Miami-based Hut 8 has landed a blockbuster tenant for its planned Beacon Point AI data center campus in Nueces County, locking in a 15-year lease valued at $9.8 billion for 352 megawatts of IT capacity. The agreement covers the initial build of a gigawatt-scale campus and ranks as one of the largest single AI infrastructure contracts to hit South Texas.
Deal details and contract terms
The company is describing the arrangement as a triple-net, take-or-pay lease with an unnamed tenant it characterizes as “high-investment-grade.” The base-term contract value is pegged at $9.8 billion, and three optional five-year extensions could lift the total value to roughly $25.1 billion.
According to a press release from Hut 8, the lease covers 352 MW of IT capacity and pushes its contracted AI footprint to about 597 MW, with an aggregate base-term contract value near $16.8 billion. Reuters reported that the company framed the agreement as a major step in its AI-focused buildout.
Timeline and campus
Beacon Point is planned for Nueces County on land Hut 8 first spotlighted in 2025. Local coverage indicates the first phase of infrastructure is expected to go vertical by the third quarter of 2027. The San Antonio Business Journal reports that schedule, which would put visible construction and permitting activity in the county within roughly the next 18 months.
Power, partners and design
Hut 8 says it has secured an interconnection agreement for 1,000 MW of utility capacity at the site. It is targeting initial energization in early 2027, with the first data hall slated to come online around the third quarter of that year.
The company has named AEP Texas, Vertiv and Jacobs as Tier-1 partners on the project and says the facility design will follow NVIDIA’s DSX reference architecture, according to its announcement.
Local questions about water and the grid
Large AI data centers consume heavy amounts of power and, depending on cooling technology, can require significant volumes of water, an issue that has been drawing more scrutiny across Texas as new projects pile up. Reporting from The Texas Tribune and analysis from the Lincoln Institute note that the buildout of data center capacity in the state has already raised tough planning and disclosure questions about water use and grid readiness. Those same concerns are likely to be front of mind for local officials and residents in Nueces County as Beacon Point moves closer to construction…