AIB to build 50MW AI data center at former Spartanburg cryptomine for Nebius

A former Bitcoin mining site in Spartanburg County, South Carolina, will be redeveloped into a 50MW AI data center with its full IT capacity contracted to Amsterdam-based AI cloud provider Nebius.

AIB Data Centers, an artificial intelligence and high-performance computing infrastructure firm, plans to replace 20 equipment containers at 389 Tyger River Industrial Drive in Moore with a standalone data center building across roughly 16 acres. A draft development agreement in the county's October 19 council papers outlines the redevelopment.

The campus, known as CLT1, is the subject of the Nebius agreement announced on September 30.

What are the terms of the deal?

The initial lease term runs 12 years, with two five-year renewal options. A separate 15-year agreement secures 65MW of utility supply to support the 50MW of critical IT capacity.

AIB's October investor presentation estimates delivery of two 25MW data halls in the fourth quarter of 2027. The company expects customer prepayments, project debt and preferred equity to finance construction, but project financing has not been completed.

"Time-to-power is the binding constraint on AI infrastructure today," Nebius chief product and infrastructure officer Andrey Korolenko said when the agreement was announced.

The deal locks in a European AI cloud operator as sole tenant for a US site, with a defined power envelope and a 2027 delivery date. In plain terms: the site has a tenant, a power contract and a deadline.

How does the project clear the county moratorium?

Spartanburg County adopted a one-year moratorium on new data centers in September. The published ordinance allows exemptions for qualifying facilities of up to 65MW of IT capacity in named industrial parks or on former industrial sites, provided they do not generate electricity beyond emergency backup.

Exempt developments must meet requirements on lighting, noise and landscaping, and must enter development agreements with the county. The ordinance also restricts proximity to other data centers and excludes cryptocurrency mining from its data center definition.

The proposed AIB agreement states the project qualifies for an exemption and caps development at 50MW of IT capacity and 65MW for the whole facility. A county public notice schedules a hearing on the agreement for November 3.

The project fits inside the exemption ceiling with 15MW of headroom at the whole-facility level.

What does Spartanburg County get?

The draft agreement anticipates $1.2 billion of investment by AIB and its tenant. The company's proposed obligations include:

• At least $400 million of capital investment
• At least 28 full-time jobs, directly or through sublessees
• $12.6 million in community benefit payments over the initial 12-year term

Why did the cryptomine shut down?

AIB had disclosed plans to repurpose the site before the county adopted the moratorium. Its second-quarter filing says the existing 40MW mining hosting operation was de-energized on June 5 after falling Bitcoin prices made hosting uneconomic. Hosting had not resumed as of August 13, while development of the AI campus proceeded independently.

The filing also records the company's June 25 name change from BlockchAIn Digital Infrastructure to AIB Data Centers. Spartanburg operations sit within wholly owned subsidiary One Blockchain, and AIB CLT1 LLC was formed as the project company.

AIB is led by Jerry Tang, who also leads TigerDC.

TigerDC withdrew its separate $3 billion Project Spero proposal in Spartanburg County in February after officials rejected a tax incentive agreement, as DCD previously reported. That proposal envisaged an initial 100MW phase at a separate site.

Tang's second attempt in the county is smaller, pre-leased and structured to fit the exemption rules — and it faces its first public test on November 3.