Key Takeaways:
Jacobs will extend its partnership with energy infrastructure developer Hut 8, serving as the engineering, procurement and construction management (EPCM) lead for a second AI data center campus, a 1-gigawatt (GW) project in Texas. The award follows Jacobs' initial engagement for Hut 8's River Bend campus in Louisiana and signals accelerating momentum in the race to build out large-scale AI infrastructure to meet surging demand.
"Beacon Point is the second campus we have commercialized under our power-first development model, and the second time we have selected Jacobs as EPCM lead," Hut 8 CEO Asher Genoot said. "Repeatable, risk-mitigated execution at this scale requires Tier 1 counterparties who meet our standard for technical rigor and execution certainty."
The multi-phase Beacon Point campus, located in Nueces County, is designed for a total capacity of 1 GW. The first phase of 352 megawatts (MW) is supported by a 15-year, triple-net lease valued at $9.8 billion over the base term. Hut 8 reports its total contracted AI data center capacity now stands at 597 MW, with an aggregate base-term contract value of approximately $16.8 billion. Initial energization for the Texas site is targeted for 2027.
The deal underscores the massive capital investments flowing into the AI sector and the critical role of power availability. The initial 352 MW phase alone requires approximately 500 MW of utility capacity, and the entire project highlights the growing strain on energy grids. Texas' grid operator, ERCOT, is currently processing over 200 GW of interconnection requests from large computational load facilities, prompting proposed rule changes to manage the influx.
Hut 8's strategy centers on a "power-first" greenfield development model, securing energy and land before building out data center capacity. The Beacon Point campus was originally intended for bitcoin mining before being repositioned for higher-density AI workloads. Following the shift, the first data hall's design was increased by 57% from 224 MW to 352 MW to accommodate advances in GPU technology from Nvidia, a key project partner alongside Jacobs, Vertiv, and AEP Texas.
"Next generation AI infrastructure will be defined by how quickly power can be converted into AI capacity," said Vertiv CEO Giordano Albertazzi.
To manage the project's complexity, Jacobs will deploy its data center digital twin technology to simulate critical assets, aiming to de-risk commissioning and accelerate the deployment of AI workloads. The firm is applying design elements from the 245 MW River Bend project in Louisiana to the new Texas campus to standardize and speed up delivery.
The Beacon Point project is proceeding as ERCOT reworks its interconnection framework. The grid operator has documented multiple instances of high-density facilities tripping offline during grid disturbances and has described its current case-by-case study process as "inadequate" to handle the surge in large load requests. A proposed shift to a system-wide batch study process aims to streamline the queue, which has been strained by the more than 200 GW of projects seeking connection. Hut 8 has already executed an interconnection agreement with AEP Texas for the full 1 GW campus capacity and has funded its contribution-in-aid-of-construction.
This article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute investment advice.
