Core Scientific Dalton data center, Dalton, Georgia

Core Scientific runs three operating data centers in Dalton, Whitfield County, Georgia: Dalton 1 and 2 on Industrial South Road, with 50 megawatts combined, and Dalton 3 at 206 Boring Drive, this site, with about 142 megawatts. It is also building a fourth site, Dalton 4, on about 170 acres on Old Tilton Road, planned for roughly 145 megawatts with a target opening of July 2026, a date that has passed with no report that it opened.

County commissioners rezoned the Old Tilton Road site from agricultural to heavy manufacturing in March 2025, after a public meeting where dozens of residents, some from farming families who had worked the land for generations, spoke against it. One resident told commissioners at that meeting: "If you're talking about the size facility that is being discussed, you've got a monster."

Georgia's Environmental Protection Division is reviewing separate air permits for standby diesel generators: up to 80 at Dalton 4, and eight totaling 21.6 megawatts at the Industrial South Road site; the permits cover only generator emissions, not whether the data centers themselves may operate. Public comment on the Old Tilton Road permit closed April 24, 2026, and on the Industrial South Road permit June 26, 2026, and EPD's Sara Lips said on May 27, 2026 that the Old Tilton Road permit was "in the final stages of review."

Carl Campbell of the Dalton-Whitfield Joint Development Authority said the company spends about $5 million a month on electricity in Dalton, and that "all that money from the power generation helps our city." Dalton Utilities says data centers cover the full cost of their own power supply.

At a June 8, 2026 county commission meeting, resident Carmen Shuler said: "We now feel threatened by unplanned development of AI data centers in our community." Cathy Kott said: "These are billionaires coming in to make profit off of our community. They should be giving not just in assets but also in information." County Administrator Bob Sivick told them: "Electric power is not a finite resource kept in a warehouse somewhere. It's part of a regional pool, and electricity is routed to where it's needed or where it's not needed."