Catawba County, North Carolina
DataCentersExposed tracks 6 AI data centers in Catawba County, North Carolina — 0 operating and 4 in the pipeline, drawing 480 MW of reported power demand, led by Microsoft Corporation. Its transparent data-center risk score is 0/100.
Sources: Methodology, Coverage scorecard
Reporting by Eric Keller · Updated May 29, 2026
- Project exposure · 18
- Power demand · 57
- Water draw · n/a
- Land footprint · n/a
What's happening in Catawba County
Facilities here with disclosed capacity draw 480 MW from the local grid. Data-center load on this scale is the single biggest driver of recent capacity-market price increases — costs that flow through to every ratepayer in the service territory, not just the operators.
Microsoft Corporation has the largest presence in Catawba County. We resolve project codenames and shell LLCs back to the corporate parent wherever the public record allows, so the table below names who is actually behind each site.
Below: every tracked facility in the county, the active state legislation that names it or its county, and local news. Commissioner vote records arrive in a later release; the placeholders show where that accountability data will land.
2035 Buildout Outlook
Under the model's moderate-growth scenario (5%/yr annual load growth), PNNL's IM3 model sites about 5 standardized 36 MW campuses in Catawba County by 2035 — roughly 180 MW of new electricity demand and ~174 M gal/yr of cooling water. For scale, we currently track 6 real data centers in Catawba County (480 MW of reported power).
- Higher growth5180 MW · ~174 M gal/yr cooling water
The model assigns ~100% of these campuses' cooling to evaporative water cooling in Catawba County (the rest to mechanical/air cooling), a split it derives from local water stress and wet-bulb temperature.
These are modeled candidate sites, not announced or permitted facilities. PNNL's IM3 model places identical 36 MW unit-campuses at feasible locations under each scenario — it shows where demand could concentrate, never a specific parcel. Figures use a market-gravity weight of 50. How the model works.
Every tracked facility
| Facility | Operator | Status | MW |
|---|---|---|---|
| Newton Data Center Newton | Microsoft Corporation | Proposed | — |
| Project Pine near Pringle | Microsoft Corporation | Proposed | — |
| Project Agate Conover | Microsoft Corporation | Under construction | — |
| Project Yoga Maiden | Microsoft Corporation | Under construction | — |
| Apple Maiden Maiden | Apple Inc. | Mapped (unverified) | 480 |
| Apple - Maiden Data Center | Apple Inc. | Mapped (unverified) | — |
County commissioners
How the Catawba County board votes on each data-center matter — the rezonings, the abatements, the water permits — is built from public-meeting minutes and roll-call records. Know of a vote we should be tracking? Tell us.