Utah is rapidly emerging as one of the most important new frontiers for AI data center development in the United States. Several proposed campuses are measured in multiple gigawatts, with the largest targeting 10 GW or more, a scale that could transform Utah's power and digital infrastructure landscape.

The Delta Gigasite - Expansion, Stratos Hyperscale Data Center, High Performance Compute Data Center Campus, Fibernet Mercury - Delta Campus Data Center, and Tract Pole Canyon are among the largest upcoming data center projects in Utah, USA. These developments span Millard, Box Elder, and Utah counties and reflect a broader shift toward large-scale, power-integrated campuses designed specifically for AI and high-performance computing workloads.

This article examines the top 7 upcoming data center projects in Utah, comparing their planned capacity, location, developers, power infrastructure, development status, and expected timelines.

List of Largest Upcoming New Data Center Projects in Utah (United States)

Delta Gigasite - Expansion

The Delta Gigasite - Expansion is a planned 10 GW data center development in Millard County, Utah, being developed by Creekstone Energy. The expansion forms part of Creekstone's broader vision to create a more than 10 GW AI infrastructure campus, positioning the project among the largest upcoming data center projects in the US.

Capacity and Power Infrastructure

The project is being developed as a power-integrated AI campus, combining large-scale data center infrastructure with dedicated on-site and renewable generation. The initial development phase includes more than 300 MW of natural gas-powered generation, with the first capacity targeted for operation in the first half of 2027.

Creekstone has also secured firm natural gas capacity through the Kern River Gas Transmission system. Beyond the initial generation phase, the developer is pursuing additional power sources, including solar and energy storage with Zeo Energy and a potential nuclear development of up to 2 GW with EnergySolutions.

The wider development strategy also includes carbon capture solutions through Enchant Energy and grid-forming energy storage technology supplied by Torus.

Development Status and Timeline

The project has moved into active construction following the completion of several key development milestones, including land acquisition, zoning approvals, geotechnical investigations, and natural gas interconnection arrangements.

Construction began in December 2025, with work underway on the site's initial power infrastructure. Creekstone is targeting the first 300 MW-plus generation phase for completion by the first half of 2027.

The long-term expansion remains under development and will be built in multiple phases as additional power infrastructure and customer commitments are secured.

Key Contractors and Partners

Stratos Hyperscale Data Center

The Stratos Hyperscale Data Center is a proposed large-scale AI computing campus in Box Elder County, Utah. Developed by O'Leary Digital and backed by investor Kevin O'Leary, the project forms part of the wider Wonder Valley development.

The development has received authorization to move forward, although the project has generated significant local and environmental opposition because of its scale, power requirements, and potential impact on water resources and the surrounding Great Salt Lake region.

Capacity and Technical Specifications

Stratos is planned to accommodate up to 60 data center buildings across an initial 10,000-acre development area within a wider 40,000-acre master-planned site. At full build-out, the campus is expected to require approximately 7.5 GW of power, with some earlier project estimates placing potential capacity as high as 9 GW.

The development is expected to be built in phases over more than a decade. Developers are pursuing an off-grid power strategy, with natural gas generation expected to play a major role alongside a planned 3,000-acre solar development.

The campus is also expected to use closed-loop data center cooling systems. According to the developers, this approach is intended to reduce potable water consumption compared with conventional data center cooling methods.

Development and Design

O'Leary Digital has appointed Gensler as the project's architecture and master planning firm. The proposed site plan includes six data center clusters, solar arrays, supporting infrastructure, and a mixed-use innovation district. The project is being developed within an area designated by Utah's Military Installation Development Authority (MIDA). West GenCo is also involved in the wider development framework.

Development Status

The Stratos project remains in the early development and planning stage. While the project has received authorization from Box Elder County, several elements of the development, including the final construction phasing, on-site generation configuration, and individual building contractors, have yet to be publicly finalized. The project is expected to be developed over multiple phases, with the full 7.5 GW to 9 GW build-out extending over more than a decade.

Key Companies Involved

High Performance Compute Data Center Campus

The High Performance Compute Data Center Campus is a planned 4 GW AI and high-performance computing development in Millard County, Utah. The project is being developed by Joule Capital Partners on a 4,000-acre site and is designed to support large-scale artificial intelligence and other high-density computing workloads.

The development is among the largest upcoming data center projects in Utah and reflects a growing shift toward self-powered campuses designed to avoid lengthy utility interconnection timelines.

Capacity and Technical Specifications

The campus is planned to deliver up to 4,000 MW of total power capacity, with an initial phase targeting approximately 1.5 GW. The project will use an integrated behind-the-meter energy system rather than relying primarily on the public electricity grid.

