Bit Digital Inc., through its subsidiary, WhiteFiber Inc., will develop a hyperscale data center in Madison, N.C. The company has finalized the acquisition of an industrial property and has entered into a power capacity agreement with Duke Energy for the upcoming campus.
Bit Digital expects the first phase—24 megawatts—to become operational by the end of the year. The campus has the potential to reach 200 megawatts at full build-out, in which case the total amount of investment could reach up to $1 billion.
The campus will take shape on a 96-acre lot at 805 Island Drive, in place of a former textile plant, which will be modified and upgraded for AI data center use. Duke Energy is set to deliver the first 24 megawatts by September this year.
READ ALSO: AI Data Center Demand
The bitcoin mining company is negotiating with multiple high-performance compute providers that could be potential tenants and has already signed a non-binding agreement with a client.
Unifi Inc. is the current user of the 946,585-square-foot textile plant. Bit Digital entered into a $52.3 million purchase agreement with the company’s subsidiary, Unifi Manufacturing, according to an SEC filing. The subsidiary stated in February it will close the manufacturing plant, laying off 91 employees, after more than 30 years of operations.
Bit Digital signed the purchase agreement through its Enovum subsidiary, a Canada-based data center operator that was acquired in late 2024. WhiteFiber, the company’s GPU cloud and AI unit, is operating out of Enovum facilities.
Data center development momentum grows
Construction pipelines in the data center sector continue to grow, signaling long-term momentum, on the heels of a record-breaking fourth quarter last year, according to an Avison Young report. Key U.S. markets include Las Vegas, which led in colocation inventory growth, Boston, driven by a spillover effect from Northern Virginia, and Dallas–Fort Worth.
Multiple AI and HPC projects and partnerships started since the start of the year, some with massive investments attached to them. In May, Blue Owl Capital closed a $7 billion data center fund, up from its initial $4 billion target. Its purpose is to focus on large-scale, built-to-suit developments, and is part of Blue Owl Capital’s digital infrastructure strategy, holding about $15 billion in assets.
That same month, Blackstone provided $925 million in debt financing for King Street’s Colovore, funds that will be used for the development of new liquid-cooled data centers across major U.S. markets, starting with Reno, Nev., Chicago and Austin, Texas.