Status: Pre-Construction / Site Prep | Location: 760-acre site in Pulaski County, Arkansas
The announcement of the AVAIO Digital Leo campus on January 12, 2026, has sent shockwaves through the North American data center market. Located on a sprawling 760-acre site in Pulaski County near Little Rock, this project represents a staggering $21 billion total investment over its lifecycle. It is designed to solve the primary bottleneck of 2026: the global shortage of high-density power for Artificial Intelligence.
Named after the constellation Leo, the "Leo Data Hub" is engineered for the sheer scale required by modern LLM (Large Language Model) training. The campus is planned to support up to 1 Gigawatt (1,000 MW) of IT load, making it one of the largest concentrated data center footprints in the United States. A critical differentiator for this project is its integrated power strategy; while Entergy Arkansas is fast-tracking a 150 MW grid connection for Phase 1 (June 2027), the site includes significant on-site natural gas infrastructure. This allows AVAIO to deploy "behind-the-meter" power generation, enabling them to bring capacity online much faster than projects reliant solely on strained national grids.
Technically, the Leo campus is built "AI-first." Every building is designed with the structural and thermal requirements for liquid cooling and rack densities exceeding 100kW. The location was strategically chosen not just for its power, but for its role as a crossroad for regional and long-haul fiber connecting major hubs like Dallas and Atlanta.
The economic impact on Arkansas is unprecedented. Beyond the $6 billion initial phase, the project is expected to create over 500 permanent high-tech jobs and thousands of construction roles. Governor Sarah Huckabee Sanders has highlighted the project as a cornerstone of the state's transformation into a "Silicon Prairie." By pairing substantial on-site energy generation with massive physical scale, the Leo Data Hub sets the benchmark for the next generation of "AI Factories" in the American Heartland.
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| Project Name | AVAIO Digital Leo - Little Rock Data Hub |
| Location | 760-acre site in Pulaski County, Arkansas |
| Status | Pre-Construction / Site Prep |
| Commissioning | Phase 1: June 2027 |
| Total IT Load | 1 GW (1,000 MW) upon full buildout |
| Total Capacity | Multi-building Hyperscale Campus |
| Tier Level | Tier III Equivalent (Standard Hyperscale) |
| Project Type | AI-Ready / Hyperscale Power Campus |
| Header | Details |
|---|---|
| City Name | Little Rock |
| Population | ~203,000 |
| Urban Agglomeration | 750,000 |
| City GDP | ~USD 45 billion |
| Per Capita Income | ~USD 35,000 |
| City Tier | Tier 2 City (U.S. regional economic hub) |
| Key Strengths | Central U.S. location with strong logistics connectivity |
| Header | Details |
|---|---|
| Developer / Operator | AVAIO Digital |
| Strategic Infrastructure Partner | Arkansas Economic Development Commission (AEDC) |
| Construction Contractor | To be finalized (Q1 2026) |
| MEP Engineering | Syska Hennessy Group (Consulting) |
| Network Connectivity | Multiple long-haul fiber routes (Dallas-Atlanta-Memphis) |
| Power Infrastructure | Entergy Arkansas |
| Header | Details |
|---|---|
| Power Capacity | 150 MW (Phase 1) up to 1 GW |
| UPS Redundancy | N+1 / 2N Distributed |
| Cooling System | AI-Optimized (Liquid Cooling Ready) |
| Connectivity | Low-latency regional fiber backbone |
| PUE Target | < 1.20 |
| Energy Mix | Grid Power + On-site Natural Gas Generation (Microgrid) |
| Header | Details |
|---|---|
| Announcement | January 12, 2026 |
| Construction Start | Q1 2026 |
| Phase 1 Go-Live | June 2027 |
| Full Buildout | 2030-2031 |
| Header | Details |
|---|---|
| Total Investment | $21 Billion (Full Buildout) / $6B Phase 1 |
| Funding | Private Equity (AVAIO) + Hyperscale Tenant Capital |
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