

    Marvell Technology has hired former AMD engineering lead Jay Kirkland as SVP of custom silicon engineering.

    • Kirkland joins Marvell after more than six years at AMD, where he led customer engineering, platform engineering, and AI enablement for hyperscale and AI customers.
    • Marvell is also pursuing custom silicon, AI networking, and optical interconnects; the article cites a $2 billion Nvidia investment in Marvell and Marvell’s $3.25 billion acquisition of Celestial AI.
    • The story also mentions Marvell’s Teralynx T100 switch for AI and cloud data center infrastructure, and its acquisitions of Polariton Technologies and Celestial AI.
  • OpenAI considers giving five percent stake to US government, proposes other AI businesses join them - report

    OpenAI is reportedly debating a conceptual proposal to offer the US government a five percent stake in its business, with rival AI labs potentially expected to offer similar stakes as well.

    • The arrangement is described as conceptual and could involve transferring the stake to a sovereign wealth fund; it may require an act of Congress.
    • OpenAI is also said to be hiring Dean Ball and has proposed a public wealth fund; Sam Altman has spoken with Donald Trump, Howard Lutnick, Scott Bessent, and Bernie Sanders about AI and ownership questions.
  • “Running a company is like having a long-term relationship – you have to give and take, but always carry on”

    Rock Flow Dynamics has opened a new data processing centre in Serbia and previously received a $2M investment from Intel Capital which the company later bought out.

    • Main announcement: Rock Flow Dynamics opened a data processing centre in Serbia, reducing regression-test time from up to three days to eleven hours, and continues to run four major releases per year with about 10 minor releases between them.
    • Background and other details:Intel Capital invested $2 M in the company’s early years (the founders later bought Intel out), the company expanded offices to the USA (Houston) and sold first to an exploration company in Dallas; RFD has ~10 M lines of code, and is diversifying into mining, geothermal and lithium sectors.
  • Powering Prosperity: How Santa Clara Turned Data Centers into Civic Infrastructure

    Santa Clara city leadership frames the city as deliberately reorganized to support dense data center growth and ties that growth directly to municipal services and infrastructure funding.

    • Main action: The City of Santa Clara (Mayor Lisa Gillmor and city officials) has restructured municipal policy and utility planning to prioritize and accommodate high‑demand data center facilities, offering municipal power via Silicon Valley Power, streamlined permitting, zoned industrial land, and explicit revenue-sharing mechanisms (e.g., utility transfer tax) to make the city hospitable to data center growth.
    • Background and specifics:Fiscal and infrastructure details include: the utility transfer tax for FY 2025-26 totals $37.3 million, of which data centers contributed $24.6 million (~60%), a 95% increase since FY 2017-18; data centers have contributed >$3.9 million to affordable housing since 2019 with $1.75 million additional pipeline commitments; Silicon Valley Power is investing approximately $425 million in grid infrastructure; the Climate Action Plan requires 100% carbon‑neutral energy for new data centers and recycled water is used at 31 existing data centers (6 more proposed).
  • Phantom Data Centers Didn’t Break the Power Grid—They Proved It Was Already Broken

    Tom Bailey (VP of Energy at Flexential) argues that phantom data center interconnection requests have exposed an 80-year failure in U.S. grid planning and capacity investment.

    • Main announcement/claim: The article asserts that phantom data centers—queue positions secured by developers, brokers, and shell companies without site control or signed customers—have exposed a brittle U.S. transmission and interconnection system; cited figures include data center interconnection requests jumping from 1 GW to 25 GW in Houston, utilities projecting 5.7% annual demand growth through 2030, and FERC projecting demand growth revisions (from 3.7% to 29% in one cited comparison). The author recommends aligning load, generation, and transmission planning and securing utility contracts before land purchases.
    • Supporting details / background:Regulatory and cost responses cited include: ComEd charging $1,000,000 deposits for 50 MW+ requests in Chicago, Ohio requiring data centers to pay for at least 85% of projected energy use, Virginia locking large-load customers into 14-year contracts, and transmission shortfalls (U.S. built 888 miles of high-capacity lines in 2024 vs. DOE’s estimate of 5,000 miles annually needed). The piece is commentary from a Flexential executive describing actions taken by serious operators (phased schedules, conditional land purchases) and notes federal moves (FERC direction to revise PJM tariff and standardize large-load connections).
  • Stream Data Centers Names New CFO and New EVP of Construction

    Dallas-based Stream Data Centers has named Murray Woolcock as chief financial officer and Scott Greubel as EVP of construction.

