Alaska startup proposes $500 million North Slope data center

A $500 million AI data center on the North Slope would need more than a big building and fast computers. STAK Energy Corporation has sought a 50-year state land lease for 715.4 acres beside the Dalton Highway, about 26 miles south of Deadhorse, for a natural gas-powered facility that would have to generate its own electricity, move data over fiber-optic links, and operate in one of the most remote industrial settings in Alaska.

The company’s pitch is built around the North Slope’s biggest advantages and its biggest obstacles. State records describe modular data center units, on-site natural gas power generation infrastructure, operations and maintenance buildings, fiber-optic communication links, and supporting utilities. STAK is also betting that Arctic temperatures can solve a major operating cost for AI and cloud computing: cooling. The company says the project could use about 90% less water than a comparable facility farther south, a crucial point in an industry where water and electricity demand often limit growth.

The real test for North Slope Borough is whether a project like this turns into durable local work or another headline that never gets built. A site that sits one mile west of the Dalton Highway and miles from the main industrial base around Deadhorse would require year-round logistics, staffing, housing, and a construction force able to work in harsh weather. If the project moves ahead, the biggest local questions will be how much of the engineering, hauling, civil work, and maintenance can go to North Slope contractors, and whether the borough and nearby communities see real tax and lease benefits after the construction phase ends.

The scale is what makes the proposal hard to ignore. Northern Journal reporting cited by DataCenterDynamics said the campus could reach as much as 3 gigawatts at full buildout and could consume about twice as much natural gas as urban Alaska’s grid. That would make the project a major new gas customer at the same moment Alaska is still trying to solve the long-running problem of stranded North Slope gas.

Gov. Mike Dunleavy has said new data centers could serve as an “anchor tenant” for a North Slope gas pipeline to urban Alaska. Energy analyst Antony Scott has said the most logical place for such facilities is next to the oil fields, adding, “We just need an anchor tenant or so.” The idea lands as federal Energy Secretary Chris Wright calls Alaska LNG his No. 1 infrastructure priority, and as the state continues searching for ways to monetize North Slope gas.

Alaska has been looking at this concept for years. Companies have studied North Slope data centers since at least 2001, when Netricity examined a project, and in 2024 Hilcorp and a Texas firm were testing a smaller data-center and bitcoin-mining concept at Endicott. STAK’s plan is bigger than those earlier efforts, and that makes the central question more urgent: whether the North Slope can turn abundant gas, cold air, and open land into a lasting industry, or whether the proposal stays a costly idea on paper.