Nebius Group, an AI infrastructure and cloud company, is reportedly planning to build a 1.2 GW data center campus at Highridge Business Park in Butler Township, Schuylkill County, Pennsylvania. The project would include six data center buildings across approximately 600 acres spanning Butler, Cass, and Foster townships.
Readers will recall that Nebius first disclosed the Pennsylvania site during its first-quarter 2026 earnings call in May this year, and while it has not made any fresh announcements since then about this project, according to a report by MLQ.ai, the first phase, providing 250 MW to 350 MW of capacity, is scheduled to come online by the end of 2027. Nebius plans to add about 300 MW annually until the campus reaches its planned 1.2 GW capacity by 2030 or 2031.
PPL, an energy company headquartered in Pennsylvania, will supply electricity to the campus while Nebius will cover the full cost of the power consumed and that the project will not increase electricity costs for local ratepayers.
Plans reportedly call for a closed-loop cooling system intended to reduce water consumption and operational water use would be comparable to that of a similarly sized office building, although it did not provide estimated volumes and sound barriers are also included in the proposal.
Meanwhile, Nebius also seeks to expand its AI cloud platform by raising US$ 775 million through its first senior secured debt facility which is linked to the company’s existing GPU infrastructure and supported by contracted revenue from an investment-grade customer agreement. The AI cloud infrastructure footprint is expected to fully mature by October 31, 2030 and carries an interest rate of secured overnight financing rate (SOFR) plus 2.50 percent.