TL;DR
Brookfield Asset Management won the Department of Energy’s Paducah, Kentucky site for a $100 billion AI data center campus, one of the largest AI infrastructure projects ever announced. The project will include dedicated nuclear power capacity, create 5,000 construction jobs and 1,200 permanent positions, and serve as a hub for AI training and inference workloads.
The Project
The Paducah site, a former nuclear weapons production facility, will be transformed into a massive AI data center campus. Key details include:
- Total investment: $100 billion over 10 years
- Power capacity: 2 gigawatts, including dedicated small modular reactors (SMRs)
- Data center space: 5 million square feet of compute capacity
- Jobs: 5,000 construction jobs, 1,200 permanent positions
- Timeline: First phase operational by 2028, full completion by 2032
The project represents the largest single investment in AI infrastructure in US history. Brookfield beat out several competitors for the DOE site, including proposals from Amazon, Google, and Microsoft.
Why Paducah
The Paducah site was selected for several strategic reasons:
- Existing nuclear infrastructure: The site’s history as a nuclear facility provides existing grid connections and nuclear regulatory frameworks
- Federal support: The DOE is providing the site at below-market rates as part of the AI Infrastructure Initiative
- Energy independence: Dedicated nuclear power ensures reliable, carbon-free electricity for AI workloads
- Central location: Paducah’s position in the central US provides low-latency connectivity to major population centers
The DOE selected Brookfield’s proposal based on its commitment to job creation, energy sustainability, and national security considerations. The department noted that locating AI infrastructure at a former nuclear facility aligns with the government’s strategy of repurposing federal sites for AI development.
Energy and AI
The project highlights the growing intersection between AI and energy infrastructure. AI workloads are energy-intensive — a single large language model training run can consume as much electricity as a small city. The Paducah project’s dedicated nuclear capacity addresses this challenge directly.
Small modular reactors (SMRs) are a key component of the project. Unlike traditional nuclear plants, SMRs can be deployed faster and at lower cost, making them ideal for powering AI data centers. Brookfield has partnered with NuScale Power to deploy its VOYGR SMR design at the site.
The project also includes 500 MW of solar capacity and battery storage, providing additional flexibility for the campus’s energy needs.
Industry Context
The Paducah project is part of a broader trend of massive AI infrastructure investments. Microsoft announced plans for $80 billion in capital expenditures in fiscal year 2027, while Amazon committed $100 billion to AI infrastructure. Google and Meta have announced similar investments.
What sets the Paducah project apart is its scale and the involvement of the federal government. The DOE’s decision to provide the site signals that AI infrastructure is now considered a matter of national security, on par with military installations and energy infrastructure.
For the AI industry, the project represents a bet that demand for compute will continue to grow exponentially. Whether that bet pays off will depend on the pace of AI adoption and the development of more energy-efficient computing technologies.