Tennessee Data Center Intel

Recent Tennessee data center news

• 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 27, 2026

  Cogent Communications to Sell 10 Data Centers to I Squared Capital

  Cogent Communications has agreed to sell 10 data centers to I Squared Capital for $225 million in cash.

  • Transaction details: Cogent is selling 10 data center facilities to I Squared Capital for $225 million (cash); the deal is expected to close in Q3 2026. The portfolio provides approximately 53 megawatts of power capacity and about 259,000 square feet of colocation space across nine U.S. markets (Phoenix; Anaheim, CA; Burbank, CA; Stockton, CA; Atlanta; Chicago; Elkridge, MD; Kansas City, MO; Nashville, TN; Houston).
  • Platform and investment plan:I Squared Capital will create a new U.S. data center operating platform focused on high-density deployments, colocation and AI inference infrastructure, and plans to invest $1 billion via customer-led expansion, capital investment and additional acquisitions; the facilities are fee simple, liquid-cooling enabled with room for expansion and positioned near local internet exchanges. I Squared is described as a Miami-based infrastructure investor with about $60 billion in assets under management.
• May 27, 2026

  Stratos and the New AI Campus Math: Building Around the Grid

  Stratos, a proposed 9 GW AI and data center campus in Utah developed under Utah’s Military Installation Development Authority (MIDA) and backed by investors including Kevin O’Leary, has been filed as a MIDA project area.

  • Main announcement / action: The filing proposes a 9 GW integrated campus organized through MIDA, emphasizing integrated generation, hyperscale data center(s), and advanced manufacturing, and framing the site around energy resilience and “secure, domestically controlled power and data capacity” (project filing). The project is explicitly structured to combine large-scale compute with long-term power control rather than relying solely on conventional utility expansion; investor interest includes Kevin O’Leary.
  • Background and other details: The article situates Stratos amid grid and market pressures: ERCOT reported roughly 410 GW of large-load interconnection requests with approximately 87% tied to data centers (April update), and operators warn of repeated “restudy loops” delaying interconnections. Industry voices (Jigar Shah, Trey Travis, Steven Dickens) characterize the shift as industrial energy economics, need for long-term offtake commitments, heavy industrial mechanical and supply-chain challenges, and a broader debate between centralized multi-gigawatt campuses and distributed smaller facilities.
• May 27, 2026

  Cogent to Sell Phoenix Data Center as Part of $225 Million National Portfolio Deal

  Cogent Communications Holdings, Inc. has announced the sale of 10 U.S. data center facilities to an I Squared Capital-sponsored entity for $225 million in cash.

  • Sale details: Cogent will sell 10 facilities located in Phoenix, Anaheim, Burbank, Stockton, Atlanta, Chicago, Elkridge, Kansas City, Nashville, and Houston for $225 million in cash; the transaction is expected to close on the later of June 12, 2026 or the expiration/termination of the applicable Hart-Scott-Rodino waiting period. (Cogent’s Tucson data center is not included in the announced sale.)
  • Portfolio & financing: The acquired portfolio comprises approximately 53 megawatts of installed power capacity and approximately 259,000 square feet of colocation space across nine U.S. markets; I Squared Capital has committed up to $1 billion to build the new U.S. data center operating platform via capital investment, customer-led expansion, and additional acquisitions. Proceeds from the sale are expected to support Cogent deleveraging tied to its 2023 Sprint wireline acquisition and will be contributed to Cogent Communications Group (its borrowing entity).
• May 21, 2026

  Google Pledges Power, Ratepayer Protections in $15B Missouri Data Center Expansion

  Google announced it will invest $15 billion in Missouri infrastructure and build a new New Florence data center while contracting to bring more than 1 GW of new generation capacity to the state.

  • Main announcement: Google will invest $15 billion in Missouri infrastructure for a New Florence data center, pay for all power used by the new facility, cover infrastructure costs directly driven by its operations, and has committed to bring more than 1 GW of new generation capacity to Missouri; Google also entered a Capacity Commitment Framework (CCF) with Ameren that moved to support development of more than 500 MW of additional capacity (it is unclear whether the 500 MW is included within the 1 GW total). The CCF has been embedded in a PSC-approved tariff (Nov. 24, 2025) signed by Google, Ameren Missouri, Evergy Metro, Evergy Missouri West, the Sierra Club, Renew Missouri, and Missouri Industrial Energy Consumers, imposing 12-to-17-year minimum service contracts, collateral equal to two years of minimum bills, and an 80% minimum monthly demand charge.
  • Background and related commitments: Google announced a $20 million Energy Impact Fund for home weatherization in counties around Kansas City and New Florence and is funding a Laborers and Contractors Training Center to train more than 2,300 construction laborers (including 1,500 apprentices) over the next two years; Google has executed 1.17 GW of 20-year PPAs with Clearway (Jan 2026), signed a hydropower framework with Brookfield (contemplating up to 3 GW nationally), and has contracted for more than 22 GW of clean energy since 2010. Ameren reported 2.2 GW of signed energy services agreements (ESAs) as of February and 3.4 GW of construction agreements in Missouri, with more than 5 GW of new generation resources planned through 2030 (including two 800-MW simple-cycle gas plants and a 2,100-MW combined-cycle plant planned for 2031).
• May 19, 2026

  New semiconductor building blocks make power converters smaller, more affordable

  Oak Ridge National Laboratory built and validated a compact, lighter, high-efficiency power converter using gallium nitride semiconductors provided by ROHM Semiconductor, tested in the GRID-C testbed.

