US Data Center Tracker: Six October Milestones, From a $100B Virginia Filing to a $15B Texas Campus the County Heard About the Next Day

October at a glance

1. STACK puts a $100B, 21-building campus into joint permitting in Pittsylvania County

• Investment: The permit information puts potential investment at up to $100 billion over 15 years. A document in the filing calls it the largest private single-investment commitment on record with the Virginia Economic Development Partnership. 1
• Power: Twenty-one buildings would draw up to 3,000 MW at full buildout, mostly from generation built on site across a 205-acre pair of energy campuses. A 150 MW substation is planned to be running by 2028, and a March performance agreement requires at least 299 MW of Appalachian Power load by the end of that year. The 3,000 MW is a ceiling, the county's economic development director told WDBJ7. 12
• Jobs: Permit documents describe more than 2,500 jobs at salaries above $80,000 over 20 years, while WDBJ7 reports more than 2,000 permanent positions. The filing does not split construction from operations. 12
• Community response: The project takes no local discretionary incentives, and the county projects up to $48 million a year in property tax at buildout, which would make STACK its largest taxpayer. Water would come from Danville Utilities, up to 1 million gallons a day, and from Eden, North Carolina, up to 6 million, drawn from capacity Eden lost when the MillerCoors brewery closed in 2016. The county says the campus cannot affect Danville Utilities rates because the megasite sits in Appalachian Power's territory. 1

2. Mason County names Meta, and the price is a 40-year property tax exemption

• Investment: The county's release puts initial capital investment at $10 billion. The attorney presenting the deal, Jim Parsons, told the fiscal court that phase one would total about $15 billion. 4
• Power: The first phase is one building of nearly 400 MW, between 600,000 and 800,000 square feet, on a site of roughly 2,900 acres, with room for up to six buildings. Meta covers several hundred million dollars of transmission upgrades and the agreement bars those costs from ratepayers. 4
• Jobs: Officials project 2,000 construction and trades jobs, and at least 400 permanent jobs at full buildout, of which about 100 arrive with the first building. Construction is expected to start within three years. 34
• Community response: The county would issue industrial revenue bonds lasting up to 40 years, which exempts the campus from local property tax and replaces it with payments of $5 million a year per phase to the county and $2 million a year per phase to schools, capped at $30 million and $12 million a year. Upfront commitments exceed $115 million and the agreement commits at least $130 million, including a $45 million water treatment plant for Maysville, $40 million to $60 million for water and sewer expansion, and $15 million for public safety. We Are Mason County, the residents' group that fought the secrecy, is pressing for the final revenue agreement, and a residents' lawsuit has been filed. 34

3. Salem Township nearly triples its data-center district for a 4 GW campus

• Investment: The land assembly behind the campus is a $1.2 billion sale across 194 families, according to The Citizens' Voice; the developer's own release describes a potential $1.4 billion sale. No campus construction cost has been published. 56
• Power: The campus is planned around 4 GW of demand, with new generation and infrastructure built at the developer's expense, under Governor Josh Shapiro's Executive Order 2026-05 and the state's GRID requirements. Salem Township sits inside PJM, next to the Susquehanna nuclear plant and an existing combined-cycle gas plant. 6
• Jobs: The developer estimates the campus could support more than 2,000 jobs, without separating construction from permanent operations. 6
• Community response: The developer is offering a $43 million community benefit agreement, including $12 million for a stabilize-and-transfer micro-hospital with a round-the-clock emergency department on 42 acres at U.S. Route 11 and Stone Church Road, replacing a hospital that closed in 2022. The company also promised setbacks of 1,500 and 1,000 feet from Mills and Bower roads, ambient sound studies, baseline well-water tests for any resident who asks, and help with displaced feral cats from the neighbouring QTS site. Thirteen residents spoke: eight in favor, five against. Kira Ryman objected that no cumulative health study, sound barrier requirement or decommissioning plan came with the vote, and Teri Barren raised conflict-of-interest questions about the supervisors. 5

