SB Energy PORTS Ohio AI Data Center

SB Energy and SoftBank Group's PORTS Technology Campus is not just another AI data-center headline. It is a power-first construction signal in Pike County, Ohio, and it is large enough that low-voltage contractors should be tracking it before the specialty package names are public.

The official PORTS Technology Campus page says SoftBank Group and SB Energy are building an AI and advanced-technology campus in southern Ohio, with construction planned in phases and the first 800 MW phase at the historic Portsmouth Gaseous Diffusion site in Piketon scheduled to start construction in 2026. The U.S. Department of Energy fact sheet frames the project as a 10 GW data-center development tied to new generation, transmission, and grid infrastructure. For LVN readers, the important read is simple: this is a data-center campus, a transmission project, a power-generation project, and a workforce project all moving together.

That scale creates a disciplined reporting problem. The sources name SB Energy, SoftBank Group, DOE, American Electric Power, and AEP Ohio. They do not yet name the GC, EPCM, electrical contractor, low-voltage contractor, fiber contractor, security integrator, fire alarm contractor, BAS/BMS controls integrator, DAS/networking integrator, grounding contractor, or commissioning firm. Treat the project as a major opportunity signal, not a subcontract award list.

Item	Source-backed read	LVN contractor angle
Project	SB Energy / SoftBank PORTS Technology Campus	AI/data-center and power infrastructure at extreme scale
Location	Piketon / Pike County, Ohio	Former Portsmouth Gaseous Diffusion Plant plus possible private-land buildout
Phase	First 800 MW phase starts construction in 2026	Early enough to monitor packages before specialty awards surface
Capacity framing	10 GW campus and power-development framework	Do not translate this into rack-level IT load until primary records do
Power timing	AEP expects power to begin flowing in 2029	Transmission, substation, OSP, controls, and commissioning timelines matter

The power side is unusually explicit. The PORTS page says SoftBank Group and SB Energy are partnering with DOE to build a 10 GW data center across private and remediated DOE land. It also says new power generation and grid infrastructure will support the campus, including 765 kV transmission lines, 9.2 GW of natural gas generation, a $33B gas-generation investment, and $4.2B in grid investment through AEP Ohio.

AEP's own transmission announcement narrows that utility read. AEP Ohio says the planned investments, if approved, include new 765 kV electric transmission infrastructure serving data-center development at the former gaseous diffusion plant in Piketon. AEP also says SB Energy is committed to paying for the $4.2B in new transmission investments, route planning is underway, the Ohio Power Siting Board will oversee transmission-line permitting, and power is expected to begin flowing to the site in 2029.

That matters for low voltage because power-first data-center campuses do not wait until the last month to create LV scope. OSP duct banks, carrier entrances, campus fiber, security perimeters, utility coordination, controls networks, fire/life-safety interfaces, grounding, commissioning documentation, labeling, and turnover QA all get shaped by civil, electrical, and utility sequencing. Even if the LV package names are still unknown, the pieces that create those packages are already visible.

Company or agency	Source-backed role	Evidence status
SB Energy	Developer/operator and power-infrastructure party	Named by PORTS, DOE, AEP, and SB Energy sources
SoftBank Group	Parent/project backer	Named by the PORTS project page and DOE framing
U.S. Department of Energy	Federal landowner and project partner	DOE fact sheet and Portsmouth site records
AEP Ohio / AEP	Transmission partner	$4.2B 765 kV infrastructure announcement
Ohio EPA	Permit/regulatory context	Referenced through current WOUB permit coverage
OpenAI	Prospective/context only	Not treated here as a confirmed PORTS tenant

The site itself has a long infrastructure history. DOE's Portsmouth Site page describes the Piketon location as the former gaseous diffusion plant and notes a historically large federal site with major process buildings, support facilities, and ongoing cleanup work. The EPA's CERCLA site profile gives the site name, Pike County address at 3930 US Route 23 South, and federal-facility cleanup context. That helps separate the PORTS signal from generic Ohio data-center talk: this is anchored to a specific former DOE industrial site.

Current WOUB Public Media coverage adds the local permitting angle. WOUB cites Ohio EPA permit-application language around several data-center buildings, gas-generation plants, substations, overhead and underground power lines, temporary laydown yards, access roads, and parking infrastructure, with the story also pointing to private land connected to the broader plan. That is secondary reporting, but it is useful because it names the types of work that will create construction packages and inspection milestones.

The workforce claims also need clean handling. The DOE fact sheet says the project is expected to support more than 10,000 construction jobs over four years and more than 2,000 operational jobs, with additional indirect jobs across the region. The PORTS project page separately lists 35,000 construction and 2,500 operating under its local-benefits section. The safe takeaway for contractors is not one exact headcount; it is that the project is being framed publicly as a multi-year skilled-trades program, not a small single-building deployment.

