Arizona Land Consulting (ALC) is looking to develop a 1.5GW data center in Arizona.

ALC acquired around 2,000 acres of land, located west of Phoenix in the city of Buckeye. The land formerly belonged to Hassayampa Ranch.

The deal was backed by Chamath Palihapitiya, CEO of tech venture capital firm Social Capital. Palihapitiya’s exact role or level of investment was not disclosed.

The land is located next to Bill Gates’ one-time proposed 24,800-acre smart city, Belmont. First announced in November 2017, Gates staked $80 million on the project through his firm Cascade Investment, but it’s unclear if the project is still ongoing. DCD has reached out for comment.

In terms of capacity, Palihapitiya said that the facility would be able to “accommodate over 1GW.” Anita Verma-Lallian, CEO of ALC, told DCD that this number could potentially reach up to 1.5GW, but noted that it was challenging to provide estimates until the project entered the planning and design phases.

Verma-Lallian said that this would “cost $25 billion at full build out.”

Development timelines are not currently available, but Palihapitiya said that they would “continue the process of entitlements and regulatory permitting so we can start construction.”

The exact engineering of the deal is unclear. Verma-Lallian said on X that this was an “acquisition of Hassayampa Ranch for $51m,” but documents show that Hassayampa Ranch first sold the land to ALC for $37.5m, before ALC then sold the land back to Hassayampa Ranch, Light Year Capital, and DYA Capital for $51m - the figure stated in the press release and Verma-Lallian’s post on X.

Sources close to the deal said that “these figures are not accurate,” and that “the minutiae of the closing could not be disclosed.”

ALC has made a series of similar acquisitions in the same area. Two months ago, it bought another 160 acres in Buckeye for $21.7m, which it could develop itself or sell; and last year, it sold a 2,069-acre parcel to data center campus developer Tract for more than $136m, after buying it for $40m in 2022.

Verma-Lallian previously worked at land development and land banking company Vermaland, which is helmed by her father, Kuldip Verma. The company has a portfolio of more than 25,000 acres of land.

The area around Phoenix has become home to many players in the data center industry, including Meta, Google, AWS, Microsoft, and EdgeCore.