Caterpillar will provide the core power infrastructure, including G3520K generator sets and combined cooling, heat, and power systems. The energy system will also incorporate approximately 1.1 GWh of grid-forming battery energy storage to improve reliability and support large-scale computing operations.

The campus is also being designed with advanced liquid cooling systems and access to major long-haul fiber routes, supporting the high power densities associated with AI and high-performance computing infrastructure.

Development Status and Timeline

The project remains in the development stage, with Joule Capital Partners advancing the site and power infrastructure in phases. Local rezoning and development activities have been initiated, while the first phase is expected to establish the initial 1.5 GW of capacity. Initial operations are targeted to begin in 2026, with further phases expected to expand capacity toward the full 4 GW development between 2027 and 2029.

Key Contractors and Partners

Fibernet Mercury - Delta Campus Data Center

The Fibernet MercuryDelta Data Center Campus is a planned large-scale AI and high-performance computing development in Millard County, Utah. The project is being developed by Fibernet MercuryDelta, a venture co-founded by Fibernet CEO Lane Livingstone and Creekstone Capital CEO Ray Conley.

The proposed campus is planned for a site southeast of Delta. Millard County has approved the rezoning of approximately 1,144 acres from agricultural to heavy industrial use to accommodate the development.

Capacity and Technical Specifications

Fibernet MercuryDelta is initially targeting approximately 2 GW of data center capacity across up to 20 million square feet of facilities. The long-term development concept could expand to as much as 10 GW, depending on the availability of power and supporting infrastructure.

The project is being designed around an off-grid power strategy, with the nearby Intermountain Power Plant identified as a potential source of large-scale generation capacity. The developer has also outlined plans for natural gas generation, renewable energy integration, and large-scale battery storage.

Initial plans include approximately 500 MW of battery storage, with the potential to expand storage capacity to more than 5 GW as the campus grows.

Development Status and Timeline

The project remains in the early development stage. Millard County approved the rezoning of the proposed site to Heavy Industrial, allowing the developer to advance plans for the data center campus.

Fibernet MercuryDelta is continuing to develop its power and infrastructure strategy, including the potential use of energy assets associated with the Intermountain Power Plant. However, agreements for the full-scale power supply and construction of the data center facilities have not yet been publicly confirmed.

Key Companies Involved

Tract Pole Canyon Data Center Campus

The Tract Pole Canyon Data Center Campus is a planned hyperscale data center development in Eagle Mountain, Utah. Developed by Tract, the 844-acre project is master-planned to support large-scale wholesale, cloud, AI, and high-performance computing infrastructure.

Located within Eagle Mountain's industrial zone, the development is designed as a multi-parcel technology campus rather than a single data center facility. The site is divided into 18 parcels, ranging from approximately 40 to 74 acres, allowing individual hyperscale or wholesale developments to be built in phases.

Capacity and Infrastructure

The Pole Canyon campus is planned to support up to 1,700 MW of power capacity. Tract is developing the underlying infrastructure needed for large-scale digital infrastructure, including planned power, water, and network connectivity.

The project has industrial zoning with data centers permitted by right, reducing the need for individual zoning approvals for future facilities. This approach is intended to shorten development timelines for hyperscale customers and infrastructure providers.

Rocky Mountain Power is expected to support the site's electricity requirements, with more than 400 MW of initial power delivery targeted through new infrastructure by 2028. Additional capacity is expected to be developed in phases as the campus expands toward its long-term 1.7 GW potential.

Development Status and Timeline

The project remains in the planned development stage, with Tract focused on preparing land, utilities, and core infrastructure for future data center construction. The site's master-planned structure allows individual parcels to be developed independently based on customer requirements.

No specific data center tenants or vertical construction contractors have been publicly announced. Construction timelines for individual facilities will likely depend on power availability and agreements with hyperscale or wholesale customers.

Key Companies and Organizations Involved

Iron Antelope Data Center Campus

The Antelope Data Campus is a planned AI and hyperscale data center development in Iron County, Utah. The project is being developed by Pronghorn Development LLC on a 640-acre site west of Cedar City. The campus is planned as a self-powered data center development, combining large-scale computing facilities with dedicated on-site natural gas generation. Iron County approved a conditional use permit for the project in June 2026, allowing the development to move forward.

Capacity and Technical Specifications

The proposed campus is designed to support up to 1.5 GW of on-site power generation at full build-out. The dedicated natural gas power plant is intended to supply the data center independently of the public utility grid, reducing reliance on external grid interconnection capacity.

Project plans include five data center buildings. Publicly reported building area figures vary between approximately 1.35 million square feet and a potential long-term build-out of up to 6.75 million square feet, depending on the final development configuration and project phases. The development is intended to support high-density AI and hyperscale computing workloads requiring substantial and reliable power capacity.

