Sphere 3D plans 50MW data center in Hopkinsville, Kentucky, with potential conversion of mining site to AI/HPC

Cryptomining firm Sphere 3D is proposing a 50MW data center in Hopkinsville, Kentucky, alongside the potential conversion of its existing 15MW Bitcoin mining facility to support AI and high-performance computing (HPC) workloads. The plans were presented by the company's subsidiary, North Campbell Land Co., during a July 27 public hearing on potential data center zoning regulations in the city.

The proposed 50MW facility would be developed at a separate, currently undisclosed site. As part of the project, North Campbell has offered to fund a new 65MW substation for Hopkinsville Electric System (HES), with an estimated cost of $8–10 million. Approximately 50MW of capacity would be allocated to the data center, while the remaining 15MW would be made available to other HES customers. HES general manager Jeff Hurd told city council members this month that the Tennessee Valley Authority could provide the additional capacity without affecting service to the utility's roughly 13,000 existing customers.

The development would be completed in phases, beginning with the conversion of Sphere 3D's existing mining operation at HES's Holland Substation. Hurd said the new substation could be ready within six to 12 months, although no overall development schedule has been confirmed. Neither project has received formal approval, and no prospective AI or HPC customers have been disclosed to date.

The existing mining site has been operating for approximately three years and comprises around 22 modular computing units. It participates in a flexible-load program that allows HES to reduce or halt its electricity consumption during periods of high demand. This arrangement highlights the growing interplay between energy-intensive compute workloads and grid management, a dynamic increasingly central to data center siting decisions.

Hopkinsville currently does not classify data centers as a separate land use, but officials are preparing the city's first specific zoning regulations for the sector. A July working draft would classify facilities using less than 75MW and occupying less than 50,000 square feet as large-scale data centers, subject to a 1,000-foot setback from neighboring residential, public, and quasi-public properties. Facilities using at least 75MW or occupying 50,000 square feet or more would be classified as hyperscale and prohibited. The physical footprint of Sphere 3D's proposed facility has not been disclosed. The Community and Development Services department is expected to hold a second public hearing before making a recommendation to the Hopkinsville City Council.

North Campbell became a wholly owned subsidiary of Sphere 3D following the company's acquisition of Cathedra Bitcoin in June. The combined business operates approximately 53MW across sites in Iowa, Kentucky, and Tennessee, with a claimed development pipeline exceeding 100MW. Sphere 3D confirmed the Hopkinsville plans in its second-quarter results, reporting revenue of $2.5 million, a net loss of $13.8 million, and cash and cash equivalents of $2.8 million as of June 30.

The company is also seeking shareholder approval to change its name to DarkHorse Technologies Inc. and replace its Nasdaq ticker, ANY, with the reserved symbol DRK. Sphere 3D said the proposed rebrand reflects its strategic shift toward modular AI and HPC infrastructure at smaller, power-ready sites. Shareholders are scheduled to vote on the change on August 24. The move underscores a broader industry trend in which crypto miners are repurposing existing energy assets to capture demand from AI and cloud workloads, potentially reshaping the economics of both sectors.