SoftBank, U.S. Government Partner to Develop 10GW AI Data Center Campus on Former Nuclear Site in Ohio
March 20, 2026
In a significant move to support the soaring power demands of artificial intelligence, the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) and the Department of Commerce (DOC) have entered a public-private partnership with Japan's SoftBank Group and utility AEP Ohio. The agreement aims to redevelop federal land in Southern Ohio into a massive technology hub, marking one of the most ambitious infrastructure projects tied to the AI boom.
The core of the project involves SoftBank's subsidiary, SB Energy, building 10 gigawatts (GW) of new power generation capacity to exclusively support a new 10GW data center campus at the Portsmouth Site in Pike County, Ohio. The power generation plan includes 9.2GW of natural gas-fired plants, a $33.3 billion investment from Japanese funding previously announced under a U.S.-Japan trade agreement. The data center portion itself is reported to represent a further investment of $30 to $40 billion.
U.S. Energy Secretary Chris Wright framed the initiative as a strategic national effort, stating, "Thanks to President Trump, the U.S. government is leveraging its assets - like our federal lands - to add power generation, create jobs, and ensure the United States wins the AI race." He emphasized that the project would support cutting-edge technologies while strengthening the regional energy grid.
The chosen location is the former Portsmouth Gaseous Diffusion Plant, a 640-acre parcel within a 3,775-acre federal site that once produced enriched uranium for the nation's nuclear weapons program and commercial reactors. The DOE had previously identified it as a candidate for rapid data center construction. To comply with federal policies on infrastructure funding, SB Energy and AEP Ohio are jointly investing $4.2 billion to upgrade and build new transmission lines in Southern Ohio, ensuring no cost increase for existing ratepayers.
Masayoshi Son, CEO of SoftBank Group Corp., highlighted the project's broader implications: "Our partnership with the Department of Energy strengthens America’s AI leadership, secures the energy and compute needed for the future, and powers the next era of innovation." SoftBank is a major investor in OpenAI and is already providing power infrastructure for OpenAI's 1.2GW "Stargate" data center in Texas.
The announcement underscores a trend of repurposing large, infrastructure-ready sites for energy-intensive computing. It also reflects the scale of investment required to keep pace with AI development, blending private capital with public land and policy support to build the next generation of digital infrastructure.
Source: datacenterdynamics
