Prime Data Centers broke ground on the first three buildings of its new PHX01 hyperscale campus in Avondale, Arizona, advancing a planned $3 billion investment aimed at supporting AI-ready digital infrastructure in the Greater Phoenix market. The opening phase includes three 267,000-square-foot (24,805-square-meter) facilities, each delivering 48MW of critical IT load capacity. The full campus will span 66.5 acres and approximately 1.3 million square feet (120,770 square meters), ultimately supporting 240MW of critical IT power across five buildings.
The PHX01 campus targets hyperscale AI, cloud, and high-performance computing workloads with high-density infrastructure, closed-loop cooling, and a dedicated on-site substation. Prime said Buildings 1 through 3 have already been secured by a leading hyperscaler, while Buildings 4 and 5 remain available for future customers. The company also confirmed that Phase I of the campus’s approximately 250MW substation has been commissioned, enabling delivery of the first 144MW of IT capacity.
Prime said the campus is designed around sustainability and operational resiliency. The facilities will feature concurrently maintainable mechanical and electrical systems, multiple carrier connectivity options, infrastructure galleries for tenant privacy, and layered physical security. The company said the cooling system will operate with zero process water consumption during normal operations while supporting dense AI compute environments. Prime also stated that it procures Water Restoration Certificates equal to 120% of annual operating water consumption across its portfolio. The campus is targeting SOC2 Type II and ISO 27001 compliance and is committed to 100% renewable energy sourcing.
- Campus footprint: 66.5 acres
- Total campus size: 1.3 million square feet (120,770 square meters)
- Total planned IT capacity: 240MW
- Initial phase: three buildings totaling 144MW
- Individual building size: 267,000 square feet (24,805 square meters)
- Cooling architecture: closed-loop, zero process water consumption during operations
- Location: Avondale, Arizona
- Construction partner: ARCO/Murray
- Hyperscale tenant: undisclosed leading hyperscaler secured Buildings 1–3
“Breaking ground on PHX01’s first three buildings is a defining moment for Prime’s partnership with Avondale and for the Greater Phoenix region,” said Michael Wall, Executive Vice President of Product Delivery at Prime Data Centers. “The infrastructure we are putting in place today is built to scale alongside the demands of our customers for years to come.”
🌐 Analysis: The Phoenix metro area continues to emerge as one of the most aggressive expansion zones for AI-oriented hyperscale infrastructure in North America, driven by available land, utility-scale power development, and proximity to West Coast cloud markets. Major operators and hyperscalers continue to expand in Arizona as AI training and inference clusters demand larger contiguous power blocks, often exceeding 100MW per deployment. Prime’s strategy aligns with the broader industry shift toward purpose-built AI campuses featuring dedicated substations, liquid and advanced cooling architectures, and renewable energy sourcing.
🌐 Prime Data Centers has been steadily expanding its footprint across major hyperscale markets in the U.S. and Europe, with approximately four gigawatts of operational and planned capacity. The company joins a growing list of developers targeting AI infrastructure demand with large-scale campuses optimized for high-density compute, including operators deploying closed-loop cooling and water stewardship initiatives amid increasing scrutiny over data center water and energy consumption in the U.S. Southwest.