4. A $15B dome campus breaks ground in Hudspeth County before the county knows

• Investment: The project is reported at $15 billion. No state permit filing has surfaced that would substantiate the figure, and the developers have published no cost breakdown. 8
• Power: ServerDomes lists the campus at 350 MW when complete, with the first 80 MW running 16 months after construction starts. The site sits in Rio Grande Electric Cooperative's territory on the Western grid that serves El Paso, so it falls outside ERCOT. The company says each dome draws up to 90 percent of its power from behind-the-meter sources and that it is developing its own geothermal and solar generation, with surplus sold to outside users. 8
• Jobs: MacKenzie expects about 800 construction jobs and 200 to 300 permanent jobs. The developers have not published job counts. 8
• Community response: Project representatives apologized for the lack of notice and said conversations should have started sooner. Texas counties have no zoning authority over private land, so the county's leverage is disclosure: the project is not seeking county tax abatements, road-use agreements are still being negotiated, and the landowner is donating caliche for road repairs. Representatives were scheduled to present to the Commissioners Court on Oct. 27. Water comes from a well on the property, drawn once during setup, after which a roof catchment feeds a closed loop. 78

5. Hut 8 starts building its $17B Nueces County campus

• Investment: The first phase is filed at almost $399 million for 657,130 square feet, with completion scheduled for Nov. 5, 2027. The Corpus Christi Regional Economic Development Corporation puts the campus at $9.8 billion, and KIII reports a total cost of $17 billion to $20 billion. Two lease agreements signed by an undisclosed company total $19.6 billion as of July. 910
• Power: The campus is planned for 1 GW across two data centers run by two tenants, with electricity delivery locked in by an interconnection agreement with AEP Texas. 910
• Jobs: The project is expected to create nearly 2,000 construction jobs and about 230 permanent positions once the campus runs around the clock. 10
• Community response: Hut 8 paid $13 million in permitting fees to the City of Corpus Christi, whose council was briefed on Oct. 12. Councilwoman Sylvia Campos asked how the water use would be managed; the company's senior director for project management, Collier Pruner, said operations need municipal water only for restrooms and sinks, with a single fill of a closed loop sourced outside the county. The company is discussing sound walls, vegetation or both with the closest neighbours, and Corpus Christi's development services department is drafting an ordinance on where data centers may locate. 910

6. AWS files a 36-building programme at Homer City, and Indiana County slows it down

• Investment: No campus capital cost has been published. Amazon has separately pledged $20 billion of data-center investment across Pennsylvania, and Knighthead Capital Management is helping finance this project. 11
• Power: Each building would be two stories, 70 feet tall and about 225,000 square feet. The campus would draw on a 4.5 GW natural-gas plant that Homer City Redevelopment is building on the former coal site, with most of the output going to the campus and more than 1 GW injected back into the grid. The campus's own IT load is unpublished, so the 4.5 GW is generation, not demand. 11
• Jobs: An estimated 1,500 to 2,000 jobs once operational, at average salaries of $80,000 to $100,000. 11
• Community response: Construction is scheduled in four phases, from December 2026 to a final phase starting in January 2032, with completion targeted for June 2036. Concerned Residents of Western Pennsylvania, the citizens' group opposing the wider energy campus, asked the planning commission to reject the application and called it incomplete on technical, environmental and infrastructure grounds. The county is accepting public comment until the planning commission decides, and has said it lacks authority to stop a lawful business. The state Department of Environmental Protection held a public meeting and hearing on a wastewater discharge permit for the gas plant at Homer Center High School on Oct. 14. 1112

What October changed

November watch list

• Project Crossroads: STACK expects a permit decision by March 2027. The Corps' review of 212 acres of wetlands and the 300-acre conservation easement on the Dan River are the parts that can still change the footprint.
• Mason County: the final revenue agreement, the residents' lawsuit, and whether Kentucky's legislature trims the incentive programme the deal depends on.
• Salem 3: land development plans before the supervisors and state permits, plus the separate 185-acre campus approved for Moores 109 LLC the same night.
• Hueco Ranch: a road-use agreement with Hudspeth County and any filing that substantiates the $15 billion or the 350 MW.
• Beacon Point: the identity of the two tenants, the second building, and whether the ERCOT audit behind the state's permit pause touches the AEP Texas interconnection.
• Homer City: the Indiana County planning commission's decision, the large-load land development amendment due Nov. 18, and the Department of Environmental Protection's discharge permit.
• Fluidstack in Cameron County: the developer's Sept. 21 community filing describes a first phase of up to 1.5 GW, a capacity the company had not disclosed when it started site work in September. 17
• Elections and county votes: 39 data-center measures are on the November ballot in eight states, and the Loudoun Board of Supervisors takes up its pause resolution on Nov. 17. 1618