Data Center Investment News — 14/08/2026
August 14, 2026
Written by Angela Cáceres, Ensar Aljimi, Siddhi Pandit
Amazon plans 18-building campus outside Cincinnati, Ohio
AWS is eyeing a 601-acre site in Butler County, Ohio, near Trenton, for an 18-building campus totaling nearly 4 million square feet. The site sits close to a Duke Energy substation and gas plant, and the plans emerge as Butler County officials weigh a temporary moratorium on new data center development amid local pushback.
The project adds to Amazon’s already expansive Ohio footprint, where the company has committed $23 billion in investment by 2030 across multiple counties. Nearby, real estate firm Prologis is separately developing a four-building campus reportedly earmarked for Amazon as well, underscoring the pace of hyperscale expansion converging on the Cincinnati region.
Centuria eyes 250MW of data center capacity in Australia
Australian industrial real estate firm Centuria Industrial REIT is moving deeper into the data center sector, outlining plans in its FY2026 results to develop more than 250MW of capacity across existing campuses and repurposed industrial sites. The company already owns three data center properties, including a Melbourne facility leased to Telstra and a Perth site occupied by Fujitsu.
Centuria has filed power applications for three additional industrial properties, in Yarraville, Thomastown, and Hazelmere, that could be converted for data center use. The move reflects broader momentum in Australia’s data center market, where the company says demand is now outpacing supply amid accelerating AI-driven growth.
JLL: Data center demand exceeds expectations, doubles year-over-year
Data center demand in North America doubled year-over-year in the first half of 2026, according to JLL’s midyear report, with absorption hitting a record 25GW as hyperscalers, neoclouds, and AI companies compete for scarce capacity. Vacancy has held at just 1 percent for a third consecutive year despite unprecedented construction activity, while rental rates have climbed nearly 70 percent since 2020.
The report also flags a widening gap between public support for AI leadership and local acceptance of new data center development, which JLL warns could constrain the infrastructure buildout needed to keep pace with demand. Even so, investor confidence remains strong, with AI-related bond issuance reaching $250 billion in the first half of 2026 alone.
AI data center developer 5C secures half a billion dollars in new financing
AI infrastructure developer 5C Group has secured $605 million in debt financing led by Brookfield Asset Management, adding to the $835 million in equity and debt it raised in 2025. The new capital will support development of 5C’s priority sites, including a planned campus acquisition in Memphis and continued build-out in Phoenix and Ohio.
Launched in 2023 and acquired last year by Hypertec Cloud, 5C says it now has more than 1.5GW of capacity in its pipeline as it positions itself among North America’s largest AI infrastructure providers.
Fluidstack shares details of planned data center in Sullivan County, Indiana
AI cloud provider Fluidstack held a public open house to outline its planned $65 billion data center campus at the 2.1GW Heartland Industrial Park in Sullivan County, Indiana, with operations targeted to begin in 2027. The company says the facility will use a closed-loop cooling system to minimize water use and has committed $50 million to the county government through an enhancement agreement.
Despite the outreach effort, some residents remain skeptical, with attendees reporting vague answers to technical questions and criticizing the company for not holding public meetings earlier in the process. The site sits near Hallador Energy’s coal-fired Merom Generating Station and follows a joint venture Fluidstack struck earlier this year with a data center venture backed by investment firm Coatue Management.
NTT Data reports half a billion dollars of data center investment in Q1 financial results
NTT Data reported more than half a billion dollars in data center investment for its fiscal Q1 2026, with data center sales reaching $733 million and an operating margin of 33 percent in the segment. The results came alongside broader company growth, including net sales of $8 billion, up nearly 16 percent year-over-year.
Newly appointed CEO Kazuhiko Nakayama pointed to structural shifts in the market, including consolidation and evolving pricing models, as drivers of the company’s continued investment. NTT Data currently operates more than 2GW of capacity across 160 data centers spanning 20 markets worldwide.
Amazon files to develop two new data center campuses in Texas
Amazon has filed permits to build six new data center buildings across two Texas campuses, in Fort Stockton and Floydada, while also expanding its previously announced Project Eagle campus outside Houston with six additional buildings. Each of the roughly 189,000 sq ft buildings is expected to cost around $300 million, with construction across the various sites running from August 2026 into 2027.
The filings add to Amazon’s rapidly growing Texas footprint, which already includes projects near Austin, San Antonio, and a proposed campus next to a nuclear plant outside Fort Worth, reflecting the state’s emergence as one of the most active markets for hyperscale data center construction.
Amazon acquires 8,000-acre site in Pecos, Texas, for natural gas powered behind-the-meter data center – report
Amazon has acquired an 8,000-acre site in Pecos County, Texas, where it plans to build a data center campus powered by what could become the largest natural gas plant in the country, with permits allowing for up to 7.65GW of capacity across 35 turbines. The company says the behind-the-meter power source will let it avoid raising electricity costs for local residents while it transitions toward grid-connected service over time.
The deal follows a broader hyperscaler shift toward natural gas generation to meet surging AI power demand, with Amazon also exploring a similar project near Pittsburgh and Microsoft already developing its own gas-powered campus elsewhere in Pecos.