Development Status and Timeline

The Antelope Data Campus remains in the early development stage. The Iron County Planning Commission approved the project's conditional use permit in June 2026, marking a key milestone for the proposed development.

Pronghorn Development is expected to advance detailed engineering, permitting, and infrastructure planning before vertical construction begins. A construction timeline and operational date have not yet been publicly announced.

Key Companies Involved

Red Butte Data Center

The Red Butte Energy and Data Center Campus is a proposed AI-focused data center and integrated power development in western Iron County, Utah. The project is being developed by BrightNight Power on an approximately 2,600-acre site near Newcastle.

The proposed campus would combine large-scale computing infrastructure with dedicated natural gas generation, solar power, and battery energy storage. The project represents an integrated approach in which power generation and data center capacity are developed together on a single site.

Capacity and Technical Specifications

The development is planned to support up to 1.5 GW of AI and data center capacity across as many as 10 buildings, with approximately 6.6 million square feet of data center space proposed at full build-out.

The campus would be supported by a hybrid energy system including up to 1.5 GW of natural gas generation, 300 MW of solar capacity, and large-scale battery storage. Plans include a 1.5 GW/6.6 GWh firming battery system alongside an additional 300 MW/1.2 GWh battery energy storage system.

The different power assets would be integrated through a single PacifiCorp grid interconnection, allowing the project to combine on-site generation, storage, renewable energy, and grid infrastructure to support continuous data center operations.

Investment and Development Timeline

BrightNight estimates that the full development could require approximately USD 30.75 billion in investment. Earlier project plans targeted phased activation between the first quarter of 2029 and the second quarter of 2031.

The company has also proposed a local investment program tied to project development. BrightNight has committed USD 500,000 for every 100 MW of on-site power generation developed and USD 1 million for every 100 MW of data center capacity constructed. At the project's maximum planned scale, this could result in up to USD 22.5 million in local investment.

Development Status

The project is currently on hold following regulatory developments in Iron County. BrightNight submitted a conditional use permit application in May 2026, but the county subsequently determined that the application was incomplete.

Iron County later introduced a 180-day moratorium on new data center applications while it reviews and updates development standards for large-scale data center projects. The future timeline for Red Butte will therefore depend on the outcome of this regulatory review and the resubmission and approval of project applications.

Key Companies Involved

Utah's Emerging AI Data Center Market

Utah has emerged as one of the fastest-growing AI data center markets in the western United States, with developers proposing some of the country's largest power-intensive computing campuses. The market is evolving beyond the established Salt Lake City colocation corridor, with multi-gigawatt AI data center projects increasingly concentrated in rural counties such as Millard, Iron, Box Elder, and Tooele.

As of August 2026, Blackridge Research’s Data Center Database tracks approximately 40 operating data centers, compared with around 20 planned projects representing roughly more than 30 GW of additional capacity. The planned pipeline is therefore more than 25 times the state's existing operating capacity, although much of this capacity remains at the master-plan or early-development stage.

Why Are So Many Data Centers Being Built in Utah?

The primary attraction for large AI data center developers is access to land and power infrastructure. Rural Utah offers large parcels of relatively inexpensive land that can accommodate campuses requiring hundreds or thousands of acres. Millard, Iron, Box Elder, and Tooele counties have consequently become major targets for hyperscale and AI infrastructure development.

Utah's power policy has also changed the economics of these projects. Senate Bill 132 (SB 132), enacted in 2025, allows large electricity customers consuming 100 MW or more to pursue alternative power arrangements when Rocky Mountain Power determines that serving the load would require major system upgrades or create high costs. This has enabled developers to pursue behind-the-meter power generation, reducing dependence on lengthy utility interconnection queues.

Natural gas is currently the dominant source of this dedicated generation. Projects such as the Delta Gigasite, Stratos, Joule, Antelope, and Nine Mile are pursuing on-site gas generation, while solar, battery storage, and potential nuclear generation are being incorporated into several longer-term plans.

Utah also has significant renewable energy potential. Creekstone Energy, for example, has secured approximately 13,000 acres of Utah trust land for a planned solar development associated with the Delta Gigasite. Other developers are combining solar generation with battery storage to provide firm power for AI workloads.

Connectivity provides another advantage. Salt Lake City is already an established data center and telecommunications market, while Utah's location provides access to major western U.S. markets including California, Nevada, Colorado, and the Pacific Northwest.

How Much Power Will Utah's New AI Data Centers Need?

Power requirements are unusually large compared with Utah's existing data center market. Several projects now under development or consideration are measured in gigawatts rather than the tens or hundreds of megawatts typical of conventional data center campuses.

Where Are the New AI Data Centers Being Built in Utah?

Utah's emerging AI data center market is developing around several distinct geographic clusters.

