Lambda Commits $33.1 Billion to AI Data Centre Campus in Rural Alabama

The company said in a blog post on November 4 that the Red Clay Technology Center Campus is being prepared by developer Cloverleaf Infrastructure, with Lambda as the occupant. Construction is expected to start in the first quarter of 2027 and could take up to five years. The site sits near U.S. Highway 80 and Alabama Highway 21, west of Montgomery, and Lambda said final design details have not been settled.

The announcement puts a name and a price on one of the largest proposed AI infrastructure projects in the US South. It also comes as the backlash against data centres grows. Opponents say the campus will draw up to 1,500 megawatts from Alabama Power, WSFA reported. That is roughly the output of a large power station, in a county of about 9,500 people.

Lambda said the project will create more than 1,000 construction jobs and more than 225 full-time roles in operations, technical and support work. It projects more than $2.8 billion in local tax revenue through 2049, including more than $1.6 billion for Lowndes County Public Schools, and $3.4 billion in combined state and local tax revenue over the same period. Lambda and Cloverleaf are also putting $10 million into a community benefits agreement administered by the Central Alabama Community Foundation.

The company addressed the two issues that have become central to data centre politics. Power will come from Alabama Power, pending regulatory approval. Lambda said it will pay the full cost of the power and grid infrastructure needed to serve the site through upfront financial commitments that apply even if its plans change, so the cost will not fall on existing customers. Lambda and Alabama Power have both signed the White House Ratepayer Protection Pledge, the company said. On water, Lambda said the facility will use closed-loop cooling. It also plans to work with irrigation company N-Drip to help local farmers save water, aiming to return at least as much water as the campus uses.

"This is a historic investment," said Michel Combes, Lambda's chief executive. He said the company would develop the site with respect for local resources and community priorities.

The project's approval has been contested. In October the Lowndes County Commission voted 3-2 to grant Cloverleaf more than $1.1 billion in tax abatements, at a short meeting where the item was not on the published agenda, AL.com reported. Critics said at the time that commissioners had voted without knowing who would use the site. AL.com reported that the agreement caps the site at 2,200 acres unless the county consents to more. It said the plans then called for six buildings totalling about 3 million square feet and an initial 100,000 gallons of water a day. DatacenterDynamics describes Lambda's campus as four buildings.

On November 3, the citizen group Protect Lowndes County and the Alabama Rivers Alliance sued the commission, WSFA reported. They allege that commissioners broke the state's Open Meetings Act and Open Records Act to fast-track the abatement package, and they want a circuit judge to declare the votes void. A separate lawsuit against the commission is still pending.

Lambda said it will meet residents and officials in the coming months and share more on the project's timing, design and impacts as planning continues.