Report: Amazon buys 1,300 acres near Columbia River that could become a giant data center

Amazon has purchased 1,300 acres of undeveloped land on the Oregon side of the Columbia River that could one day become a massive computing campus with up to 20 data center buildings, the Oregonian reports.

The Seattle-based tech company on Monday confirmed that it bought the land but declined to provide details on the potential data center.

“Amazon recently purchased land in Boardman, Oregon. Development plans are not final, and Amazon is performing our normal due diligence process as we develop new locations based on customer demand,” a company spokesperson told GeekWire via email.

Johnson Economics, a Portland consulting firm, submitted a land-use proposal for the site last year, the Oregonian reported. The land was previously owned by a giant dairy operation that used it for grazing.

The proposal, submitted to Morrow County, calls for an “exascale” data center — a category significantly larger than the better-known “hyperscale” sites. Johnson Economics said the potential development could include 16 to 20 data center buildings, each measuring 250,000 square feet, with a total investment pegged at $8 billion to $12 billion. The campus could consume 1 gigawatt of power, according to records from the firm cited by the Oregonian.

Amazon has more data centers in Oregon than any other Pacific Northwest state, with 47 sites, according to research firm Baxtel. Meta has 10 data centers there, and Google owns multiple campuses.

In January, Amazon secured an $83 million contract to develop a large-scale solar and battery storage facility in Oregon, beating out Puget Sound Energy in the bidding process, The Seattle Times previously reported. When complete, the facility is expected to generate 1.2 gigawatts of solar power and store an equivalent amount of energy.

Also in January, Oregon Gov. Tina Kotek announced the creation of a Data Center Advisory Committee to develop policy recommendations for managing the rapid expansion of data centers and other facilities that consume vast amounts of energy and water.

In Washington state, a bill that would have required utilities and data center companies to protect rate payers from increased power costs and bring transparency to the environmental impacts of the facilities failed this year after Microsoft opposed the measure. The legislation drew on recommendations from Washington’s Data Center Workgroup, convened last year by Gov. Bob Ferguson.

The pushback in both states reflects a broader national trend, as communities and elected officials increasingly question the energy demands, water consumption and other impacts of large-scale data center development.