SoftBank Data Center/PORTS Technology Campus, Piketon, Ohio

SoftBank's subsidiary SB Energy is developing the PORTS Technology Campus, a data center planned for up to 10 gigawatts at the former Portsmouth Gaseous Diffusion Plant south of Piketon, Pike County, Ohio, on land owned by the U.S. Department of Energy. In August 2026 Nvidia confirmed it would financially back the first 4.25 gigawatts of the campus, which is expected to be fully leased to OpenAI.

Pike County commissioners held a community open house on the project from 5 to 7 p.m. on September 28 at the Pike County Fairgrounds Multipurpose Building, with SoftBank and AEP expected to attend. The Department of Energy and Department of Commerce announced the partnership with SoftBank and AEP Ohio in March 2026.

SB Energy plans 10 gigawatts of new generation, 9.2 gigawatts of it from natural gas, funded with $33.3 billion in Japanese money under the U.S.-Japan trade agreement, and says it will spend $4.2 billion with AEP Ohio on new and upgraded transmission lines in southern Ohio.

SoftBank says the full project will cost $30 billion to $40 billion including chips and will employ 35,000 construction workers and more than 2,500 people once complete. U.S. Energy Secretary Chris Wright spoke at a groundbreaking ceremony at the site on March 20, 2026, and the first phase, 800 megawatts, is expected to come online in 2028.

The site was built in the 1950s to make enriched uranium for weapons, Navy submarines and later commercial reactors; much of the 3,775-acre plant is shut down and undergoing decontamination. The campus is not limited to federal land: WOUB reported SB Energy filed a permit application with the Ohio EPA on May 28, 2026 for a 10 gigawatt data center complex on about 1,016 acres of mostly farmland north and east of the plant, and the company would pay no property tax on the DOE land.

Vina Colley, a former PORTS electrician and president of Portsmouth/Piketon Residents for Environmental Safety and Security, told The Post Athens the site needs to be cleaned up and victims addressed before construction starts. Paul Mobley, a former Air Force-trained engineer, warned the plant would draw water from the Scioto River: "The main issue is Little Beaver Creek flows right into Big Beaver Creek, and Big Beaver Creek flows right into the Scioto River and the Scioto River flows the entire length of Scioto County."

SoftBank spokesperson Ally Copple said "SB Energy has committed to paying for accelerated cleanup and remediation at the site," and that construction on the first phase would begin later in 2026, with work across the campus continuing through 2032.

At a July 2026 open house on the gas plant in Waverly, attended by more than 100 residents, Inside Climate News found no sign of an organized campaign against the project. "We do not need all these data centers," said Terri Slater of Jackson.

Dennis and Deborah Hopkins, who will see the power plant from their windows, turned down an offer to buy their property. "I want to keep my house," Deborah Hopkins said. Pike County commissioner Tony Montgomery said officials had asked what happens if the project stops being viable: "How is our community not stuck with a bunch of buildings that maybe we can't use for anything else? We're trying to address that."

Several decisions are still ahead, made in Columbus rather than in Piketon: the Ohio Power Siting Board must approve the gas plant, and the Ohio EPA must rule on the permit for the private land because the project would affect wetlands, streams and wildlife. AEP Ohio's transmission lines also need Power Siting Board approval after environmental and land-use studies, and AEP has said it will seek feedback from nearby landowners on the route.

Pike County tied the September 28 open house to its Pike 2040 planning effort, which included a station for public feedback.