US Data Center News & Briefings
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Intel

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

Recent news

  • “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.
  • Oracle’s Project Jupiter Ditches Gas Turbines for Bloom Fuel Cells

    Oracle will replace planned gas turbines and diesel backup with a fuel-cell-based microgrid for its Project Jupiter AI data center campus in Doña Ana County, New Mexico.

    • Main announcement: Oracle has revised Project Jupiter to a single fuel-cell and storage microgrid sized to accommodate up to 2.45 GW of on-site capacity, eliminating combustion and using minimal water with closed-loop, non-evaporative cooling; Oracle says this design cuts nitrogen oxide emissions by roughly 92%. The campus spans ~1,400 acres with four hyperscale buildings and has been described as a long-term investment that could reach up to $165 billion, projecting ~4,000 construction jobs and ~1,500 ongoing roles; Oracle also has an agreement with Bloom Energy spanning up to 2.8 GW of capacity (including 1.2 GW already under contract).

    • Background and implementation details: Earlier plans included gas turbines and diesel generators but the current design removes those in favor of fuel cells and battery storage; Oracle expects to spend about $50 billion on AI infrastructure this fiscal year. Article notes typical operator practice is to deploy a limited microgrid first and plan to connect to the grid within two to three years, and highlights engineering challenges such as protection coordination, fuel-cell limitations for variable loads, and the need to size for peaks or pair with batteries.

  • Forward,Faster: The Environmental Dangers of Data Centers and Semiconductor Manufacturing Plantsnological

    Intel has announced plans to build two semiconductor manufacturing fabs in New Albany, Ohio and has invested nearly $30 billion in the project.

    • Project details: Intel selected New Albany, Ohio (a few miles northeast of Columbus) as the site for two semiconductor fabs, with nearly $30 billion invested for development and manufacturing; this follows federal policy under the CHIPS and Science Act to boost domestic semiconductor production.
    • Background and related concerns: The column cites data center electricity demand (Ohio projected to reach 11% of state electricity use by 2030, up from 5.3%) and rising greenhouse gas emissions at major tech firms (Google +50%, Amazon +33%, Microsoft +23%, Meta +60% over five years), and calls for greater transparency and public engagement from developers regarding environmental impacts.
  • Hetzner launches EX131 server with Intel Xeon 6731P

    Hetzner has announced the launch of the EX131 dedicated server line featuring Intel Xeon Gold 6731P processors and PCIe Gen5 NVMe SSDs.

    • Main announcement: Hetzner released the EX131 family (EX131-S to EX131-L) built on the Intel Xeon Gold 6731P (32-core, Granite Rapids). The range is the company’s first to use Gen5 NVMe drives and offers configurations from 128 GB DDR5 with two 1.92 TB Gen5 NVMe (EX131-S) up to 256 GB DDR5 with four 7.68 TB Gen5 NVMe (EX131-L). Hetzner claims up to 70 per cent more performance vs the previous model. Pricing starts at EUR €560.70/month (USD $661.90/month) with hourly rates EUR €0.8985 / USD $1.0607 and a one-off setup fee EUR €559.00 (USD $660.00); the package includes one IPv4 address.
    • Context and background: The servers operate in Hetzner’s ISO 27001-certified data centres and are positioned for database workloads, virtualisation and compute-heavy tasks. Hetzner maintains data centre parks in Nuremberg, Falkenstein and Helsinki (Germany and Finland) and notes infrastructure investments in Singapore and the United States; customer data remains subject to GDPR under European legal jurisdiction.
  • Industry Leaders Urge Congress to Boost Chip Policy to Win AI Race Against China

    Industry experts urged Congress to adopt policies to boost domestic semiconductor manufacturing, R&D, permitting reform, and tariff exemptions to better compete with China.

    • Main announcement: During a House Subcommittee on Commerce, Manufacturing, and Trade hearing (reported April 16, 2026), four industry experts testified urging Congress to pass policies to expand chip production, increase semiconductor R&D, extend tax credits, create tariff exemptions for semiconductor manufacturing equipment, and enact permitting reform to speed construction of semiconductor fabs and data centers. Key proponents include Jason Oxman (ITI), Jason Grebe (Intel), Asad Ramzanali (Vanderbilt University), and Representatives Gus Bilirakis, Darren Soto, Kathy Castor, and Yvette Clarke.
    • Background and details: The article references the CHIPS and Science Act (2022) which provided more than $50 billion in manufacturing incentives, warns of funding cuts and staff layoffs at the CHIPS program and the National Semiconductor Technology Center, notes the advanced manufacturing tax credit is slated to expire at the end of this year, and cites concerns about reliance on foreign supply chains (notably Taiwan) and slower U.S. approvals for specialty chemicals compared with Taiwan, Korea, and Japan.
  • Intel to Buy Back Stake in Ireland Fab as AI-Era Strategy Sharpens

    Intel has announced it will repurchase a 49% stake in Fab 34 in Leixlip, Ireland, from Apollo Global Management for $14.2 billion.

    • Transaction details: Intel will repurchase a 49% stake in Fab 34 (Leixlip, Ireland) from Apollo Global Management for $14.2 billion, reversing a 2024 sale in which Apollo-backed funds paid $11.2 billion; the buyback will be funded with cash on hand plus approximately $6.5 billion in new debt.
    • Strategic context and timing: The move returns full control of a high-volume EUV-equipped fab to Intel, aligning production capacity with its roadmap (Intel 4/Intel 3 in Europe, Intel 18A in the US); Intel expects the deal to be accretive to EPS and to strengthen its credit profile beginning in 2027, while managing upcoming debt maturities over the next two years.
  • With new Marvell deal, Nvidia is chasing the AI control layer

    Nvidia has announced a partnership with Marvell Technology and a $2 billion strategic investment in Marvell.

    • Main announcement: Nvidia and Marvell will integrate Marvell XPUs and scale-up networking with Nvidia NVLink Fusion, enabling customers to build “semi-custom” AI infrastructure that mixes non-Nvidia accelerators with Nvidia GPUs, LPUs, DPUs and Spectrum-X switches; Nvidia is investing $2 billion in Marvell as part of the deal. No specific implementation timeline is provided in the article.
    • Background and additional details: The partnership includes collaboration on 5G/6G AI-RAN (Aerial AI-RAN), advanced optical interconnects and silicon photonics; Nvidia has also announced other ecosystem investments (a combined $4 billion for photonics vendors Coherent and Lumentum and a $5 billion purchase of Intel stock) to expand NVLink-enabled architectures and broader ecosystem alignment.
  • Nvidia Deepens AI Push With $2B Marvell Deal

    Nvidia announced a partnership and a $2 billion investment in Marvell Technology to integrate Marvell’s custom silicon and interconnects into Nvidia’s NVLink Fusion ecosystem.

    • Partnership details: Nvidia is investing $2 billion and has unveiled a collaboration that pairs Marvell’s custom XPUs, NVLink-compatible scale-up networking, optical DSP and silicon photonics with Nvidia’s NVLink Fusion rack-scale architecture; Nvidia will supply Vera CPU, ConnectX NICs, BlueField DPUs, NVLink interconnect, and Spectrum-X switching platform. The announcement was unveiled today and positions Marvell as a semi-custom AI infrastructure enabler within Nvidia’s ecosystem.
    • Background and scope: The deal emphasizes heterogeneous AI architectures and expands NVLink beyond Nvidia-native silicon (Marvell will add NVLink support to its XPUs); the companies will also collaborate on silicon photonics, optical interconnects, and AI-RAN telecom deployments using Nvidia’s Aerial platform. No explicit multi-year timeline or implementation dates were provided in the article.

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