Louisiana Data Center Intel

Recent Louisiana data center news

• Jun 3, 2026

  New Data Center Developments: June 2026

  Data Center Knowledge has published a monthly roundup of global data center developments.

  • Highlights include: CloudBurst breaking ground on a 1.2 GW flagship campus in Central Texas; Nvidia partnering with IREN to deploy up to 5 GW of global AI infrastructure with Texas’ Sweetwater as a flagship site; Prime Data Centers breaking ground on SMF02 (150,000 sq.ft, 18 MW IT load) in Sacramento; Applied Digital planning Delta Forge 1 — $3.6 billion, 300-acre AI campus in Boyce, Louisiana; Hive Digital/Buzz HPC planning an ~320 MW AI facility in the Greater Toronto Area.
  • Additional concrete items and timelines: SoftBank plans up to €75 billion to develop 5 GW in France (targeting 3.1 GW by 2031); Ardian & Verne’s €5 billion digital campus (500 MW, with 200+ MW by 2030); TotalEnergies’ €100 million Pangea 5 supercomputer investment; Arcem’s Joroinen site delivering 60 MW by 2027 and 100 MW by 2029; CDC Data Centres’ 555 MW contract to be delivered with operations commencing in FY28 and FY29. All items are factual summaries from the article.
• Jun 1, 2026 · Information Technology and Innovation Foundation

  Targeted Pressure: How Chinese Manufacturing Competition Impacts US States

  The Information Technology and Innovation Foundation (ITIF) has published a report finding Chinese industrial policy is reshaping global manufacturing and harming industries across every U.S. state.

  • Main finding & method: The ITIF report (June 1, 2026) analyzes one “national power industry” per state using County Business Patterns employment data, HS/SITC export proxies, and global market-share series to conclude that state-backed Chinese subsidies, export pushes, and overcapacity are driving down prices and pressuring U.S. producers in sectors such as semiconductors, batteries, aircraft, and fabricated metals.
  • Key facts, numbers, and timelines:China plans ~$150 billion in semiconductor investment through 2030 vs. $52 billion under the U.S. CHIPS funding; the report cites $63.3 billion Chinese semiconductor spending in H1 2025, TSMC’s $165 billion U.S. investment announcement, GE Appliances’ $490 million Appliance Park investment (2025), and state/national export shares and HS-code trade series used throughout the analyses.
• May 29, 2026

  The Breaking Points: Water Is the New Constraint for AI Data Centers

  Data Center Knowledge reports that water infrastructure constraints are emerging as a major limit on AI data center expansion.

  • Main finding: Large AI data center proposals are requesting multi‑MGD water capacities (example: a Virginia campus requested up to 2 MGD initially, with potential future demand up to 8 MGD) and explicitly require continuous evaporative cooling for uninterrupted operations; these projected demands often exceed municipal water and wastewater planning assumptions.
  • Background and specifics: Researchers’ paper “Small Bottle, Big Pipe” estimates U.S. data centers could require 697 million to 1.45 billion gallons/day of new water capacity through 2030; Texas’ draft 2027 State Water Plan estimates roughly $174 billion in water infrastructure projects may be needed over the next 50 years to meet growing AI demand and related upgrades (reservoirs, treatment, reclaimed-water networks).
• May 26, 2026

  It’s official: Applied Digital is building a $3.6B data center in central Louisiana

  Applied Digital has announced it will invest $3.6 billion to develop an artificial intelligence campus called Delta Forge 1 in Rapides Parish, Louisiana.

  • Project details: Delta Forge 1 will be purpose-built for large-scale AI training and inference, initially comprising two facilities totaling 300 megawatts of critical IT load across 300 acres; site development began in January and initial operations are expected in mid-2027.
  • Implementation and background: The campus will be powered by Cleco, use a closed-loop cooling system (eliminating constant water replenishment), Applied Digital qualified for Louisiana state and local sales and use tax exemption, and the developer expects 200 direct new jobs (salaries 150% above the state average) and 1,000+ peak construction jobs; company was reported to be in talks with a potential hyperscaler tenant (tenant not named).
• May 19, 2026

  Big Fiber’s $250M Signals an AI Dark-Fiber Land Rush

  Big Fiber has secured $250 million in financing from Stonepeak and Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec (CDPQ) to expand its dark fiber footprint and network capacity.

  • Main action:$250 million financing from Stonepeak and CDPQ to support greenfield construction and overbuilds of exhausted legacy telecommunications corridors, targeting AI-driven demand in regions including the San Francisco Bay Area, Hillsboro, and Atlanta; funds will expand dark fiber footprint and network capacity for hyperscalers and large-scale data center operators.
  • Context and details: Analysts and company executives cite extreme route diversity (tri-/quad-versity), rising inference workload demand for dense metro connectivity, and power-rich regions (West Texas, Ohio, Tennessee, Louisiana, Georgia) as drivers; the article notes optical supply chain tightening (CRU Group) and provides traffic multipliers (AI “scale-up” and “scale-out” bandwidth impacts) but does not specify implementation timelines.
• May 19, 2026

  BEAD Non-Deployment Funds Could Fund Precision Ag. States Are Still Waiting to Find Out

  Fiber operators and agricultural technology advocates at Fiber Connect argued that closing the precision agriculture gap requires a subsidized service model, a federal funding framework, and an education pipeline, with county agricultural extension offices as a distribution channel.

