Tennessee Data Center Intel

Recent Tennessee data center news

• Feb 18, 2026

  Could Texas Overtake Northern Virginia as the Data Center Capital?

  JLL’s latest market analysis reports a structural expansion of the North American data center industry driven by hyperscale and AI demand, with vacancy rates at 1% for the second consecutive year.

  • Key findings & figures: JLL reports 39 GW active capacity and a 35 GW pipeline across North America, with vacancy at 1%; nearly two-thirds of new capacity is being built outside traditional hubs. Texas has 6.5 GW under construction and could overtake Northern Virginia by 2030; there are >10 developments exceeding 1 GW, rents rose 9% in 2025 (and 60% since 2020), most new leases include annual escalations ≥3%, and tenants are targeting deliveries in 2027 or later.
  • Power, timelines & market shifts: Hyperscalers (the top five cloud providers) plan $710 billion in 2026 capex supporting ~35 GW global capacity; OpenAI and Anthropic account for ~10 GW of announced projects. The report highlights grid interconnection timelines of 4+ years, utilities-delivered capacity expected late 2028–2029, and developers pursuing behind-the-meter generation, microgrids, phased deployments, and early collaboration with utilities and governments to accelerate delivery.
• Jan 30, 2026

  Tech Leader xAI Investing More Than $20 Billion in Southaven    

  xAI has announced locating a data center in Southaven, Mississippi, representing a corporate investment exceeding $20 billion.

  • Project details: The data center will be named MACROHARDRR, involves a corporate investment exceeding $20 billion, is being established in a purchased and retrofitted building in Southaven, and is expected to create hundreds of permanent jobs across DeSoto County; a formal announcement was made in Southaven on January 8.
  • Background and implementation: xAI’s Southaven site is near its newly acquired power plant site in Southaven and close to one of its existing data centers in Tennessee; upon completion the facility will increase xAI’s computing power to nearly 2 gigawatts, per the announcement and statements from the Mississippi Development Authority (Bill Cork).
• Jan 29, 2026

  Does solar really need subsidies? How successful renewable energy projects are adapting in 2026

  Xendee has published survey-based research and hosted a Factor This panel/webcast summarizing how renewable microgrid projects are adapting in 2026.

  • Main finding: Xendee surveyed more than 150 industry experts and identified securing funding and utility interconnection as the top challenges for microgrid developers; the article cites a Lawrence Berkeley National Lab finding that interconnection times can reach up to eight years.
  • Panel insights & context: Panelists Dr. Michael Stadler (Xendee), Jon La Follett (Mayfield Renewables), and Wissam Balshe (Novitium Energy) emphasized design optimization and credible tools for project bankability; they noted solar-plus-batteries remains cost-competitive even after the ITC expiration and is a practical alternative for developers unable to procure or wait for gas turbines. Webinar is available on-demand (registration link included in document_urls).
• Jan 27, 2026

  Prime Data Centers uses closed-loop air and liquid cooling to earn Energy Star certifications

  Prime Data Centers announced that two of its computing facilities in Dallas and Sacramento earned U.S. EPA Energy Star certification.

  • Main announcement:Prime Data Centers earned Energy Star certification for its Dallas (20-MW) and Sacramento (26-MW) facilities, citing efficiency-driven design, advanced monitoring and benchmarking, and the use of closed-loop air and liquid cooling; the company says both facilities are committed to 100% renewable energy and reported 83% waste diversion at active U.S. construction sites in 2024.
  • Background and commitments: The company’s 2025 sustainability report states it will pursue Energy Star certification for all eligible U.S. data centers, pilot “zero waste to landfill” construction, and aims to use hydrotreated vegetable oil (HVO) by 2030 as the main backup-generator fuel; the article also notes 25 major U.S. data center projects were abandoned in 2025, and peers such as Microsoft and OpenAI have pledged to “pay their way” for grid upgrades to support new data centers.
• Jan 27, 2026

  Scientists empower an AI foundation model to accelerate plant research

  Oak Ridge National Laboratory has developed D-CHAG, a new method that more than doubles processing speed and reduces memory usage by up to 75% for hyperspectral plant imaging, enabling training of larger AI foundation models on the Frontier exascale supercomputer.

  • Main announcement: ORNL researchers introduced Distributed Cross-Channel Hierarchical Aggregation (D-CHAG), which uses distributed tokenization across GPUs and hierarchical aggregation to split and merge spectral channels; demonstrated >2x processing speed and up to 75% memory reduction on APPL hyperspectral data and a weather dataset, enabling training of larger foundation models without loss of spatial or spectral resolution. Presented at SC25 (Nov 2025) and run on Frontier at the Oak Ridge Leadership Computing Facility.
  • Background and details: The work supports DOE’s Genesis Mission and DOE-supported projects including OPAL and a Generative Pretrained Transformer for Genomic Photosynthesis; collaborators and supporters include the Center for Bioenergy Innovation, ORNL laboratory-directed research & development funding, and partner institutions such as Argonne, Lawrence Berkeley, PNNL, and RIKEN; next steps include refining models to predict photosynthetic efficiency directly from hyperspectral images.
• Jan 21, 2026

  ERMCO Expands Transformer Manufacturing West with New Arizona Facility

  ERMCO announced it will open a new 566,121-square-foot three-phase transformer manufacturing facility in Waddell, Maricopa County, Arizona.

