Chamath Palihapitiya Unveils Plans For AI Data Center Near Bill Gates’ Arizona Smart City

Industry insiders—particularly those on the financing side of AI data centers—describe to Zero Hedge the current buildout as a “sprint” expected to continue through President Trump’s second term.

Last week, we covered the major development in Abilene, Texas—a massive data center project widely considered the first “Stargate” project under President Trump’s broader AI infrastructure initiative. 

Backed by Crusoe and Blue Owl Capital, the Abilene facility will be operated by OpenAI—the creator of ChatGPT—positioning it as a flagship project in President Trump’s effort to rapidly scale U.S.-based AI infrastructure amid an intensifying AI race with China. 

Adding to the wave of data center investment news, Chamath Palihapitiya, CEO of Social Capital, wrote on X in response to CAPITAL.news, “We’re going to build a 1 GW AI data center in Arizona,” signaling another major deal to expand US AI infrastructure. 

Announced this today! We’re going to build a 1 GW AI data center in Arizona.

I’ve never done a RE deal so working with a great RE investor, @anitavlallian, with a vision for the project was key. Anita is a star.

Ultimately this will require us investing $25B to get the entire… https://t.co/GqSVPSJeO3 pic.twitter.com/XWYFPldg5J

— Chamath Palihapitiya (@chamath) May 27, 2025

Palihapitiya said this is his first real estate deal, noting that he partnered with Anita Verma-Lallian, CEO of Arizona Land Consulting (ALC), and other investors to purchase 2,100 acres of land west of Phoenix, known as Hassayampa Ranch.

Key points of the deal:

• Anita Verma-Lallian’s ALC is spearheading the data center land deal. 

• Palihapitiya is backing the project as a sign of growing investor interest in AI infrastructure. 

• The deal involves land that can support over 1GW of power—ideal for a cluster of data centers. 

• This is ALC’s second major transaction involving large-scale, ready-to-build real estate aimed at tech infrastructure.

• Verma-Lallian frames the investment as a historic milestone in the race to secure America’s AI future, drawing parallels to Bill Gates’ previous land deals in the region.

“We own 2000 acres right beside Bill Gates’ smart city and down the road from a nuclear reactor,” Palihapitiya emphasized. 

He continued, “Now we continue the process of entitlements and regulatory permitting so we can start construction.”

According to publicly available records, Verma-Lallian is listed as the founder of ALC, which manages a number of real estate deals. 

As one industry insider put it, data center development is now in “sprint” mode—and we expect the pace of deal announcements to only accelerate from here. That’s why two of our core investment themes remain firmly in focus:

• “Powering Up America” through our Next AI Trade,

• and our long-standing bullish stance on nuclear energy, first highlighted over 4.5 years ago, with Cameco positioned as a clear long-term winner heading into the 2030s.

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