Nebius Announces Major 800MW AI Data Center Campus in Kansas City Metro

Nebius Announces Major 800MW AI Data Center Campus in Kansas City Metro January 12, 2026 The global race for artificial intelligence infrastructure is intensifying, with cloud providers aggressively expanding their physical footprints to secure power and land for next-generation computing. In a significant move underscoring this trend, European AI-cloud specialist Nebius has unveiled plans for a massive data center campus in the Kansas City metropolitan area, positioning itself to capture a larger share of the booming AI workload market. According to city documents from Independence, Missouri, Nebius is planning to develop a 2.5 million square foot campus on a 400-acre site within the Eastgate Commerce Center. The project, which could comprise up to ten buildings, is designed to support a total power capacity of 800 megawatts, marking it as one of the larger single-announcement developments in the US heartland. The company has already closed on the acquisition of 398 acres for the site from developer NorthPoint Development as of early December. To meet the enormous power demand, a new, privately financed gas-fired generation facility will be constructed at the site of the retired Blue Valley Power Plant by Independence Power Partners. The power plant development is slated to occur in phases, with an initial 250MW segment expected by October 2027 and potential expansion to approximately 1.1 gigawatts by the end of 2029. Construction on the data center campus itself could begin this year, with the first phase potentially launching in 2028. In a statement to local media, a Nebius spokesperson highlighted the strategic importance of the location, saying, "Nebius is moving fast to bring capacity online globally, and as part of this we are exploring building a state-of-the-art AI factory in Independence." The spokesperson added, "We see potential for Independence to play an important role in the AI age. Community engagement, and efficient and sustainable data-center design are important for us." The campus is planned to utilize a closed-loop cooling system. The announcement represents a substantial scaling of Nebius's US presence. The Nasdaq-listed company, which was spun out from Russian tech giant Yandex in 2024, is focused primarily on AI and GPU-accelerated cloud services. It already operates a facility in Finland and has a growing network of leased and owned sites across Europe, the Middle East, and the United States, including another location in Kansas City approximately 20 miles west of the new campus. This project signals a continued geographic diversification of data center investment beyond traditional hubs like Northern Virginia. The Midwest, with its available land, competitive power costs, and growing connectivity, is increasingly attractive for power-intensive AI infrastructure builds. The Nebius campus, with its dedicated power plant, exemplifies the scale and complexity now required to support the future of large-scale AI computing. Source: datacenterdynamics