  • Main announcement: ORNL researchers built and validated an electronic converter using gallium nitride (GaN) semiconductors supplied by ROHM Semiconductor in the Grid Research Innovation and Development Center (GRID-C); the converter is smaller, lighter, more efficient, and intended to be more affordable to deliver, install and maintain.
  • Background & details: The work was done at GRID-C (a constellation of labs and test beds) managed under UT-Battelle for the DOE Office of Science; researchers report GaN enables switching 10 to 20 times faster than silicon, and the design is targeted for artificial intelligence data center applications where many compact converters are needed.
• 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

  DOJ may intervene in lawsuit over alleged illegal gas turbines

  The Department of Justice indicated it may intervene in the NAACP’s lawsuit against xAI and MZX Tech over an alleged unpermitted gas power plant in Southaven, Mississippi.

  • DOJ action: The DOJ, through Adam Gustafson of the Environment and Natural Resources Division, said the government “is evaluating possible intervention or amicus participation in this lawsuit” and “respectfully requests that the Court grant Defendants’ motion for extension of time to respond to Plaintiffs’ preliminary injunction motion.” The notice framed the matter as involving interpretation of the Clean Air Act and the government’s interests including promotion of artificial intelligence.
  • Background and case details:NAACP (represented by Earthjustice and the Southern Environmental Law Center) sued xAI and MZX Tech in April, alleging operation of gas turbines without air permits and filing a preliminary injunction on May 6. Internal records and reporting show xAI installed 19 additional turbines between late March and early May to reach 46 total turbines (plaintiffs earlier alleged 27 turbines without permits). The Mississippi Department of Environmental Quality has characterized the turbines as mobile; plaintiffs dispute that, citing Solar’s SMT-130 specifications (about 14 feet tall, almost 100 feet long, and more than 200,000 pounds) and the Clean Air Act definition of a stationary source. Also on May 6, Elon Musk announced xAI would be folded into SpaceXAI.
• May 12, 2026

  Ford launches ‘Ford Energy’ battery energy storage subsidiary

  Ford Motor Co. has launched a wholly owned subsidiary, Ford Energy, to manufacture stationary battery energy storage systems in the U.S.

  • Main announcement: Ford Energy will manufacture battery energy storage systems at the repurposed Glendale, Kentucky plant, aims to deploy a minimum of 20 GWh annually, with first customer deliveries slated for late 2027, and Ford plans to invest roughly $2 billion over the next two years to set up Ford Energy and hire roughly 2,100 workers.
  • Background and details: The move follows dissolution of the BlueOval SK joint venture with SK On (originally part of an $11.4 billion 2021 plan to build three U.S. battery plants); Ford will produce 5-megawatt-hour advanced storage systems (product: Ford Energy DC block) built around 512 Ah LFP prismatic cells in FE-250 (2-hour) and FE-450 (4-hour) configurations, each designed for 20-year service life; the article also notes contemporaneous industry deals such as a $4.3 billion Tesla–LG supply agreement (cells production targeted to start in 2027) and a Rivian–Redwood 10 MWh second-life deployment.
• May 8, 2026 · RMI

  Solving the Gridlock: America’s Electric Supply Chain Opportunity

  RMI (authors Ellie Garland and Ben Feshbach) publish policy recommendations for federal policymakers to strengthen the US grid supply chain and deploy newly available authorities and funding.

  • Main announcement / action: RMI recommends DOE and Congress use newly available tools — including $375 million appropriated to DOE’s Office of Electricity (Jan 2026) and a Defense Production Act (DPA) determination (Apr 2026) — to boost domestic grid manufacturing capacity, coordination, and competitiveness; the brief cites recent private investments such as Hitachi Energy’s $1 billion factory in Virginia and Siemens Energy’s target to add US transformer capacity by 2027.
  • Background and concrete details: The paper documents current supply constraints: domestic production met only 20% of US LPT demand in 2025, US grid equipment imports exceeded $30 billion in 2024, transformer prices have risen ~75% and cable costs have doubled since 2019; recommended interventions include near-term bottle‑neck relief, tax and loan incentives, DPA/anchor-buying strategies, workforce initiatives, and RD&D pilot programs.