US Data Center Tracker: 6 August Milestones From PORTS-Pike's 8 GW Lease to AWS's Calvert Withdrawal

August at a glance

1. PORTS-Pike: an 8 GW lease with a long infrastructure tail

• Investment: NVIDIA announced a $1.5B investment in SB Energy. The initial commitment carries contingent aggregate obligations capped at $105B. That cap describes residual-value and credit-support exposure, not confirmed construction spending. Data Center Frontier puts the transmission build at roughly $4.2B and describes a wider development of about 10 GW. 2
• Power: The contracted figure is approximately 8,000 MW of IT load. Data Center Frontier separately reports about 9,200 MW of contemplated natural-gas generation for the overall development. Generation capacity and IT load are different measures. 2
• Jobs: SB Energy projects 35,000 construction jobs across the six-year buildout through 2032 and 2,500 long-term operating jobs. 1
• Community response: OpenAI and SB Energy describe a "pay your own way" model. OpenAI committed $40M to a community grant fund, alongside $40M previously announced by SB Energy, plus $84M in Codex credits for Ohio students. The partners also committed to annual reporting on hiring, investment, water, and energy. OpenAI says the design uses closed-loop, air-cooled systems. The remaining execution questions are permits, environmental review, financing, generation, and transmission. 12

2. Project Clydesdale: Google names the end user after the ground is broken

• Investment: The plan has at least one phase and as many as three additional possible phases. Each phase is about 200,000 square feet. The reported private investment rose from at least $700M to $1B per phase; a total campus figure has not been disclosed. 3
• Power: Not disclosed in the opened project accounts. Google and Beale will fund an onsite substation, but the substation's capacity was not stated. 3
• Jobs: A project-specific jobs total was not disclosed. Google said it plans an electrical training alliance that would add more than 160 apprentices in Oklahoma by 2030, a workforce program rather than a Clydesdale headcount. 4
• Community response: Google and Beale are funding about 1.5 miles of new water lines and upgrades for Washington County Rural Water District No. 3. Google also said it had contributed more than $2M to Tulsa-area workforce and community efforts over the prior two years. Stop Data Colonialism coordinator Cheyenne Morgan said residents lacked genuine community consent and raised water, power, noise, and other impacts. The Tulsa Regional Chamber said the project had been vetted for more than two years. 34

3. Heartland Industrial Park: a $65B plan meets its first public forum

• Investment: The planned project value is $65B. Phase I sought no tax incentives, according to the company. 5
• Power: The planned industrial park load is 2,100 MW, with operations targeted for 2027. 5
• Jobs: Not disclosed.
• Community response: Fluidstack said closed-loop cooling would keep water use very low and said the project would not raise local electricity rates. The company also committed $50M to Sullivan County through an enhancement agreement, split between Phase I and Phase II. Residents quoted in the local reporting summarized by Data Center Dynamics remained unconvinced, criticizing the scripted format of the open house and the lack of earlier public input. 5

4. Circle T: Westlake approves a 300 MW campus with more gates ahead

• Investment: Not disclosed.
• Power: The planned campus load is 300 MW. PowerHouse paid Oncor for a 350 MW substation, at no cost to Westlake residents; the substation will also serve the town pump station. 6
• Jobs: Not disclosed.
• Community response: Residents raised noise, water-use, and quality-of-life concerns. NBC 5 DFW reported estimated water use of about 54M gallons per year. The approval added sound walls, more trees, and cooling devices. The first building is allowed by right; later buildings require a specific-use permit. 67

5. GW Ranch: Amazon discloses a power complex built around the campus

• Investment: Each initial building is estimated at $300M. Amazon has not disclosed a total investment. Pacifico previously estimated roughly $12B of required investment; that figure is a developer estimate, not an Amazon capital-spending disclosure. 8
• Power: The project includes 35 natural-gas turbines capable of 7,650 MW, up to 750 MW of onsite solar, and 1,800 MW of battery storage. The data-center IT load was not disclosed. Generation capacity and storage capacity therefore cannot be read as the campus's IT demand. 8
• Jobs: Not disclosed.
• Community and environmental response: Amazon says initial power-generation cooling requires no water. Amazon says later phases will use brackish groundwater or produced water rather than community drinking water. ENR reports that Texas permits allow more than 12,000 tons per year of regulated air pollutants and up to 33M tons per year of greenhouse gases; actual operating emissions and turbine use remain unresolved. 8

6. AWS Calvert: the approval fight ends in a formal withdrawal

• Investment: Not disclosed.
• Power: Not disclosed in the county withdrawal notice or the Maryland Matters account.
• Jobs: Not disclosed.
• Community response: AWS attributed the decision to infrastructure priorities, development timelines, operational requirements, and its ability to deliver quickly. The county and AWS did not officially attribute the withdrawal to opposition. Maryland Matters reported fierce voter pushback during the June 23 primary: three incumbent commissioners who opposed a pause lost their primaries, and a petition against the project exceeded 10,000 signatures. The county scheduled an Aug. 18 hearing on a temporary six-month moratorium for data-center site-plan approvals. 910

What August changed

1. Power delivery is becoming part of the project boundary. PORTS-Pike pairs an 8,000 MW contracted IT load with a contemplated 9,200 MW natural-gas generation build and about $4.2B of transmission infrastructure. GW Ranch pairs a data-center campus with 7,650 MW of gas turbines, solar, and batteries. Circle T's 300 MW load comes with a 350 MW Oncor substation. Those figures measure different things, but each project puts generation or grid equipment beside the data-center plan. 268
2. Public commitments are increasingly specific while core operating metrics remain uneven. PORTS-Pike publishes construction and operating job counts; Clydesdale publishes an apprentice target but no project jobs or MW; Circle T publishes a water estimate but no investment or jobs; GW Ranch publishes generation equipment but no IT load or jobs. The missing fields are themselves useful September follow-ups because they determine whether public scale claims can be compared on one ledger. 1478
3. Community response is affecting project conditions and public timelines. Heartland's open house drew criticism about process, Circle T's approval added noise and landscaping conditions, and Calvert's opposition was followed by a formal withdrawal and a proposed moratorium. The sequence does not establish that opposition alone caused AWS's decision; the company cited its own infrastructure and timing priorities. 57910
4. A headline milestone can leave the build at different stages. Clydesdale already had a groundbreaking before Google named itself; PORTS-Pike has a lease and a first-power target; Heartland has a public open house and a 2027 target; Circle T has one approval but more permits ahead; GW Ranch has permits for three buildings; Calvert has exited the pipeline. The next investigation should therefore start with the project's actual gate, rather than treating every announcement as equivalent. 135689

September watch list

• PORTS-Pike: permits, environmental review, financing, transmission procurement, and evidence that the first 800 MW remains on the 2028 path.
• Project Clydesdale: phase-specific construction progress, disclosed MW demand, and a project-specific jobs count.
• Heartland Industrial Park: county approvals, tenant disclosure, the terms and timing of the $50M enhancement agreement, and evidence that the 2027 operating target has a construction path.
• Circle T: specific-use permits for the later buildings, final water and sound conditions, and any disclosed investment or jobs figures.
• GW Ranch: permit developments, actual emissions controls and operating assumptions, water sourcing, and any ERCOT or grid-connection filings.
• AWS Calvert: the county's moratorium outcome and any revised data-center siting rules after the AWS withdrawal.