SoftBank, DOE Back 10GW Ohio AI Data Center and Power Buildout

SoftBank is backing a massive expansion of power and data center infrastructure in Ohio, in a project that underscores the growing convergence of energy and AI development in the U.S.

The U.S. Department of Energy said Friday it is partnering with SoftBank and AEP Ohio to redevelop federal land at the Portsmouth Site in Pike County into a 10-gigawatt data center campus supported by an equivalent amount of new power generation.

The initiative includes plans by SB Energy, a SoftBank subsidiary, to build 10 GW of capacity—of which 9.2 GW would come from natural gas plants—alongside transmission upgrades across southern Ohio.

The project represents one of the largest announced AI infrastructure developments in the country, with Bloomberg reporting that the data center portion alone could require between $30 billion and $40 billion in investment. The associated power buildout, backed in part by Japanese funding commitments tied to a broader U.S.-Japan trade agreement, totals more than $33 billion.

Rather than a single centralized plant, the natural gas generation is expected to be deployed across multiple locations in the region, feeding into the grid to support both the data center campus and broader electricity demand.

The scale reflects the surging energy requirements of AI computing, where hyperscale data centers are increasingly measured in gigawatts rather than megawatts. By pairing new generation with a large colocated load, the project also highlights a “bring your own power” approach that has gained traction as utilities struggle to meet rapidly rising demand from data center developers.

Under the agreement, SB Energy will also invest $4.2 billion with AEP Ohio to expand transmission infrastructure, with officials emphasizing that the upgrades will not raise costs for ratepayers. Excess generation and transmission capacity is expected to be made available to the grid, a structure the DOE said could help lower electricity prices in the region. Construction is slated to begin later this year, according to the DOE.

The Portsmouth site, historically tied to U.S. nuclear and national security programs, is also expected to undergo environmental remediation as part of the redevelopment. Officials said the project could create thousands of jobs while positioning the U.S. to compete more aggressively in the global AI race.

The announcement adds to a growing pipeline of multi-gigawatt data center projects across the U.S., where developers are increasingly pairing large-scale compute facilities with dedicated energy infrastructure to secure power availability and avoid delays tied to grid interconnection constraints.

SoftBank has been steadily expanding its footprint in digital infrastructure tied to high-performance computing. Earlier, the Japanese conglomerate participated in a $50 million private investment in public equity transaction in Cipher Digital, a U.S.-listed Bitcoin mining company that has been pivoting toward high-performance computing and AI data center development.