13th November 2026
America is embarking on a new industrial revolution, but this time the factories are rather different. Instead of producing cars, steel or machinery, they are producing something less visible but increasingly valuable: computing power.
Across the United States, enormous data centres are being planned and constructed to support the rapid expansion of artificial intelligence. These are not simply larger versions of the buildings that store our emails, websites and business records. They are vast computing facilities containing thousands of highly specialised processors, operating around the clock to train and run increasingly sophisticated AI systems.
One of the most striking developments is taking place in Ohio, where an extraordinary partnership involving OpenAI, Nvidia and SB Energy is planning a huge new technology campus in Pike County.
The project offers an insight into how the AI industry is developing, why particular locations are attracting investment and what this might mean for countries such as Britain and Scotland.
Ohio's extraordinary new development
The PORTS-Pike Technology Campus is planned for the former Portsmouth Gaseous Diffusion Plant in southern Ohio. During the Cold War, this government facility played an important role in enriching uranium for America's nuclear programme. Now, the site is being prepared for a very different purpose.
SB Energy, part of Japan's SoftBank Group, will develop, own and operate the campus. OpenAI, the company behind ChatGPT, has agreed to take approximately 8 gigawatts of computing capacity under a 20-year arrangement. Nvidia, the world's leading supplier of specialist AI processors, will provide the computing infrastructure and invest $1.5 billion in SB Energy.
The initial phase is expected to provide 800 megawatts of capacity, with the first computing facilities expected to become available in 2028.
The full development is planned to be delivered in stages. OpenAI estimates that it could generate around 35,000 construction jobs during the six-year building programme and approximately 2,500 permanent operating jobs.
These are substantial figures for a relatively rural part of America.
The companies have also announced an $80 million community investment fund, with money intended to support local priorities including education, workforce training, healthcare, housing and small businesses.
It is an ambitious attempt to turn a former industrial site into a major centre of the new digital economy.
Why Ohio?
Ohio might not be the first state that comes to mind when thinking about America's technology industry. California has Silicon Valley, while Northern Virginia has developed into one of the world's largest concentrations of data centres.
However, Ohio has several advantages.
Land is available, including former industrial and government sites. The state has established electricity infrastructure and access to the wider PJM electricity market, which serves a substantial part of the eastern United States.
It is also well connected to major population centres and telecommunications networks.
Ohio has actively encouraged investment in data centres, although the state has begun reconsidering some of its generous tax incentives as the costs and consequences of the expansion become clearer.
The former Portsmouth site is particularly attractive because it offers an opportunity to redevelop an existing industrial location rather than start entirely from scratch.
There is a wider economic argument here. Areas that have experienced industrial decline are being presented with an opportunity to attract a new generation of investment.
But attracting the investment is only the beginning. The important question is how much lasting economic activity remains in the surrounding communities.
The electricity challenge
Perhaps the most remarkable aspect of the Ohio development is not the buildings or the computers. It is the amount of electricity required to operate them.
The project is expected to require approximately 8 gigawatts of computing capacity and plans for around 10 gigawatts of new electricity generation to support it.
That is an extraordinary requirement. It is comparable to the output of several large power stations operating together.
The plans include approximately 9.2 gigawatts of new natural gas generation, with funding associated with the US-Japan investment agreement.
This illustrates a fundamental change in the data-centre industry.
Previously, companies could build a facility and connect it to the existing electricity network. Increasingly, the scale of their requirements means that developers must arrange new power generation, transmission lines and major grid improvements.
The companies involved say they will pay for the infrastructure needed to serve the project rather than pass those costs to ordinary electricity customers.
Whether that promise is delivered in practice will be closely watched.
There are also environmental questions. Natural gas generation produces carbon emissions, while the construction of enormous computing facilities creates demands for land, water and other resources.
The developers say the Ohio campus will use closed-loop, air-cooled systems to reduce continuing water consumption. This is important in an industry where cooling can become a significant environmental issue.
A new relationship between technology and energy
The Ohio project also demonstrates how closely connected the major technology companies have become.
