Idaho Data Center News

Jan 20, 2026

Fiber Broadband Report Notes Significant Progress on Fiber Deployment, Increased Costs

The Fiber Broadband Association (FBA) released its yearly fiber deployment report showing 60% of U.S. households are serviceable by fiber.

Report findings: 84.6m homes now have fiber access (60% of U.S. households), representing an 11% increase from 2024; 16% of households have access to multiple providers; rural locations now have nearly 50% fiber coverage with fastest growth in Arizona, Idaho, Maine, New Mexico, Wyoming (average 39% YoY).
Cost and deployment pressures: Growth is largely driven by private investment from ILECs and support from BEAD funding; labor and materials account for 55% of total project expenditures, “make ready” costs increased 150% in some cases shifting projects to aerial builds, and permitting represents ~10% of average project cost and causes delays that “domino effect” other cost components. The report noted no observed cost savings from provisions in the One Big Beautiful Bill Act as previously predicted by FBA leadership.

Jan 16, 2026

Meta Builds a Nuclear Supply Chain for the AI Era

Meta has announced a package of multi-gigawatt nuclear agreements and related support to secure firm, long-duration power for its AI data center buildout.

Main announcement: Meta signed a set of deals that together could support up to 6.6 GW of new and existing clean power by 2035, including a 20-year PPA for more than 2,600 MW tied to three Vistra plants (Perry, Davis-Besse, Beaver Valley), an agreement with TerraPower to support up to eight Natrium plants (Meta funding for two Natrium units totaling up to 690 MW with delivery targeted as early as 2032, plus rights to energy from up to six additional units ~2.1 GW by 2035), and a deal with Oklo to enable a prepay-backed, scalable up-to-1.2 GW nuclear power campus in Pike County, Ohio.
Background and implementation details:DOE announced $2.7 billion to bolster domestic uranium enrichment over the next decade (including HALEU support); Oklo has a DOE Nuclear Safety Design Agreement for an Aurora fuel facility at Idaho National Laboratory; TerraPower’s initial two-unit site is expected to be identified “in the coming months”; many elements remain in early site-selection, licensing, fuel-qualification, and interconnection stages, with explicit timelines ranging from 2026 (Meta’s Prometheus data center) through 2032–2035 for advanced reactor deliveries.

Jan 14, 2026

Climate Change Solutions - January 13, 2026

The Environmental and Energy Study Institute (EESI) announced its first Congressional briefing of the year, a wildfire solutions briefing on Tuesday, January 27, hosted with the Federation of American Scientists.

Main announcement: EESI will host a Congressional briefing titled “Igniting Innovation: Progress and a Path Forward for Wildfire Policy” on Tuesday, January 27, 3:00 p.m. - 4:30 p.m. (reception to follow) at Russell Senate Office Building, Room SR-385 and online; RSVP available on the EESI briefing page and a reception follows the briefing.
Background & related actions: The newsletter summarizes recent federal actions signed by the President including MAPWaters (P.L. 119-62) improving recreational waterway data collection, Save Our Seas 2.0 (P.L. 119-65) reauthorizing EPA marine debris programs, Great Lakes Fishery Research Reauthorization (P.L. 119-67) for USGS research funding, and La Paz County Solar Energy and Job Creation Act (P.L. 119-68) (expected to create more than 700 jobs and provide enough solar and battery capacity to power about 75,000 homes); it also notes wildfire costs of $424 billion annually and highlights EESI coverage on data center water use (cited by multiple media outlets).

Jan 9, 2026

Meta Locks In Up to 6.6 GW of Nuclear Power Through Deals With Vistra, Oklo, and TerraPower

Meta announced agreements with Vistra, Oklo, and TerraPower to secure up to 6.6 GW of nuclear capacity by 2035.

