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Novva Data Centers, in partnership with real estate developer CIM Group, announced this month that it had secured $2 billion in financing to complete the construction of its flagship 175MW data center campus in Salt Lake City, Utah.
This significant investment will fund the second and third phases of the project. J.P. Morgan and Starwood Property Trust handled the financing.
Novva officials said, “When completed, the Salt Lake City data center campus will span a total of one million square feet and feature 175MW of capacity, making it one of the largest direct-to-chip cooled AI data centers in the world.”
The campus was “fully leased in 2023 to a leading global tech company,” although the lease terms were not disclosed.
Project Details and Timeline from Novva Data Centers
- Location: West Jordan, Utah (Salt Lake City suburb)
- Total Area: 100-acre campus
- Final Capacity: 175MW
- Total Square Footage: 1.5 million square feet upon completion
Phase 1
Completed and operational since 2023
Phase 2
- Started construction: December 2023
- Expected completion: 2026
- Capacity: 72MW of critical IT load
- 318,000 square feet
- Started construction: January 2024
- Expected completion: 2026
- Capacity: 72MW of critical IT load
- 318,000 square feet
An undated image of the Novaa Salt Lake City data center. Phase 1 was completed in 2023. Recently obtained funding will be used to complete Phases 2 and 3 on the 100-acre West Jordan, Utah campus. Image: Novva Data Centers
Project Features
The project emphasizes sustainability and innovative cooling technologies in data center construction, according to company officials, including:
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Water-Free Cooling: The facility operates without water year-round, using ambient air for cooling
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Direct-to-Chip Cooling: Optimized for high-performance computing
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Sustainability: Estimated to consume 84% less water than comparable data centers in the region
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AI-Powered Security: Utilizes robotic dogs for security and infrastructure monitoring
Wes Swenson, CEO of Novva, said, “Our Salt Lake City center is the first facility where we were able to fully showcase Novva’s vision for future-proof data center facilities that put sustainability, innovative technology, and client needs first.”
CIM Group estimates that once fully operational, the Salt Lake City Novva campus will consume approximately 84% less water than comparable data centers in the region.
Massive Scale
The scale of the data center can be roughly determined by the amount of electrical power directly consumed by the IT equipment in a data center, such as servers, storage devices, and networking gear. The measurement excludes power for cooling, lighting, and other facility-related systems.
This project is a hyperscale data center with 175MW of expected capacity upon completion. These massive facilities are filled with IT equipment that works together to store and process vast volumes of information, helping companies like Google and Meta handle their data efficiently.
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