Data Center View - January 23, 2026 - Microsoft plans $400M data center in Texas

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NEWS ROUNDUP

DEVELOPMENT: Microsoft plans $400 million data center in Texas. Microsoft is planning another major data center investment in South Texas, filing plans with the Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation for a $400 million, ~195,000-square-foot facility in Castroville. The one-story project, known as SAT 82, will be built in Medina County, with construction slated to begin in August 2026 and wrap up in 2028.

DEVELOPMENT: Large data center campus proposed in North Carolina. A massive data center campus dubbed Project Delta is being proposed in Stokes County, northwest of Greensboro, North Carolina. While full plans have not been disclosed, Project Delta is expected to support several hundred megawatts of capacity, feature a dedicated substation, and utilize a closed-loop cooling system, with the potential for on-site power generation. The land is owned by Blue Ridge Companies, led by CEO David Couch, who is partnering with Engineered Land Solutions on the development.

FUNDRAISING: OpenAI and SoftBank back SB Energy with $1 billion. OpenAI and SoftBank Group have jointly invested $1 billion in SB Energy, committing $500 million each to scale large-scale U.S. data center development for artificial intelligence. As part of the partnership, OpenAI selected SB Energy to build and operate a 1.2-gigawatt data center in Milam County, a facility capable of powering roughly 750,000 U.S. homes.

ENERGY: Meta secures nuclear power deals to fuel 1GW campus. Meta has signed nuclear energy agreements with TerraPower, Oklo, and Vistra to power its Prometheus AI data center cluster in New Albany, a 1GW campus expected to come online this year. The deals collectively support up to 6.6GW of clean energy by 2035, roughly enough to power 5 million homes, though financial terms were not disclosed. Energy experts including Jesse Jenkins of Princeton University note that adding large AI loads without new generation could raise regional power prices, adding pressure to the mid-Atlantic grid already strained by data center growth.

READ: Data center building surges as CRE slows.

DATA CENTER PROPERTY FOR SALE

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