SoftBank Ohio AI Plant: $500B 10GW Portsmouth Data Center

Status: Groundbreaking / Site Redevelopment (March 2026)   |   Location: Piketon (Pike County), Ohio

Project Overview

Announced on March 20, 2026, the Portsmouth AI Technology Campus represents one of the largest AI infrastructure initiatives globally, structured as a $500 billion public-private partnership between the U.S. Department of Energy, SoftBank, and AEP Ohio. The project is being developed on a 3,700-acre federal site in Portsmouth, previously used for uranium enrichment during the Cold War, signaling a strategic transformation of legacy industrial assets into next-generation AI infrastructure. Designed as a fully self-sufficient “AI Plant,” the campus integrates power generation and compute at an unprecedented scale, anchored by a dedicated $33.3 billion natural gas-based energy fleet capable of delivering 9.2 gigawatts (GW), with an additional 800 megawatts (MW) planned for future expansion.

The total $500 billion investment encompasses not only physical infrastructure such as data halls but also the procurement of advanced AI semiconductors, including next-generation platforms like Nvidia Rubin, Nvidia Feynman, and AMD MI600-class systems. This positions the campus at the forefront of global AI compute capacity, capable of supporting hyperscale model training and inference workloads. To mitigate the impact on local communities, SoftBank has introduced a “Ratepayer Protection Pledge,” committing $4.2 billion toward regional grid modernization in collaboration with AEP Ohio, ensuring that the project’s substantial energy demand does not translate into higher utility costs for residents. Strategically, the development forms a cornerstone of a broader $550 billion U.S.-Japan trade agreement, aimed at strengthening technological leadership in artificial intelligence while catalyzing economic revitalization across the American Midwest.

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