  • Facility details: The plant is 566,121 square feet, located in Waddell (≈30 miles west of Phoenix), will focus on three-phase transformer production, is expected to be operational in 2027, and foundational work will begin this year; the project is expected to create more than 500 jobs in engineering, skilled trades, and operations.
  • Context and justification: The announcement cites ongoing transformer supply shortages, drivers such as aging grid infrastructure, rapid load growth from data centers and electrification, and states site selection was influenced by proximity to Western U.S. customers, Arizona’s business climate, and a skilled labor market. The company is a wholly owned subsidiary of Arkansas Electric Cooperatives Inc. and currently employs nearly 3,500 workers across facilities in Tennessee, Georgia, Wisconsin, North Carolina, Texas, Quebec, and Mexico.
• Jan 21, 2026

  Virginia proposes 20.78GW storage mandate as Trump, governors call for emergency PJM grid measures

  Virginia state delegate Richard C. ‘Rip’ Sullivan, Jr has introduced HB895 to raise mandatory energy storage procurement targets for Appalachian Power and Dominion Energy Virginia.

  • Main announcement: HB895 would require Appalachian Power to add 780MW short-duration by 2040 and 520MW long-duration by 2045, and Dominion Energy to add 16,000MW short-duration and 3,480MW long-duration by 2045; the bill is nearly identical to HB2537 (vetoed May 2025) but raises Dominion’s short-duration target from 5,220MW to 16,000MW within the same timeframe.
  • Background and related actions: The Trump administration and a bipartisan group of governors urged PJM (16 January) to hold an emergency procurement auction and to build more than US$15 billion of baseload generation; PJM responded by initiating a “Reliability Backstop Procurement” and directed immediate process discussions and deadlines to be considered at the 22 January Members Committee meeting. The bill and procurement push are motivated by rapidly rising demand in Virginia—driven largely by data centres—and recommendations from groups such as MAREC Action, NRDC, and Environment America.
• Jan 21, 2026

  EPA thwarts Musk’s use of diesel turbines for AI

  The EPA finalized a Clean Air Act rule that treats combustion turbines — including those described as temporary or portable — as stationary sources, undermining xAI’s argument that dozens of turbines at its South Memphis data center did not require permits.

  • Main action:EPA finalized a rule (posted online last week) that addresses Clean Air Act permitting for combustion turbines and concludes such turbines, even if portable or described as “temporary,” are regulated as stationary sources; the preamble specifically references arguments about “temporary” turbines. The rule also weakens restrictions on nitrogen oxides (NOx) for natural-gas-fired power plants while addressing turbine permitting.
  • Background & details: xAI (Elon Musk’s AI company) had relied on methane/diesel turbines at its South Memphis, Tennessee facility and argued permits weren’t required unless generators stayed on site more than a year; until this spring the facility reportedly had no Clean Air Act permits for dozens of turbines. Local health officials had supported xAI’s timeline argument, while environmental groups pushed for pollution controls, which the EPA’s provision appears to side with.
• Jan 20, 2026

  GSN Roundup: Blackstone and Willis Tower, JV’s Big Data Center Refi, and Prestige Closing

  Affinius Capital partnership is seeking a $925 million mortgage to refinance the second phase of the Gainesville Crossing Data Center Campus.

  • Deal specifics: The JV of Affinius and Corscale is pursuing a $925 million mortgage to refinance a fully leased, 482,000 sq ft building with 72 megawatts of capacity; the borrower prefers a floating-rate loan with a 2–3 year term, and Newmark is advising. The tenant is an undisclosed large cloud-computing provider on an initial 15-year lease; the building is part of a planned five-building campus totaling 306 MW.
  • Background & supporting facts: The 130-acre site was bought from Buchanan Partners in mid-2020 for $74.5 million after rezoning in late 2019; Corscale is the data-center arm of Patrinely and Affinius’ predecessor firm is USAA Real Estate, which helped acquire the site. Financial performance issues led Larry H. Miller Co. to close Prestige Financial Services amid an MLB expansion funding push (expansion fee expected to top $2 billion), and Blackstone is separately exploring options around a $1.32 billion securitized loan on Willis Tower.
• Jan 20, 2026

  Dallas’ Solidion Gets U.S. Army Grant for Fiber-Based Battery System, Will Partner With UTD on Research

  Solidion Technology has been awarded a grant from the U.S. Army’s STTR Program to develop an advanced fiber-based electronic battery system; research will be conducted jointly with the University of Texas at Dallas and the grant amount was not disclosed.

  • Grant award & project: Solidion Technology received a U.S. Army STTR Program grant to develop an advanced fiber-based lithium-ion battery built on a coaxial carbon nanotube yarn architecture; research collaboration with University of Texas at Dallas is confirmed and the grant amount was not disclosed. This award is Solidion’s third federal grant in six months.
  • Background & prior funding: In recent months Solidion also received an ARPA-E grant for electrochemical manufacturing of high-performance graphite (biomass-derived carbon) and a U.S. Department of Energy grant to scale synthesis of a carbon-nanosphere material for molten-salt reactor heat transfer fluids; Solidion holds over 525 patents, is headquartered in Dallas with pilot production in Dayton, Ohio, and develops battery materials/components including UPS systems serving the AI data center market and EV applications.