# AVAIO Digital Announces New Large-Scale AI-Ready Data Center and Power Campus in Little Rock, Arkansas > *Near-verbatim extract of the archived Arkansas Economic Development Commission press release, lightly cleaned for readability. The original HTML is preserved alongside this file.* ## Source metadata - **Publisher:** Arkansas Economic Development Commission (arkansasedc.com) - **URL:** https://www.arkansasedc.com/news-events/newsroom/detail/2026/01/12/avaio-digital-announces-new-large-scale-ai-ready-data-center-and-power-campus-in-little-rock--arkansas - **Published:** 2026-01-12 - **Archived:** 2026-05-22, by PowerShell Invoke-WebRequest - **Wayback snapshot:** https://web.archive.org/web/20260522185945/https://www.arkansasedc.com/news-events/newsroom/detail/2026/01/12/avaio-digital-announces-new-large-scale-ai-ready-data-center-and-power-campus-in-little-rock--arkansas ## Extract **AVAIO announces a major new data center campus that could grow to 1 GW with both grid and onsite power, supporting regional economic development.** Little Rock, Arkansas (January 12, 2026) – AVAIO Digital Partners (AVAIO Digital) announced today a major new data center hub near Little Rock in Pulaski County, Arkansas – AVAIO Digital Leo – that will help accelerate the state's rapidly growing tech sector. Named after the constellation Leo — the Lion — symbolizing strength, power and leadership, the campus will host the compute, networking, data storage technologies and power infrastructure that underpin cloud computing and artificial intelligence applications. The campus will be built out in multiple phases with an initial $6 billion combined investment from AVAIO and its customers in infrastructure, power and tenant deployments over the course of the project. AVAIO is currently contracted with Entergy Arkansas for 150 MW of power, but the company anticipates power demand of up to 1 GW as the facility grows. The initial $6 billion investment that will be made by AVAIO and its partners during the first phase of the project will be the largest in state history, contribute significant fiscal benefits to the state, and create substantial new workforce development opportunities. The new data center campus is expected to ultimately create more than 500 new full-time permanent operations jobs over the next five years as the campus is built out. The construction phase will bring thousands of new jobs in the region. "AVAIO Digital's $6 billion data center hub represents the largest economic investment in Arkansas' history and sets the Natural State up to become a technology powerhouse that can compete with any state in the nation," said Governor Sanders. "Just last year, Arkansas led the way and passed legislation that reduced the regulatory timeline for new energy projects by more than half and offered new incentives to data center investments." Construction of the first phase of the project is expected to start in the first quarter of 2026 and will be complete and energized in June 2027. The Little Rock campus was chosen for its advantages: robust, low-latency fiber interconnection (Dallas, Atlanta, Memphis); rapid delivery of grid power by Entergy, with a contracted 150 MW energized in Q2 2027; substantial onsite natural gas infrastructure; and, at 760 acres, a size sufficient to support a large, multi-building campus with on-site power generation. "The AVAIO design incorporates intelligent, high-efficiency sustainable elements, integrating features such as water-efficient cooling technologies, rainwater recapture systems, rooftop solar generation, and advanced cooling-system economization to reduce overall power demand." Mark McComiskey, CEO of AVAIO Digital, stated: "It is our intention that this extraordinary 760-acre site in the Little Rock area will be both a major pole of data center capacity and an engine of sustained economic and technological momentum for Arkansas. With a first phase investment of $6 billion and over $21 billion through full development, infrastructure of this scale requires support from communities and partners, and we thank Governor Sarah Huckabee Sanders, Secretary of Commerce Hugh McDonald, and Entergy Arkansas for helping make this possible." Laura Landreaux, president and CEO of Entergy Arkansas, said: "We are pleased to welcome AVAIO Digital to central Arkansas... With the ability to make investments in new and economic resources, such as the Jefferson Power Station, Entergy Arkansas can provide the power needed to support the Next Generation of Arkansas... This first phase of AVAIO Digital's project represents yet another success story of attracting new customers and employers, which in turn will drive down costs for everyone." Jay Chesshir, President and CEO of the Little Rock Regional Chamber, said: "Over three years ago, our team surveyed sites across the region and worked with landowners to market properties with the goal of landing projects like this multi-billion-dollar investment... This property was one we identified, marketed, and helped attract a major investment." The Leo Data Hub is part of AVAIO Digital's expanding portfolio of hyperscale projects across the United States and Western Europe. AVAIO Digital has secured more than 1.2 GW of power from utilities at campuses in Northern California, Virginia, Arkansas and Mississippi. ## Notes - **Tier 2** — a press release published by a state agency (the Arkansas Economic Development Commission), used as the agency's primary self-description of the AVAIO announcement. - Relevant to the investigation: confirms the AVAIO Digital "Leo" data-center campus in **Pulaski County** (760 acres; $6 billion phase 1, $21+ billion full build; 150 MW contracted with Entergy Arkansas, up to 1 GW at full scale). On cooling water, the release mentions only "water-efficient cooling technologies" and "rainwater recapture systems"; **it does not disclose the campus's primary cooling-water source** (no groundwater well field, surface-water utility, or treated-wastewater source is named). - Cited by: [[Identifying the Unnamed Cooling-Water Data Centers]]