Aligned Data Centers has broken ground on its data center in Frederick County, Maryland.

Announced in a recent LinkedIn post, the operator said: “Big things are happening at our IAD-04 data center! This future 72MW facility represents progress, innovation, and opportunity for the community it will serve.”

Located on a 75-acre plot, the facility is a part of Aligned’s 264MW Maryland hyperscale campus.

At full build-out, the campus will house four multi-story buildings, as part of the Quantum Frederick Project.

TPG Real Estate and Quantum Loophole have been planning and developing a 2,100-acre gigawatt-scale data center park since February 2023.

However, Quantum Loophole has since been removed from the project, with TPG now becoming the sole developer of the park.

Aligned pulled out of the campus in mid-2023 after only being granted a provisional exemption for up to 70MW of diesel generators.

However, Aligned told DCD in May last year that it planned on moving forward with the stalled data center after regulatory changes.

Maryland amended its regulations around backup generators, easing restrictions for data center firms, but Frederick's lawmakers have also introduced two new bills putting stricter controls on where new projects can be located in the county.

Aligned will be joined by data centers from Rowan Digital Infrastructure.

The company currently operates campuses in Chicago, Illinois; Dallas, Texas; Phoenix, Arizona; Salt Lake City, Utah; and Northern Virginia. The company has further sites in development in Maryland, Ohio, Illinois, and Virginia.

Outside of the US, Aligned acquired LATAM-based OData in May 2023 and has a footprint in Brazil, Chile, Columbia, and Mexico. It has also invested in Canadian firm QScale.

Earlier this year, the company secured $12 billion in funding for a 5GW data center build-out.