Core Scientific Marble NC data center, Marble, North Carolina

Core Scientific's Marble, North Carolina data center sits on the site of the former American Thread Company mill in Cherokee County, which closed in 2015; the company's own site lists it as 250,000 square feet on 70 acres with a total power capacity of about 117 megawatts. It converted a cryptocurrency mine there into the AI facility, and the company says it is still doing that conversion at similar sites even after a planned merger with CoreWeave fell through in October 2025.

Rebecca and Tom Lash moved to the area eight years ago hoping to retire in the Blue Ridge Mountains, and say the noise from crypto mining has intruded on their lives since it opened in 2021. "There was nothing in this little pasture but these electric lines," Rebecca Lash said. "And it was just nice and quiet." Tom Lash said: "The big AI centers and the big data centers, there's some horror stories about people that live near those."

The facility runs on more than 170 diesel generators, and draws municipal water along with pumping from wells on site, which state regulations limit to 12 hours of pumping a day, according to Marble Community Water System board president C.B. McKinnon. Andrews Mayor James Reid refused to connect the facility to the town's wastewater system because it lacked an environmental plan, forcing it onto septic tanks: "I wouldn't wish this on any county or entity, ever. It's absolutely destroyed Marble."

The county received $268,000 in tax revenue from the facility in 2024, though revenue fell in 2025 during construction. Since January 2026, neighboring towns such as Boone and Clyde, counties such as Swain and Clay, and the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians have adopted temporary bans or moratoriums on new data centers, as officials in Cherokee County itself reconvene their planning board to look for limits without countywide zoning.