A joint venture has successfully secured $600 million in construction financing to develop a significant data centre in Virginia dedicated to artificial intelligence (AI) services, catering to the demands of cloud provider CoreWeave. The 50-megawatt build-to-suit facility, already pre-leased to CoreWeave, is being constructed by a collaboration involving PowerHouse Data Centers, Chirisa Technology Parks, and Blue Owl Real Estate. The centre is situated within CTP's expansive 350-acre campus near Richmond.
The financing, arranged by brokerage firm Newmark, comes from a syndicate led by Société Générale, aimed at covering the remaining development costs for the project, which commenced construction earlier this year. The data centre is projected to start providing its initial operational capacity by 2025.
CoreWeave has already established a presence at CTP's Richmond campus, where it signed a contract for 28 megawatts in September 2023. This new development aligns with an ongoing partnership that PowerHouse, Chirisa, and Blue Owl announced in late August, indicating plans to potentially invest up to $5 billion in the construction of large-scale AI data centres for CoreWeave and other clients. Future expansions under consideration include sites in New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Texas, Kentucky, and Nevada.
Headquartered in New Jersey, CoreWeave has exhibited a rapid expansion of its data centre capabilities over the past year and a half. Originally founded as a cryptocurrency mining and blockchain enterprise in 2017, the company has transitioned its focus to become a dedicated cloud provider for high-performance computing, utilising graphics processing units essential for AI applications.
As a noteworthy player in the AI startup landscape, CoreWeave has also secured strategic partnerships, including a $10 billion agreement with Microsoft and has raised over $12.7 billion in funding within a relatively short timeframe. Furthermore, the company is reportedly preparing for an initial public offering (IPO) scheduled for 2025.
CoreWeave's aggressive growth strategy includes the launch of 28 data centres globally by the end of this year, with an additional 10 planned for 2025. The company has already made significant headway, with nine data centres opened in 2024 and a number of other projects in the pipeline. Among these enterprises is a substantial $1.2 billion redevelopment of a former Merck campus, which will feature an on-site natural gas power plant.
Source: Noah Wire Services