  • Main announcement/action: Panelists including Josh Etheridge (EPC), Kevin Driscoll (Netceed), Chris Crowe (t3 Broadband), and Thomas Tyler (C207 Partners) urged that connectivity alone is insufficient and called for subsidized managed services, explicit federal guidance for using non-deployment BEAD funds, and partnerships with county agricultural extension offices to deliver training and equipment access.
  • Background and details: The session (Orlando, May 18, 2026) highlighted that 86% of U.S. farms are family-owned and many earn under $350,000/year, that about $22 billion in BEAD non-deployment funds remain without federal guidance, and recommended connecting state broadband offices, state departments of agriculture, and ag extension offices to implement precision-ag programs.
• May 18, 2026

  Roundup: Trump’s GOP grip / Amendment 3 / Powering AI

  U.S. Sen. Bill Cassidy finished third in Louisiana’s Republican primary.

  • Bill Cassidy finished third behind Julia Letlow (Trump-backed) and John Fleming; Cassidy voted to convict Trump after Jan. 6. National GOP figures frame the result as evidence of Donald Trump’s continued influence.
  • The article links the result to ongoing targeting of Republican critics, noting Trump is now focused on Rep. Thomas Massie.

  Voters rejected Louisiana’s Amendment 3, blocking use of education trust funds for teacher retirement debt.

  • The rejection means colleges and public school systems in Louisiana will miss an estimated $70 million in potential savings for universities that proponents said would help offset budget deficits, inflation pressures, campus needs, and student success initiatives.
  • The piece reports the proposal would have deployed education trust fund balances to pay down teacher retirement debt; voters’ refusal prevents that reallocation.

  Officials in at least six states are pushing back against utility rate increases amid AI-driven electricity demand.

  • Governors, attorneys general and other officials in Arizona, Indiana, Maryland, New Jersey, New York, and Pennsylvania are moving to block proposed utility rate increases and are pressing some utilities to change their financing model for major system upgrades.
  • The reporting ties the backlash to the artificial intelligence boom, higher electricity bills, growing utility profits, and increased demand from data centers.
• May 14, 2026

  Record Power Burn Expected This Summer as Coal Retirements and Data Centers Drive Gas Demand

  The Natural Gas Supply Association (NGSA) released its Summer Outlook on May 13, forecasting record U.S. natural gas supply of 117 Bcf/d while warning that rising LNG exports, data center load, industrial activity, and power generation will tighten storage and push power burn to record levels.

  • Main announcement: NGSA/EVA projects total U.S. supply of 117 Bcf/d (including 111.7 Bcf/d dry gas) and total demand of 108.7 Bcf/d this summer; power burn is forecast at 40.3 Bcf/d (up 2.0 Bcf/d), and end-of-summer storage is projected near 3,662 Bcf (about 106 Bcf below the five-year average). The report was issued as the Summer 2026 Natural Gas Market Outlook (May 13) prepared by EVA for NGSA.
  • Background and details: The outlook identifies LNG exports rising 4.3 Bcf/d to 19.9 Bcf/d (new capacity including Plaquemines LNG, Corpus Christi Stage 3, Golden Pass Train 1), notes data center capacity growing from 44 GW (2025) to 55 GW (2026) and to 74 GW (2027) (Oracle 1.2-GW Stargate, Meta 1-GW Prometheus, Google $40B Texas commitment), and documents industrial project additions (63 completed projects ~1.99 Bcf/d and $104.3 billion investment; 20 planned projects adding ~1.98 Bcf/d and $44.3 billion investment through 2030). The note highlights permitting and infrastructure policy actions (Trump July 2025 executive order, DOE site openings, SPEED Act House passage Dec 18, 2025, FERC rule changes Oct 2025) and recent pipeline developments (Williams NESE FERC reauthorization Aug 2025; ground-breaking April 2026).
• May 14, 2026

  How a Citizen-Owned Utility Built Infrastructure Residents Can Count On

  Lafayette Utilities System (LUS) has standardized on Dell PowerStore as a unified storage platform and expanded Dell PowerProtect solutions to strengthen resilience and cyber protection.

  • Main announcement: LUS standardized on Dell PowerStore for block and file workloads and, with Dell Services and a dedicated resident engineer, migrated 93TB block + 44TB file (137TB total)three times faster than previous efforts with no downtime, realizing ~50% better virtual performance, ~30% faster service deployment, backup windows down up to 75% (overall backups from ~20 hours to 4–5 hours, Exchange from 4 hours to 20 minutes), ~25% lower power use, and ~80% reduction in daily administration effort.
  • Background and implementation details: The deployment included PowerStore features like Metro LUNs, synchronous replication, and file-level snapshots to achieve near-zero RPOs and fast failover; LUS also deployed PowerProtect Data Manager and PowerProtect Cyber Recovery with CyberSense for unified protection. The migration approach emphasized integration with existing tools (e.g., Active Directory) and operational simplicity; Dell engineers performed the migration and residency support during rollout.
• May 13, 2026

  First BEAD-Funded Equipment Deployed in Louisiana, State Says

  Nextlink has activated a BEAD-funded fixed wireless tower in Louisiana on May 1, 2026, the state’s broadband office announced.

  • Main announcement:Nextlink turned on BEAD-funded tower gear on May 1, 2026, enabling 104 homes and businesses to sign up and begin the process of getting equipment installed; subscribers are not yet on the radio. The state claims this is the first BEAD-funded infrastructure live in the country.
  • Context and details: The announcement was made by the Louisiana broadband office (statement quoted from Veneeth Iyengar, head of the office) and references the Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment (BEAD) program; the office described a timeline from federal approval to live service in a few months. No monetary values or contract details were provided.