Company revealed plan to reduce overall debt during earnings call this week
US steelmaker Cleveland-Cliffs has revealed plans to sell its idle steel mills - including to data center developers - to reduce its debt and “rightsize” operations.
As reported by Manufacturing Dive, the company shared its strategy during its earnings call on Monday.
Cleveland-Cliffs’ EVP and CFO Celso Goncalves said that the company was in talks with advisor JPMorgan regarding selling its “non-core” assets, which are said to be worth billions of dollars.
The company’s recently idled mills are located in Riverdale, Illinois, as well as Steelton and Conshohocken, Pennsylvania. In total, Cleveland-Cliffs has idled six facilities either fully or partially between March and May of 2025.
Goncalves said in the earnings call: “These sites…are all uniquely positioned geographically and have what data center developers are looking for — access to power and water with the infrastructure already in place.”
DCD has contacted Cleveland to see if any discussions have begun with any data center operators, and for information about which idle mills would be positioned for such development.
Cleveland-Cliffs was founded in 1847 as a mine operator. The company has locations across the eastern portion of the US.
Earlier this year, Steel firm JFE Holdings and Mitsubishi Corporation announced they were exploring developing a data center at JFE’s former steel mill in Kawasaki, Japan.
In 2018, DC Blox revealed it was developing an Edge data center in Birmingham, Alabama, located inside a former Trinity Steel plant.
Steel mills and other industrial buildings are ideal for data center brownfield developments, with the structures often having high ceilings, reinforced floors, freight elevators, and being designed to handle heavy machinery.
