The US Department of Energy has announced a private investment plan worth $100 billion to transform a Cold War-era uranium enrichment site in western Kentucky into a large-scale artificial intelligence and high-performance computing campus.

Under the plan, Brookfield Asset Management will build a 1.8 GW data center campus, while NextEra Energy will develop 2 GW of natural gas-fired generation facilities and a 2.6 GW battery energy storage system.

The project is scheduled to be built in phases through 2032 and is expected to create about 8,000 construction jobs and 600 long-term operational positions.

However, as global AI infrastructure investment continues to expand, financing costs, power supply, and project approval issues are becoming major constraints on the industry's development.

Supporting Independent Power Generation and Storage to Reduce Impact on the Local Grid

The project, named the "Paducah American Energy Hub," will be built on the site of the former Paducah Gaseous Diffusion Plant.

The campus plans to use a dedicated power supply system and will have the capability to transmit surplus electricity to the regional grid, in order to reduce the potential impact of large data center electricity consumption on local residents' and businesses' power bills.

In addition, the campus will use a closed-loop circulating cooling system to reduce external water consumption.

The original uranium enrichment facility was designed with a maximum water intake capacity of up to 30 million gallons per day.

AI Infrastructure Financing and Approval Difficulties Intensify, Multiple Large Projects Stalled

The announcement of this $100 billion investment plan comes as the AI data center industry faces pressure from rising financing costs and stalled project construction.

Previously, about $38 billion in "Stargate" data center construction debt underwritten by JPMorgan Chase encountered difficulties when being distributed to institutional investors, and ultimately part of the debt had to be sold at a discount.

S&P also downgraded Oracle's credit rating to BBB- due to its massive data center capital expenditure.

On the project construction side, OpenAI suspended its UK "Stargate" data center plan in April this year due to excessively high industrial electricity prices and regulatory uncertainty.

Oracle's Project Jupiter in New Mexico, with an investment of about $18 billion, has also stalled because the accompanying natural gas power plant has not obtained the necessary permits.

At the same time, AI data center projects are facing community opposition.

A Gallup survey shows that about 71% of American respondents oppose building AI data centers in their local areas; related statistics show that more than $130 billion worth of data center projects in the United States have been blocked or delayed.

Against this backdrop, the Paducah project uses a former industrial facility site and combines data center construction with independent power generation and energy storage facilities, in an attempt to alleviate the power supply and construction constraints facing the expansion of AI infrastructure.