EdgeConneX Emerges as Potential Developer of $8–12 Billion Data Center Project in Arkansas

A major data center development proposal in Grant County, Arkansas, valued between $8 billion and $12 billion, has taken a significant step forward with the identification of EdgeConneX as a possible developer. The global data center developer and operator, headquartered in Northern Virginia, Singapore, and Amsterdam, has signed a letter of intent to evaluate a 753-acre site outside Sheridan, according to an announcement made by County Judge Randy Pruitt at the Grant County Quorum Court meeting on Monday night.

For more than a year, Clean Cloud Energy, an Austin, Texas-based company, has been working behind the scenes to secure an end user for the massive facility. Pruitt said Clean Cloud Energy informed him in late June that EdgeConneX had signed the letter of intent, though he was initially asked to keep the name confidential. “That was fine, but I told them that if someone asked me, I wasn’t going to lie and say I didn’t know anything,” Pruitt said. “No one had asked me anything about it until Monday. At the Quorum Court meeting, I was asked directly and I told them what I knew.”

The letter of intent grants EdgeConneX a 120-day due diligence period, with an option for an additional 30 days. Pruitt noted that while representatives from EdgeConneX have already visited the site and begun environmental testing, formal negotiations have not yet commenced. “They are truly the real deal,” Pruitt said. “But we have not negotiated with them at this point; it’s just too early for that.”

According to its website, EdgeConneX operates 90 data centers across 20 countries on four continents. The company’s portfolio ranges from facilities requiring as little as 40 megawatts of electricity to large-scale centers needing up to 500 megawatts—enough to power between 375,000 and 500,000 homes. Clean Cloud Energy originally proposed a 500-megawatt data center a year ago, but the plan expanded to 800 megawatts after the Arkansas Electric Cooperative Corp. identified additional power suppliers.

The project has stirred considerable debate in the Sheridan area, where the facility would likely be located. Data centers are known for their high electricity consumption and, depending on design, significant water use. However, Pruitt emphasized that no public official in Grant County has signed a nondisclosure agreement for this project, and the proposed closed-loop cooling system would consume water comparable to only a handful of average-sized homes. Electric company officials have also stated that the data center would not, by itself, cause a rate increase for residents.

Grant County has taken a proactive and transparent approach to managing the project’s impact. Pruitt recently assembled a community advisory group to create a framework for negotiating with potential operators, particularly regarding requests for property tax abatements. Under Act 9, a 1960 Arkansas law, cities and counties can issue bonds for private projects, allowing for tax forgiveness of up to 65%. Justice of the Peace Mike Nevens, one of the advisors, outlined the county’s strict conditions: “We don’t want to see it, hear it or smell it. We don’t want it to ruin our water table, we don’t want it to raise electric rates for our citizens, and we don’t want it to ruin our internet. If a company can comply with all of those requirements, they will be considered for a 20% tax abatement.”

To reach the full 65% abatement, the end user would need to make a one-time upfront payment of nearly $57 million to the county. This lump sum would be distributed across services including nonprofits, schools, and fire departments, with $7.5 million allocated to provide a $1,000 tax reduction for every property owner in the county. After that, the county would collect 35% of the property taxes annually—between $25.2 million and nearly $38 million, depending on the project’s final scale—plus an additional $12.4 million each year, primarily to fund the ongoing tax refund for property owners.

Clean Cloud Energy had originally sought to attract a major technology company such as Meta, Oracle, or Google as the end user. However, Pruitt clarified that EdgeConneX, if it proceeds, would own the site and be responsible for securing that tenant. Clark Bixler, an official with Clean Cloud Energy, explained that EdgeConneX would handle all facets of the data center. “When EdgeConneX builds, owns and operates a data center it leases out its computing power to one of five very large businesses. This is the setup of approximately half of the data centers currently operating across the globe,” Bixler said.

EdgeConneX was acquired in 2020 by EQT Infrastructure, one of the world’s largest infrastructure investors, providing the company with substantial capital for expansion. This backing has enabled EdgeConneX to complete several key initiatives, including the establishment of AdaniConneX—a joint venture with Adani Enterprises in India—strategic investment in China-based data center provider Chayora, the opening of facilities in Barcelona and Brussels, acquisitions in Israel and Indonesia, and the announcement of a new development in Japan.

EdgeConneX’s investment in Chayora has raised questions under Arkansas laws restricting foreign business operations, specifically Act 636 of 2023 and Act 174 of 2024, which are currently part of a pending federal lawsuit. State Representative DeAnna Vaught, who co-authored several of these bills, declined to speculate on potential conflicts, saying she would seek clarity from the attorney general’s office. The Arkansas Times also contacted the state attorney general’s office, where spokesperson Jeff LeMaster stated, “We cannot speculate on hypothetical scenarios.”

Bixler dismissed concerns about the Chinese investment, emphasizing that EdgeConneX is a global operator with no Chinese ownership or funding. “EdgeConneX is a global operator of data centers. They simply made an investment in an established firm rather than trying to build their own business from scratch. There is no Chinese ownership of EdgeConneX and EdgeConneX receives no funding from China. It operates in China just like Amazon and Microsoft do. EdgeConnex is funded by EQT and not a Chinese company so I do not see an issue,” Bixler said.