Data Centers in Nvidia’s Hometown Stand Empty Awaiting Power

Two of the world’s biggest data center developers have projects in Nvidia Corp.’s hometown that may sit empty for years because the local utility isn’t ready to supply electricity.

In Santa Clara, California, where the world’s biggest supplier of artificial-intelligence chips is based, Digital Realty Trust Inc. applied in 2019 to build a data center. Roughly six years later, the development remains an empty shell awaiting full energization. Stack Infrastructure, which was acquired earlier this year by Blue Owl Capital Inc., has a nearby 48-megawatt project that’s also vacant, while the city-owned utility, Silicon Valley Power, struggles to upgrade its capacity.

Digital Realty’s SJC37 data center project in Santa Clara.

Photographer: Jason Henry/Bloomberg

The fate of the two facilities ...