Ever since Kentucky lawmakers approved statewide sales tax breaks for hyperscale data centers, developers are eyeing the state as a place to build these potentially massive, electricity-intensive operations. 

The state has long been home to smaller data centers that power various online services such as digital cloud storage. But with the surge of billions of dollars of artificial intelligence investment from technology companies, expansive data centers coined as “hyperscale” that can consume a similar amount of electricity as an entire power plant have been proliferating across the country.

While smaller data centers generally have an electricity capacity of 1 to 5 megawatts, hyperscale data centers can consume at least 100 megawatts of power, if not significantly more. For example, an undisclosed company looking to build a hyperscale data center in Mason County would use an enormous 1.2 gigawatts of electricity; the coal-fired Hugh. L. Spurlock Generating Station in that county can produce, at max capacity, roughly 1.3 gigawatts. 

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Some counties and cities have pushed back against data center development by passing temporary bans on data center permits and construction, responding to concerns from residents over the high electricity usage, potential water usage and noise concerns. Developers and some local elected leaders have advocated for the projects, pointing to a potential boon in local tax revenue. 

Potential and operating hyperscale data centers:

• Barren County —
  • PLANNED: Kentucky Industrial Alliance, a company that has gathered land holdings in Barren County, is proposing to build a hyperscale data center and is suing the Cave City, Kentucky city council over a data center moratorium passed by the council, according to online local media outlet Barrenside. A proposal document, reported on by Barrenside, details the site could use a combined 2 million square feet and have a combined electricity capacity of 1.2 gigawatts.
• Bell County —
  • PLANNED: WYMT reported that Murray Industries, a company that owns land in Bell County, says it’s looking to invest billions of dollars in constructing a data center. Hundreds of people attended a Bell County Fiscal Court meeting on June 26, expressing concerns over water quality and noise.
• Boyd County —
  • PLANNED: Investor-owned company Terawulf announced its plans in June to place a hyperscale data center at an industrial park in Boyd and Greenup counties, potentially using up to one gigawatt of electricity when fully operational.
• Carroll County —
  • PLANNED: The Carroll County Fiscal Court on June 24 approved a motion to send a letter starting the process to provide state tax breaks to Deca Companies, which wants to build a data center in the county.
• Fayette County —
  • PLANNED: DartPoints, a Dallas-based data center developer, bought the site of Lexington a data center with plans to expand the capacity of the data center. The Lexington Herald-Leader reported a temporary moratorium on data center permits passed by the Lexington Urban County Council is preventing the data center from operating.
• Greenup County —
  • PLANNED: Investor-owned Terawulf, a company that began operations mining Bitcoin, is proposing to build a data center, with a maximum power capacity up to 1 gigawatt, at an industrial park in Greenup and Boyd counties.
• Hancock County —
  • PLANNED: Investor-owned Terawulf, a company that began operations mining Bitcoin, is proposing to build a data center, with a maximum power capacity of 482 megawatts at the site of an idled Century Aluminum mill in Hancock County.
• Jefferson County —
  • PLANNED: The Louisville Metro Council approved plans for a 1.6-million-square-foot hyperscale data center by developers Poe Companies and PowerHouse Data Centers in West Louisville in March 2026, according to Louisville Public Media. The approval came despite local opposition over concerns regarding potential air and water pollution from the data center site. The city is now considering a draft ordinance to regulate hyperscale data centers.
• Marshall County —
  • OPERATING: CoreScientific, an investor-owned Bitcoin mining company, has operated a data center campus, with an electricity capacity of 150 megawatts, since 2019 near Calvert City, Kentucky.
  • OPERATING: Riot Platforms, a Bitcoin mining company, has operated a 25-megawatt data center near Calvert City, Kentucky since it acquired the site from another Bitcoin mining company in 2024.
• Mason County —
  • PLANNED: What local elected officials have described as a “Fortune 100” company is seeking to build a sprawling data center campus that could use 1.2 gigawatts of electricity capacity in Mason County. The name of the developer has not been publicly disclosed.
• Mercer County —
  • SPECULATED: A land developer is advertising land near the coal-fired E.W. Brown Generating Station for a hyperscale data center. Mercer County officials are also considering an ordinance to regulate data centers.
• McCracken County —
  • OPERATING: Riot Platforms, a Bitcoin mining company, is operating a 60 megawatt Bitcoin mining data center in McCracken County after purchasing the site from another company.
• Oldham County —
  • PLANNED: Developer Western Hospitality Partners announced last year it was downsizing and relocating plans for a hyperscale data center to a new site in Oldham County after pushback from local residents.
• Pike County —
  • PLANNED: The Lexington Herald-Leader reported on June 5 the city of Pikeville had entered into a preliminary agreement with data center developer MD Squared to explore building a $250 million, 25 to 30 megawatt data center in an industrial park.
• Simpson County —
  • PLANNED: Developer TenKey LandCo is looking to build a massive data center in Simpson County and is suing the county government over an ordinance it passed requiring the developer to get a conditional use permit.
• Wolfe County —
  • OPERATING: A company has operated a data center to mine Bitcoin in an unincorporated part of Wolfe County since 2023.

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Contact Editor Linda Blackford for questions: info@kentuckylantern.com.