A proposed data center in South Carolina has been dropped after local officials denied tax abatements for the project.

As reported by local press, including Fox, 7News, and GoUpstate, TigerDC announced on Friday (27 February) that it is formally withdrawing Project Spero from consideration in Spartanburg County and will pursue alternative sites for the investment.

The decision came after Spartanburg County Council members voted not to offer tax incentives in the project, following months of pushback from local residents.

“Major infrastructure investments require alignment among stakeholders,” the company stated. “Project Spero recognizes that alignment has not been achieved.”

“TigerDC will now focus our efforts on communities that are ready to move forward with this type of infrastructure.”

TigerDC had filed to develop a facility in the Tyger River Industrial Park near Spartanburg along Highway 290.

Construction on the SC1 campus was expected to begin in 2026, with Phase I operations anticipated in 2027 and offering 100MW. Set to use a closed-loop cooling system, the project was reportedly going to self-generate a portion of its power on site using natural gas – potentially up to 550MW, according to the company’s website.

First announced last year, the $3 billion data center project passed its first reading in November and passed its second reading last month. The company was seeking a payment in lieu of taxes (PILOT) agreement with the county, but county officials soured on the project in the face of growing opposition from residents.

Spartanburg County is located to the east of Greenville, in the northwest of South Carolina.

State senator Josh Kimbrell told 7News that he thought the council’s decision was ‘probably not the best decision long term,” but said, “I understand why they did it, and I support them.”

TigerDC is led by Jerry Tang, previously a managing director at financial firm Natixis. He recently founded a new venture firm, VCV, and is also CEO of AI cloud firm Atlas Cloud. Atlas is a customer of Soluna in Texas.

The company has operated a Bitcoin mining facility in Spartanburg County since 2022. Few details about that facility are available.

A few data center projects have come to Spartanburg in recent years, and chief among them is a $2.8bn facility proposed by investment firm NorthMark Strategies last year.

After voting against the PILOT deal for TigerDC, Spartanburg County noted that it was “not shutting the door” on data centers, but will wait until the state legislature establishes a set of rules, protocols, and safeguards around their development.