Low-voltage area	Likely demand	Public package status
Fiber / OSP	Carrier paths, duct banks, vaults, diverse entrances, test records	Unknown
Structured cabling	Data hall pathways, labeling, QA, rack/row support cabling	Unknown
Security / access / CCTV	Perimeter, gates, secure zones, video, VMS, monitoring	Unknown
Fire alarm / BAS	Life-safety interfaces, cooling/power monitoring, controls networks	Unknown
DAS / networking	Facility connectivity, emergency coverage, IT/OT boundaries	Unknown
Grounding / commissioning	Bonding, test documentation, turnover packages, closeout QA	Unknown

Power-first campuses change the order of opportunity. On a conventional commercial project, low-voltage teams may wait for a building permit, a GC announcement, or a tenant-improvement package before the scope is obvious. Here, the public signals are arriving from the power stack first: federal land, generation, transmission, route planning, substations, and regulatory filings. That means the low-voltage watch has to include utility and site-infrastructure evidence, not only the eventual building permits.

For a contractor, the early questions are practical. Where will diverse carrier entrances land? Which parcels and roads will control duct-bank routes? How will secure perimeters, laydown yards, substations, and construction access reshape the campus boundary? Which systems need early design coordination because they cross between data halls, power blocks, control rooms, security operations, and utility yards? Those are the questions that turn a distant AI story into a real preconstruction target.

The project also rewards companies that can operate inside disciplined documentation environments. Data-center owners do not just buy cable, cameras, panels, and controls. They buy labeling standards, test records, closeout books, safety compliance, chain-of-custody discipline, repeatable installation quality, and technicians who can coordinate with electrical, mechanical, civil, commissioning, and owner-rep teams. If PORTS advances on the timeline suggested by the current sources, vendors that wait for a public bid headline may be late to relationship-building and qualification work.

The public evidence also points to a regional workforce story. DOE emphasizes union and skilled-trade work across power plant, pipeline, transmission, substation, and data-center construction. That mix matters for LVN because low-voltage crews will not work in isolation. Fiber and OSP teams will be near civil and utility work. Security and access-control teams will be tied to perimeter sequencing. Fire alarm and BAS/BMS teams will have to coordinate with life-safety, cooling, power, and emergency-response requirements. Commissioning teams will need clean documentation before operations, not after the fact.

There are still important unknowns. No reviewed primary source names a confirmed general contractor, EPCM, electrical contractor, structured-cabling contractor, security integrator, fire alarm contractor, controls integrator, DAS contractor, or commissioning firm. The 10 GW number should remain campus and power-development framing until primary records define IT critical load. OpenAI should remain a monitoring context, not a confirmed tenant claim for this specific campus. Those limits make the lead more useful, not less: it tells contractors exactly what has evidence and exactly where the next confirmation should come from.

For low-voltage contractors, this is the moment to prepare quietly. The public evidence does not justify cold-claiming a scope award, but it does justify building a watch list around AEP Ohio filings, Ohio Power Siting Board routing, Ohio EPA permitting, Pike County records, sitework notices, job postings, and any plan-room or prequalification language tied to SB Energy, PORTS Technology Campus, New Day Data Centers, SoftBank, or the Portsmouth Gaseous Diffusion Plant.

There is also a tenant-risk note. SB Energy's company page describes the company as a data-center and power platform backed by SoftBank Group and OpenAI, and trade reporting has discussed OpenAI lease talks around the Ohio project. That is not the same thing as a primary-source confirmation that OpenAI is the signed PORTS tenant. LVN should keep OpenAI in the monitoring context, but the published construction record should stay with the source-backed parties until owner/operator records say more.

Watch item	Why it matters	Best evidence path
Transmission routing	Drives site power and substation sequencing	AEP Ohio and Ohio Power Siting Board filings
Building filings	Turns campus concept into packages	County, state, and permit records
GC / EPCM award	Controls bid list and specialty prequal paths	Owner announcements, plan rooms, job postings
Fiber and security packages	Creates direct LVN contractor opportunity	Integrator postings, procurement notices, permits
Commissioning milestones	Signals turnover and documentation demand	Inspection records and contractor hiring

The practical LVN Signal read: PORTS is a high-confidence AI/data-center construction lead with unusual power and federal-site evidence, but it is still early on named specialty packages. Contractors who can document safety, fiber testing, cable labeling, pathway coordination, grounding/bonding, controls integration, access-control/CCTV commissioning, fire alarm coordination, and closeout discipline should watch this one now, while the package map is still forming.