The US Department of Energy (DOE) has selected data center developer DC Blox to develop a campus on federal land in South Carolina.

US engineering and technology services contractor Amentum and Atlanta-based DC Blox have been selected by DOE to develop an artificial intelligence data center and a dedicated on-site energy generation source at the government-owned Savannah River site.

The DOE’s National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) selected the companies following a competitive request for proposals issued as part of the Trump administration’s initiative to develop off-grid AI data centers across federal lands.

The two companies will now enter negotiations for a phased lease for the site, which, if successful, will lay the foundation for the campus' development in Aiken County.

“DC Blox is honored to join Amentum and this visionary consortium to support a program that accelerates our nation's economic growth through technology advancement,” said Jeff Uphues, CEO of DC Blox.

According to the DOE, the project consists of a 1GW AI data center alongside approximately 2GW of on-site generation. The on-site generation is expected to first utilize natural gas as a bridge to nuclear energy. It is unclear whether the partners plan to deploy traditional nuclear or advanced nuclear reactors on the site.

There are ten tracts of land potentially capable of supporting a data center and/or power generation facilities, with the size of the data center ranging between 250 and 450 acres.

In terms of power, the site currently has access to several 115kV lines and a 20MW DOE-owned biomass combined cycle plant. Two commercially owned 75MW solar power generation facilities with BESS are currently in development, with operations scheduled for 2029.

The Savannah River site is one of four that the DOE has formally announced for potential AI data center developments. The other sites include the Idaho National Laboratory, Oak Ridge Reservation, and Paducah Gaseous Diffusion Plant. In April, the DOE said that it had 16 potential locations, including the four already announced.

The move to open up Federal land for the data center sector was first pushed by the Biden administration and furthered by the Trump administration.

DC Blox is based in the US and has facilities in Alabama, Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina, Indiana, and Tennessee, as well as cable landing stations in South Carolina and Florida.

The company says its footprint totals around 470MW and 2.78 million sq ft (258,270 sqm) across 23 facilities.