Millard County has become the state's largest AI data center hub. The county is home to the Delta Gigasite, Joule High Performance Compute Campus, and Fibernet MercuryDelta. Together, these projects represent several gigawatts of proposed computing capacity and millions of square feet of potential data center space.

Iron County has attracted the Antelope Data Campus and Red Butte Energy and Data Center Campus. Antelope received conditional-use approval in June 2026, while Red Butte is currently on hold following an incomplete permit application and the county's temporary data center moratorium.

Box Elder County is home to the Stratos/Wonder Valley development. The project has become one of Utah's most controversial proposed AI campuses because of its scale, water requirements, on-site natural gas generation, and approval through the Military Installation Development Authority.

Utah County is developing a different type of AI infrastructure cluster, with Tract Pole Canyon, QTS Eagle Mountain, Google, and other projects concentrated around Eagle Mountain and surrounding communities.

Meanwhile, Salt Lake County remains the state's established data center and colocation center, with facilities operated by Novva, Aligned, DataBank, Flexential, and other providers.

Why Is Behind-the-Meter Power Important for Utah Data Centers?

Traditional data centers typically depend on utility grids to deliver electricity. Utah's largest new AI campuses are increasingly pursuing a different model because securing several hundred megawatts or multiple gigawatts through conventional utility interconnection can take years and require major grid investment.

Behind-the-meter generation allows a data center to generate electricity directly at or adjacent to its campus. Joule, for example, is designing its Millard County campus around on-site generation rather than relying entirely on the local utility grid.

The model is also evolving beyond natural gas. Developers are evaluating combinations of:

• Natural gas generation

• Solar power

• Battery energy storage

• Grid-forming storage

• Carbon capture

• Advanced nuclear and small modular reactors

This makes Utah an important test case for the emerging AI data center + dedicated power campus model.

What Is Driving Controversy Around Utah's AI Data Centers?

The rapid expansion has also created significant opposition. The main concerns are water consumption, air emissions, power generation, land use, and the impact on rural communities and the Great Salt Lake basin.

The Stratos project has been particularly contentious. Two proposed water-right changes associated with the development were withdrawn after thousands of public protests. The project was subsequently reduced from its earlier 9 GW proposal to approximately 7.5 GW, and its development area was significantly reduced.

Iron County separately imposed a 180-day moratorium on new data centers, data center power plants, and solar applications in 2026. Box Elder County also adopted a temporary moratorium following the controversy surrounding Stratos.

The regulatory environment is therefore becoming an important factor in determining which proposed AI data centers can move from announcements to construction.

What Is the Outlook for Utah's AI Data Center Market?

Utah's AI data center pipeline is unusually large relative to its existing market. However, the 30 GW-plus headline pipeline should not be treated as committed capacity.

The most important indicators over the next several years will be actual construction, energized power capacity, secured water rights, air permits, financing, and signed data center customers. Projects such as Joule, Delta Gigasite, QTS, and Antelope provide more immediate indicators of whether Utah's AI infrastructure ambitions can translate into operational capacity.

If developers successfully combine on-site generation, renewable power, storage, and eventually nuclear energy with large-scale AI computing, Utah could become a significant western U.S. hub for hyperscale and AI infrastructure. At the same time, regulatory reform, water availability, environmental constraints, and community opposition could substantially reshape the current pipeline.

Conclusion

Utah's emerging AI data center market is defined by exceptional scale and an equally significant level of uncertainty. Projects such as the Delta Gigasite - Expansion and Stratos Hyperscale Data Center demonstrate how developers are pursuing multi-gigawatt campuses, while the High Performance Compute Data Center Campus, Fibernet Mercury - Delta Campus Data Center, and Tract Pole Canyon add further depth to the state's pipeline.

The announced capacity should not be treated as delivered capacity. Water availability, air-quality permits, local zoning, power generation, financing, community opposition, and tenant commitments remain critical hurdles. Recent moratoriums in Iron and Box Elder counties further demonstrate the regulatory risks facing large-scale development.

Find Upcoming Data Center Projects in Utah, USA

Unlock United States Data Center Opportunities! Introducing Blackridge Research's Global Project Tracking (GPT) platform:

• Instant access to the latest Data Center Facility Projects in the United States

• Comprehensive insights from planning to completion

• Essential details: scope, CapEx, timelines, and key contacts

• User-friendly interface for quick opportunity identification
  

Want more data center construction insights, including planned projects, active companies, and key decision-makers? Get started with our project tracker demo today.

Why Blackridge’s Global Projects Tracker? 

Blackridge’s Global Projects Tracker covers projects from 150 countries and is updated with real-time, accurate, and authentic project developments. By subscribing to our United States Data Center projects database, you can get access to key contact details of ongoing and upcoming projects, project timelines and overviews, and regular alerts on project developments, all served to you through an easy-to-use interface.