Main announcement and deal scope: Meta will underwrite a suite of nuclear deals that collectively target up to 6.6 GW by 2035, including a 20-year PPA with Vistra for 2,176 MW plus 433 MW of uprates (2,609 MW total) that begin deliveries in late 2026 and reach full 2,609 MW by 2034; an Oklo-backed Aurora campus up to 1.2 GW in Pike County, Ohio (pre-construction and site work beginning 2026, first phase online as early as 2030, full 1.2 GW by 2034); and TerraPower funding for two Natrium units (690 MWe) targeted as early as 2032 plus Meta rights to energy from up to six additional Natrium units (2.1 GW) targeted by 2035.
Background, implementation details, and context: Meta’s support includes prepayments and long-term PPAs to shift early-stage capital and risk onto Meta to help developers secure fuel, permits, and financing; Vistra’s three plants were acquired as part of a $3.4 billion Energy Harbor transaction (March 2024); PJM capacity prices signaled tight markets (clearing at $269.92/MW-day and hitting the $329/MW-day cap in subsequent auctions), underscoring the near-term need for firm capacity in the PJM region.

Jan 2, 2026

State Broadband Bills of 2025: A Legislative Review

State legislatures across the United States enacted and considered broadband-related legislation in 2025; fewer than 140 of more than 600 proposed bills became law.

Main actions: States enacted laws prioritizing infrastructure and permitting reforms, pole and rights-of-way access, criminal penalties for theft/vandalism, state broadband funding, and data center incentives. Notable enacted measures include Hawaii H 934 (established a state Broadband Office and programs, enacted in June and backed by $400 million in combined funding), West Virginia SB 907 (expanded the Economic Development Project Fund to allow up to $25 million annually for broadband incentives and up to $125 million annually for broadband loan insurance) and West Virginia HB 2014 (signed in April; created microgrid districts with zoning/permitting exemptions and special property tax treatment for qualifying projects).
Additional details and timelines: States also raised criminal penalties (e.g., Oklahoma classified willful damage to a critical infrastructure facility as a Class D3 felony with fines up to $100,000 and prison up to 10 years; Louisiana authorized fines up to $50,000 and prison up to 20 years; California AB 476 increased penalties for knowingly buying illegally obtained scrap metal to $5,000). Other enacted programs include California SB 338 (a $2 million telehealth pilot), New Mexico SB 126 (Rural USF increased from $30 million to $40 million), and Oregon’s device support up to $100 in Lifeline-related assistance. At least 37 states passed data center incentives in 2025 and over 1,000 AI-focused bills were introduced nationwide, with ~38 states adopting or enacting roughly 100 AI measures in 2025.

Dec 25, 2025

DOE’s ‘Genesis Mission’ Enlists AI to Double U.S. Research Productivity in a Decade

The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) has launched the “Genesis Mission” to build an integrated AI platform connecting its 17 national laboratories and to “double the productivity and impact of American science and engineering within a decade.”

Main announcement and implementation details: The DOE will build the American Science and Security Platform connecting 17 national laboratories and leveraging roughly 40,000 DOE scientists, engineers, and technical staff; the executive order sets an aggressive 270-day timeline to demonstrate initial operating capability for at least one national science and technology challenge and formalized 24 collaboration agreements announced Dec. 18, 2025. The platform will provide high-performance computing, secure cloud-based AI computing environments, domain-specific foundation models, and secure access to federal scientific datasets.
Background, priorities, and near-term actions: The mission targets three priority areas—American Energy Dominance (advanced nuclear, fusion, grid modernization), Advancing Discovery Science (six domains including biotechnology, semiconductors, quantum, critical materials, advanced manufacturing, nuclear), and Ensuring National Security. Pre-existing collaborations include an INL–AWS project (July 2025) for AI-powered nuclear reactor design; DOE issued two RFIs (open until Jan. 14, 2026 and Jan. 23, 2026). The executive order does not specify funding levels (implementation subject to appropriations) and requires annual reporting to the President beginning one year after signing.

Dec 24, 2025

10 biggest environmental stories of 2025

Columbia Insight (Chuck Thompson) published a year-end roundup listing the “10 biggest environmental stories of 2025,” summarizing major events and policy actions affecting the Pacific Northwest and broader U.S. environment.

Main summary: The piece catalogs federal rollbacks and regulatory changes (EPA 31 deregulatory provisions, President Trump’s memorandum withdrawing from a 2023 Columbia River salmon-restoration agreement), major weather and disaster events (record floods and drought-driven water shortages), and environmental incidents including Idaho’s copper treatment that left up to 90% invertebrate mortality in treated Snake River stretches.
Additional details and timelines: It documents the USDA plan to move the Forest Service Pacific Northwest headquarters to Fort Collins, Colo. (announced July), Washington State House funding cuts to the Gorge Commission for the 2025–27 biennium (27% reduction), data center expansion concerns (271 existing water-using data centers in OR/WA plus proposed new projects), and EPA actions described as the “biggest deregulatory action in U.S. history“ (March announcement of 31 provisions).

