During a meeting on Tuesday, the Denton City Council approved amendments to the Power Purchase Agreements and land leases with Core Scientific, allowing the digital mining company to add high-performance computing infrastructure for artificial intelligence applications and an office complex to the site, a $6.1 billion real property investment.
The investment will result in $194 million in property tax revenue to the city of Denton over the first 10 years once the expansion achieves final build-out, which is expected to be completed in 2027, according to a city news release.
The deal between Core Scientific and the city of Denton includes the lease of 78.85 acres of city-owned land, located near the Denton Energy Center, to Core Scientific for private use, and provisions that Core Scientific is responsible for costs associated with the electrical interconnection infrastructure. Core Scientific applied to the state of Texas for incentives and abatements, not to the city.
The expansion of the Core Scientific site is expected to have a significant positive economic development impact to the city of Denton, including an estimated 300 full-time, on-site positions, and over 200 independent jobs from entities that would support the operation, according to the city. In total, the project is expected to have a positive net impact of over $430 million to Denton’s taxing bodies over 10 years.
“Denton’s trajectory is highly promising, and our expanding infrastructure makes the city an ideal hub for corporate investments” said City Manager Sara Hensley. “As we grow, Denton is committed to responsible development that enhances our livability and provides opportunity for our educational institutions to serve as a workforce pipeline. This site will serve as a model for high-performing computing innovation.”
Once final build-out is completed, the required power will increase the demand on Denton Municipal Electric’s (DME) system, and will be included in DME’s 100% renewable energy portfolio. Core Scientific is also responsible for costs associated with improved interconnection infrastructure that is expected to include the construction of two new on-site substations. Currently, DME is assessing the transmission system impacts and has identified several options to remedy any limitations. Any solution will require the approval of the Regional Transmission Group and ERCOT. All physical improvements to the transmission system should be completed by 2029.
“Denton has been home to one of our most advanced data centers, and now we expect it will host one of the largest GPU supercomputers in North America, powering artificial intelligence,” said Adam Sullivan, Core Scientific CEO. “We have had a great experience operating in Denton and are grateful for the strong support we’ve received from the city staff and community members. We look forward to continuing our partnership with the City of Denton as we expand our infrastructure to support high-performance computing.”
Core Scientific, based in Austin, currently operates nine data centers in six different states — Alabama, Georgia, Kentucky, North Carolina, North Dakota and Texas. The company also has one additional data center under development in Oklahoma.
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