The US government is trying to gauge industry interest in developing a 500MW+ commercial data center on an Air Force base in Tucson, Arizona.
In a Request for Information (RFI) published on March 24 to Sam.gov, a plot of 620 acres on the Davis-Monthan Air Force Base is being considered for development.
The RFI states: "In support of President Trump's critical national defense and domestic objectives of Removing Barriers To American AI Innovation (Executive Order (EO) 14179), Declaring a National Energy Emergency (14156), and Unleashing American Energy (EO 14154) the Government is assessing industry interest in leasing up to 620 acres located south of the flight line at Davis-Monthan Air Force Base to site a large scale data center for commercial use (e.g., 500MW+) and associated infrastructure and generation to support energy reliability and resilience."
The RFI is initially looking at 330 acres, but this is expandable up to 620 acres should it include an abandoned landfill, Bureau of Land Management withdrawn property, and other properties.
It adds that examples of technology that could support Davis-Monthan's current and future critical loads might include onsite energy generation such as natural gas or SMRs, battery energy storage, fuel storage, upgraded distribution infrastructure, as well as "augmented fiber communication connections and the potential for a portion of the data center to provide data processing capability to the Government."
The RFI is merely information gathering, and will not result in a contract, but it notes that any respondents offering a technology solution should "configure the system to support Davis-Monthan’s ability to operate independently from the utility grid for an extended period of time (i.e., at least seven days, 30-40 MW)."
The government, should interest be shown in the project, expects to offer this as a cash-neutral lease in which energy reliability and resilience technologies are provided to the government in an "in-kind consideration in exchange for the appraised fair market value of the leased land over the term of a lease."
Regional utility providers already have commitments to increase load requirements on Davis-Monthan, including for a primary gas transmission line. The site also has a high-voltage transmission line and utility generation.
Respondents have until April 24, 2025, to submit.
At the start of this year, former President Joe Biden signed an executive order that would see federal lands opened up for large-scale data center developments, including sites owned by the Department of Defense and Department of Energy. That executive order required developers to bring online sufficient clean energy generation resources to match the full electricity needs of their data centers. The EO is no longer accessible on the White House website. The RFI does not specify that on-site energy production should be "clean."
The RFI instead refers to EOs instated by President Donald Trump.
Unleashing American Energy (EO 14154), instated on January 20, which emphasized the importance of "reliable energy" and revoked several EOs from Biden related to sustainability and clean energy initiatives.
Declaring a National Energy Emergency (14156) was also officiated on January 20, and pushed for agencies to expedite the completion of "all authorized and appropriated infrastructure, energy, environmental" to increase energy capacity in the US. This included projects using crude oil, natural gas, lease condensates, natural gas liquids, and refined petroleum products, all of which are harmful to the environment.
The third EO reference is Removing Barriers To American AI Innovation (EO 14179), instated on January 23, and revoked some existing AI policies and directives. The EO states: "The United States has long been at the forefront of artificial intelligence (AI) innovation, driven by the strength of our free markets, world-class research institutions, and entrepreneurial spirit. To maintain this leadership, we must develop AI systems that are free from ideological bias or engineered social agendas."
The RFI does not explicitly state that it is courting AI data center developments, but the suggested scale of 500MW+ is in line with many AI data center projects. January of this year saw the launch of Stargate, a $500 billion project between OpenAI, Oracle, SoftBank, and investment firm MGX that would see massive data centers developed across the US.
Meanwhile, hyperscalers are planning massive capex investments throughout 2025 into AI data center infrastructure, with Microsoft pledging $80bn in spending, Amazon $100bn, Google $75bn, and Meta expecting between $60-65bn.
Most of Arizona's data center market is in Phoenix, though Tucson, where the Davis-Monthan Air Force Base is located, has a small market of its own with operators including Ark Data Centers, TECfusions, Lumen, and FirstDigital.