Dec 19, 2025

AI and Latency: Why Milliseconds Decide Winners and Losers in the Data Center Race

The author argues that data center operators must prioritize low-latency infrastructure for AI inference.

Main announcement/action: The piece recommends deploying low-latency inference infrastructure (small, metro-proximate inference zones) and optimizing fiber route quality, redundancy, backplane architecture, heat, and power to serve real-time AI inference workloads; it cites a latency example of 20 milliseconds to 200 and notes NVIDIA’s prediction that inference will be 100x the size of training workloads in the near future.
Background and details: Training workloads can be placed in remote, power-rich locations (examples given: North Dakota, Idaho) because they tolerate latency, while inference must be near end-users; the article notes AWS charges a premium for latency-optimized inference SKUs, and cites Anthropic’s coding assistant overload as an example of capacity pressure causing degraded performance.

Dec 18, 2025

Advanced Nuclear Developers Raise New Capital as 2025 Investment Hits Record Levels and Demonstrations Near

Radiant, Last Energy, and ARC Clean Technology announced the closing of major private funding rounds in mid-December 2025 to accelerate demonstration, factory-built manufacturing, and regulatory pathways for microreactors and SMRs in North America and the UK.

Fundraises & near-term uses: Radiant raised more than $300 million (Series D) on Dec. 17, 2025 to scale commercialization, break ground on the R-50 factory in Oak Ridge, Tennessee (construction slated early 2026) and test its Kaleidos microreactor at Idaho National Laboratory (DOME) in 2026 with initial deployments targeted in 2028; Last Energy closed an oversubscribed Series C of more than $100 million (Dec. 16, 2025) to fund its PWR-5 pilot at Texas A&M–RELLIS (DOE Reactor Pilot Program, target criticality 2026) and parallel UK licensing for PWR-20 commercial units (site-licensing target Dec. 2027); ARC closed a Series B (Dec. 16, 2025) to advance the 100-MWe ARC-100 deployment, DOE programs, Canadian project development, and KHNP collaboration.
Background, partners, and milestones: The rounds include strategic and VC investors (e.g., Draper Associates, Boost VC, Founders Fund, Astera Institute) and advisers (Orrick); Radiant announced customer commitments including Equinix (20 Kaleidos units) and DoD agreements (Defense Innovation Unit/Department of the Air Force), plus HALEU fuel commitments with the U.S. DOE and a commercial enrichment contract with Urenco; ARC completed Phase 2 of the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission Vendor Design Review (July 2025) and formed NuARC with Nucleon Energy for Alberta deployments; multiple sector comparables cited include TerraPower ($650M Series C) and X-energy ($700M Series C-1) earlier in 2025.

Dec 16, 2025

How Data Centers Became the Hidden Backbone of Our Modern World

Stepchange Ventures’ co-founders, writing in the MCJ Newsletter, outline how data centers have evolved into critical infrastructure, how AI is driving unprecedented power demand, and why this creates both grid constraints and opportunities for more sustainable, abundant energy and compute.

Data centers emerged from early internet hubs like MAE-East and One Wilshire into hyperscale regions such as Ashburn, Virginia, where data-center-zoned land can reach $6M per acre, while overbuilt fiber networks and subsequent advances like virtualization, cloud (EC2 in 2006), containers, and serverless steadily increased hardware utilization and enabled Web 2.0 and hyperscale cloud growth.
Power efficiency innovations—including PUE (Power Usage Effectiveness) invented by Christian Belady (typical mid-2000s PUE ≈ 2.5, pushed toward 1.1 by hyperscalers) allowed internet traffic to grow 17x (2010–2020) with relatively flat energy use, but the rise of AI GPUs and 5GW-scale builds now creates 10–100x more power-hungry data centers, intersecting with broader load growth from industrial expansion and electrification, and prompting calls to reengineer chips, grids, and infrastructure for an abundant, sustainable era.

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