Anonymous13 days ago
SoftBank broke ground on March 20, 2026, on what it calls a $500 billion AI data center campus at a former uranium enrichment plant in Pike County, Ohio—a project that would draw 10 gigawatts of power, largely from a new $33 billion natural gas plant complex. The investment, tied to a broader US-Japan trade agreement and the Stargate AI infrastructure initiative, promises 35,000 construction jobs and 2,500 permanent positions in one of Appalachia's poorest counties, but faces serious questions about SoftBank's track record on mega-pledges, the environmental cost of gas-fired AI computing, and whether Ohio taxpayers are giving away too much in incentives.