OpenAI and Anthropic have pledged billions for huge data center projects. Now they’re also shopping for smaller places to put their computers.

On September 18, CNBC reported that both were exploring computing deals of roughly 20 to 30 megawatts. If they can find smaller sites with power already available, they could get more computers running while they wait for the mega-campuses to be completed.

You can have the chips, the money, and a line of people willing to pay. But none of that gets the computers running if you’re still waiting for the utility to connect the site.

Think about Earnings Desk, our fictional research app. Say business is good, more people are signing up, and they’re asking more questions. Sooner or later, whoever runs the computers behind the app needs more of them, which means finding a place to put them.

This is the fourth article in Bob Byrne’s AI series. Read the others here:

• Meet the Chips Behind Every AI Answer
• Who Gets Paid When You Ask AI a Question?
• Why Fast AI Chips Still Have to Wait

More Than Four Walls

A data center developer finds the land, arranges power, gets permits, and raises money to build. You’ll hear the word turnkey, which means the customer gets a building ready for its computers, with power, cooling, and connections already in place.

Eaton (ETN) makes gear that delivers power through the building, while Vertiv (VRT) supplies power and cooling systems. If you follow the AI trade, you probably know both names. Over the two years through October 2, 2026, Eaton’s shares gained about 33%, before dividends. But Vertiv’s roughly 147% rise shows how excited investors are about the power and cooling side of this buildout.

The developer rents the building to a customer, and a long-term lease helps secure construction loans. But lenders want to know who’ll pay if something goes wrong. An investment-grade backstop means a company with a strong credit rating agrees to cover certain rent or loan payments if needed.

For investors, the lease is only part of the picture. We also want a customer able to pay, a firm power commitment, and financing to finish construction.

TeraWulf (WULF), Hut 8 (HUT), Core Scientific (CORZ), and Applied Digital (APLD) are all building businesses around this demand. TeraWulf earns rent at Lake Mariner, while Core Scientific has been adapting sites for CoreWeave (CRWV). Hut 8 has signed major leases and raised funding for construction. Applied Digital said on October 2 that its Polaris Forge 1 campus had 250 megawatts ready for customers’ computers.

Waiting for the Power

Getting connected can take years. Real estate firm Jones Lang LaSalle, better known as JLL, puts the average grid connection wait in major data center markets at more than four years.

Faced with that kind of wait, some developers are arranging to generate power on-site. That’s called behind-the-meter generation, and it can reduce how much electricity they need from the grid.

But those projects can also run into delays. Bloomberg reported on September 24 that a gas pipeline for Oracle’s (ORCL) Project Jupiter in New Mexico had slipped nearly six months after permits were denied.

Oracle sent a force majeure notice, invoking contract rules for events beyond its control. It sought room to delay payments if Jupiter misses its planned 2028 opening. Reuters separately reported a year-long delay, but Oracle said on September 30 that the project remained on schedule.

We Still Need Somewhere to Build

Then there’s the politics. Candidates in both parties have turned data centers into a campaign issue, and I think the industry has done a horrible job explaining itself. Lumping every site together just makes it easier for misleading information to spread and get repeated as fact.

Take water. Some cooling systems lose water through evaporation. Others, including Oracle’s planned Jupiter system, send heat into the air without evaporating cooling water. Even “closed loop” can be confusing, because a loop that reuses water can still connect to a cooling tower that evaporates it. We need to know how a particular site works before deciding what it’ll do to the local water supply.

And there’s money coming into these communities, too. Loudoun County, Virginia, reports $1.2 billion in data center property taxes for its 2026 budget year, helping pay for schools and public safety while keeping tax rates lower. Loudoun isn’t alone. Henrico County, Virginia is using data center money to help people buy a home, and in New Albany, Ohio, it’s helping pay for schools.

Communities absolutely deserve a say, including answers about water, noise, and who pays for new power lines. But if we want America to lead in AI, we must make room for the data centers and the power they need. I suspect some of the campaign heat will fade after the midterms, but the need won’t.

Smaller Sites Can Get to Work Sooner

While huge campuses take shape, smaller sites with power can help. Training a large model may require many chips working closely together. Answering questions with a trained model is called inference, and separate questions can often go to different sites.

Earnings Desk could send your question to one site and mine to another, provided each has the model and equipment to handle it.

Host Digital (HOST) is pursuing that opportunity. I serve as an independent director, so I’m biased. But I like building a group of sites with power today or a clear path to getting it soon, especially when an existing industrial building fits the job.

Its first project in northeast Oklahoma already has a building and power at the site. The lease calls for 55 megawatts, including 43 for computers and the rest for cooling and other systems.

Host supplies the building, power, cooling, and supporting equipment, while the customer brings the computers. Its announced 15-year lease calls for about $1.25 billion in rent over that term, beginning when Host delivers the site as required.

Host targets the first quarter of 2027, with financing, construction, and testing still ahead. Having power gives it a head start, but it still has to finish the job before it can collect rent. That’s a milestone worth watching across these developers.

Back at Earnings Desk, we still want our answer before the opening bell. That means someone must keep the power coming, which brings the electricity producers and grid builders into the picture.

At the time of publication, Byrne was long HOST.