What happened
The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) announced a public-private partnership with SoftBank Group's SB Energy and AEP Ohio to develop a 10-gigawatt data centre at the decommissioned Portsmouth Gaseous Diffusion Plant in Piketon, Ohio. This project includes up to 10 gigawatts of new power generation, primarily 9.2 gigawatts of natural gas, and a $4.2 billion investment in grid upgrades. Part of the U.S.-Japan Strategic Trade and Investment Agreement, the initiative includes $33.3 billion in Japanese funding for the natural gas component and supports the OpenAI/Oracle/SoftBank 'Stargate' AI infrastructure project.
Why it matters
Access to dedicated, large-scale power generation for AI infrastructure is now a direct government priority, shifting data centre siting economics. The 9.2-gigawatt natural gas component, backed by $33.3 billion in Japanese funding, establishes a new metric for sovereign investment in AI compute capacity. For infrastructure architects and procurement teams, this project signals a future where power supply dictates data centre scale and location, locking in specific energy sources. This follows recent calls from President Trump for tech companies to develop their own power generation for electricity-intensive sites.
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