The federal government has picked a private contractor to begin negotiations for a 1-gigawatt artificial intelligence data center on the Savannah River Site, a Cold War-era nuclear complex in Aiken County, South Carolina, just across the Savannah River from Augusta, Georgia. The selection moves one of the U.S. Department of Energy’s most restricted properties a step closer to hosting a large-scale AI campus, though no lease has been finalized and construction has not begun.
The National Nuclear Security Administration, a semi-autonomous Department of Energy agency that oversees the nation’s nuclear weapons complex, announced July 20 that it had selected Amentum, the site’s longtime prime operating contractor, along with Atlanta-based infrastructure firm DC BLOX, to enter negotiations for a phased lease at the Savannah River Site. The proposal calls for a 1-gigawatt data center backed by about 2 gigawatts of on-site power generation, starting with natural gas and later shifting to advanced nuclear reactors, according to the DOE announcement.
“This proposed partnership represents an opportunity to strengthen America’s leadership in artificial intelligence, expand reliable energy generation, and strengthen our national security,” NNSA Administrator Brandon Williams said in the DOE statement. “By working with the private sector, we can move faster, apply innovative technologies, and make productive use of federal land while maintaining our commitment to mission delivery.”
The Savannah River Site spans roughly 310 square miles across Aiken, Allendale and Barnwell counties, and any data center campus would rise in Aiken County, according to reporting by The Post and Courier’s Aiken Standard. The site has produced nuclear materials for the U.S. weapons program since the 1950s and still hosts active DOE and NNSA missions, which is why any commercial development there requires extensive federal review.
The Savannah River project fits a broader pattern of AI developers and the federal government seeking sites with existing power infrastructure and large, federally controlled land parcels. In April 2025, DOE identified 16 federal properties as candidates for private AI data center and energy development, then narrowed the list to four sites, including the Savannah River Site, in July 2025. DOE issued a formal request for proposals for the site in September 2025 before selecting Amentum and DC BLOX this month.
The region is already drawing hyperscale investment. Across the state line, developers have advanced a separate, unrelated data center buildout tied to OpenAI’s Georgia expansion, and Google has moved forward with a large data center project in nearby Columbia County, Georgia. Nationally, gigawatt-scale campuses such as Hut 8’s fully leased Texas data center campus show how quickly power-backed capacity is being absorbed by AI tenants.
What it means: Selection for lease negotiations is not a construction start and not a signed deal. The DOE statement and Aiken Standard reporting both note that any final lease depends on successful negotiations, environmental and safety reviews, security evaluations and additional federal permitting. Neither Amentum nor DOE has disclosed a construction timeline, a total investment figure or projected job counts. What is confirmed is the scale of the proposal, the identity of the selected negotiating partners, and the site’s location within Aiken County.
For real estate and infrastructure watchers, the deal underscores how much of the current AI buildout is being routed through federal land rather than conventional private acquisition, potentially bypassing some of the site-assembly and zoning hurdles that slow commercial data center projects elsewhere. It also ties data center development directly to new power generation, including a proposed transition to nuclear energy, a combination that has drawn interest from other federal sites such as Idaho National Laboratory and Oak Ridge Reservation.
What to watch: whether Amentum and DC BLOX complete lease negotiations with NNSA, the outcome of required environmental and security reviews, whether state or local officials in South Carolina and Georgia disclose incentive packages or job estimates, and whether DOE moves forward with similar solicitations at its other three shortlisted federal sites.