    • Main announcement: Stream appointed Murray Woolcock (CFO) and Scott Greubel (EVP of Construction) to support hyperscale growth; the two bring more than 50 years of combined experience. Woolcock (25+ years) previously served as an operating executive at Apollo and will lead capital strategy, financial operations, reporting, procurement, and investment underwriting to scale for accelerating demand. Greubel (25 years at DPR Construction) will scale construction capabilities and replicable design/construction standards, having completed data center projects for Intel, Colo.com, Yahoo, T-Mobile, Intuit, Adobe, and Meta and helped grow DPR revenue from $650 million to over $10 billion.
    • Background/other details: In August (prior year), Apollo acquired a majority interest in Stream Data Centers from Stream Realty Partners; with Apollo backing Stream is positioned to execute on a multi-gigawatt pipeline, and Apollo Funds and affiliates may potentially deploy “billions of dollars” into next-generation digital infrastructure. No specific deployment timelines or dollar amounts were announced in this article.
  • Buckeye Mega Site Hits Market with $1B Economic Promise

    JLL’s Phoenix office announced it will market Grand View Arizona, a fully entitled, infrastructure-rich, 2,500-acre mega site in Buckeye, Arizona projected to generate over $1 billion in economic impact.

    • Main announcement: JLL Phoenix will market Grand View Arizona, a 2,500-acre, fully entitled mega site in Buckeye with 2.75 miles of Union Pacific rail frontage, highest availability of power, water and telecommunications, immediate access to Interstate 10 and the future Loop 303/State Route 30 interchange, and is projected to generate over $1 billion in economic impact. Marketing agents named include Marc Hertzberg, Anthony Lydon, Greg Matter, John Lydon and Nicole Marshall.
    • Background and project details: The site is located minutes from Phoenix-Goodyear Airport (≈11 miles) and Phoenix Sky Harbor Airport (≈30 miles), is adjacent to the Verrado and Teravalis master-planned communities, and is proximate to Verrado Marketplace (a $275 million development by Vestar); the announcement frames the site as suitable for large-scale manufacturing, logistics, data centers and advanced manufacturing.
  • From Capacity to Chaos: How AI Data Centers Challenge the Grid

    Utilities and grid analysts warn that AI-scale data centers are creating new grid stability risks.

    • Main announcement/action:Dozens of data centers in Northern Virginia dropped off the grid in 2024 removing roughly 1,500 MW of load (reported by Reuters); the EIA projects ~2% annual electricity demand growth through 2027 largely driven by data centers, and regions such as PJM and ERCOT report sharp rises in peak demand and large-load interconnection requests. Utilities and analysts (Prithpal Khajuria of Intel and Ron Westfall of HyperFrame Research) say this event highlights that large loads can change in seconds, creating stability and protection coordination challenges.
    • Background and details:Utilities are lengthening interconnection evaluations as modeling must now capture ramp rates, operating modes, UPS/battery interactions, and fault behavior; efforts cited include modernizing substation architecture and improving real-time visibility. The article reports that many data-center developers still treat power as a procurement problem rather than an engineering-system problem, and that protection schemes rely on stable load assumptions which may no longer hold.
  • Meta’s Space Solar Bet Spotlights AI Power Gap

    Meta has announced partnerships with Overview Energy and Noon Energy to pursue space-based solar power (SBSP) and long-duration energy storage as long-term capacity solutions, with initial orbital demonstrations targeted for 2028.

    • Main announcement and timing: Meta is pursuing SBSP and long-duration storage via deals with Overview Energy and Noon Energy, targeting demonstrations planned for 2028; these efforts are described as a long-term capacity bet rather than an immediate fix for AI-driven power demand.
    • Background and context: Near-term constraints include US grid interconnection delays (~5 years on average per LBNL) and transmission limits; Meta already has >30 GW of contracted renewable energy and 7.7 GW of nuclear capacity through partnerships with Constellation Energy, TerraPower, Oklo, and Vistra, while experts note SBSP remains largely theoretical and multiyear due to technical, efficiency, and deployment cost challenges.

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