OpenAI needs computing capacity to develop and operate its AI systems. Nvidia supplies the specialised processors that make much of that computing possible. SB Energy provides the buildings, electricity arrangements and physical infrastructure.
These are increasingly interdependent businesses.
Nvidia is not simply selling processors. It is also investing in companies developing the infrastructure that will purchase and use those processors.
This creates enormous opportunities, but also raises questions about financial exposure. When customers, suppliers and investors become closely connected, the risks of the wider AI investment boom can become harder to assess.
The sums involved are staggering, and the industry is making investment decisions based on expectations of continued growth in demand for AI.
That demand may well continue rising, but investors will eventually need to demonstrate that the revenues generated justify the enormous cost of building the infrastructure.
Not everyone is convinced
Ohio's enthusiasm for data centres has not gone unchallenged.
The state has already introduced special electricity arrangements intended to ensure that large data-centre customers pay more of the costs they create.
In May 2026, Governor Mike DeWine also paused consideration of new applications for certain data-centre tax exemptions while legislators examined the industry's economic and environmental effects.
The scale of the tax incentives had become controversial, with actual exemptions substantially exceeding earlier estimates.
Residents and campaigners have questioned whether the promised employment and economic benefits justify the electricity demand, environmental consequences and public support being offered.
This is not simply an American argument. Similar questions are emerging wherever large data centres are proposed.
A facility costing billions of pounds or dollars may create thousands of construction jobs, but once operational it can employ relatively few people compared with a traditional factory of similar investment value.
The real economic benefits therefore depend on what else develops around it: engineering companies, maintenance contractors, specialist suppliers, training opportunities, research and other businesses.
What can Scotland learn?
This is where the Ohio experience becomes particularly relevant to Scotland.
Scotland has considerable renewable electricity resources, large areas of available land and a number of communities looking for new sources of employment as traditional industries change.
There is already growing interest in developing data centres and AI infrastructure in Britain. The UK Government has also identified AI Growth Zones as a way of encouraging investment in locations where new computing capacity could make better use of available electricity network capacity.
In September 2026, the Scottish Government introduced a requirement for environmental impact assessments for new data-centre developments exceeding 50 megawatts.
That is a significant step. It recognises that these developments can have consequences well beyond the boundaries of the buildings themselves.
There is an especially interesting opportunity in the north of Scotland.
Caithness and Sutherland have renewable energy developments, electricity infrastructure and considerable experience of major engineering projects. The region also has a long history of adapting to industrial change, from the nuclear industry at Dounreay to the development of renewable energy.
However, attracting a data centre simply because land is available would not necessarily be a good economic strategy.
The electricity arrangements would need careful examination. So would the number and quality of permanent jobs, the use of local contractors, water requirements, environmental effects and the contribution made to local communities.
A development that imports most of its equipment, employs relatively few people and sends much of its economic benefit elsewhere would be a rather limited form of regeneration.
A better approach would be to encourage a wider technology and engineering cluster, involving local colleges, universities, apprenticeships and businesses supplying the facilities.
The next industrial revolution
The Ohio project demonstrates that the AI revolution is no longer simply about software companies and clever computer programmes.
It is becoming a major infrastructure industry, requiring power stations, transmission networks, construction companies, specialist engineers and enormous amounts of capital.
The competition between countries and regions will increasingly involve access to electricity as much as access to technology.
Ohio is attempting to turn a former Cold War industrial site into a centre of the AI economy. Whether it succeeds in delivering the promised long-term benefits will be an important test.
For Scotland, the lesson is not necessarily to build something on the same scale. It is to recognise that the AI economy creates opportunities beyond the traditional technology centres.
But governments and local authorities should ask a straightforward question before offering incentives or committing scarce infrastructure resources:
What lasting economic benefit will the local community receive in return for hosting these enormous developments?
The new industrial revolution is arriving. The challenge is to make sure that the places providing the land, electricity and infrastructure are not simply left to carry the costs while others collect the rewards.