Data Center Market Update: Week of October 19, 2026

This week combined a named frontier-AI tenant in Canada, bank debt for Johor and an early-stage 900MW proposal in Australia, against a UK rejection of a 1.2GW bid. Capacity is being committed in phases, and the headline megawatt figure usually covers more than the first lease.

Key takeaways

• Anthropic leased the first 95MW phase of EverWind’s planned 420MW Nova Scotia campus; the 325MW expansion targeted for 2028 is conditional.
• Princeton Digital Group is seeking up to $1.2 billion over three years against a 198.8MW Johor campus (Bloomberg, 14 October).
• The UK government rejected the 1.2GW Drax AI Growth Zone bid; Drax now plans a 100MW grid-connected facility.
• IREN proposed 900MW near Wagga Wagga with first energisation in 2029, but power is not secured.
• Digital Realty broke ground on 22MW in Ankara, due 2028.
• Duos Technologies signed a 10-year, 20MW colocation agreement with an unnamed cloud provider on 20 October, deployment expected Q2 2027.

Deals and projects at a glance

Project	Party	Capacity	Stated timing / status
Point Tupper, Nova Scotia	Anthropic / EverWind	95MW phase 1 of 420MW	Phase 1 late 2027; 325MW in 2028, conditional
Johor campus financing	Princeton Digital Group	198.8MW; up to $1.2B loan	Three-year loan, being syndicated
Redbank, NSW	IREN	900MW proposed	First energisation 2029; power not secured
Ankara	Digital Realty / Rönesans	22MW	Completion 2028
Columbus-area edge campuses	Duos Technologies	20MW contracted	Deployment Q2 2027
Drax, Selby	Drax / North Yorkshire / York	1.2GW bid (rejected)	Replaced by 100MW grid project

Canada: a named tenant on a phased campus

EverWind first described its tenant only as a leading frontier AI developer; Anthropic then confirmed the lease, reported by Reuters on 16 October. According to The Canadian Press as summarised by trade outlets, the lease covers an 18,600 square metre building for a term of at least 20 years. EverWind cites more than C$10 billion of total investment, of which more than C$8 billion goes to the campus and about C$2 billion to onshore wind. It has committed to fund network upgrades, use closed-loop cooling and design the site to curtail grid draw at peak. The full 420MW remains subject to commercial, technical and regulatory conditions, so only the 95MW is leased.

Malaysia: debt follows the pipeline

Bloomberg reported that Princeton Digital Group is seeking a syndicated loan of up to US$1.2 billion (RM4.9 billion) for its 198.8MW Johor campus, with HSBC, Maybank Investment Bank, OCBC Malaysia, Standard Chartered and UOB as mandated lead arrangers. The reporting relies on an unnamed source, so terms may change. It follows the seven-bank expansion of DayOne’s Johor debt platform covered in our DayOne financing note. For operating capacity and the competing markets, see the Johor guide and Bangkok vs Johor vs Singapore.

UK: the Drax bid fails

The government turned down the bid by North Yorkshire Council, the University of York and Drax to designate the Drax site near Selby an AI Growth Zone. The bid envisaged a 1.2GW data center described as carbon negative, a claim that depended on carbon capture; critics focused on wood-pellet fuel. No individual scorecard was published. Drax said it never relied on the bid and is pursuing a 100MW data center that draws from the national grid. The practical point: a gigawatt-scale label did not substitute for a credible energy delivery plan. Compare with the financing side in Virtus’s UK facility.

Australia and Türkiye

IREN’s Redbank proposal at Gregadoo (more than AU$10 billion, 900MW, six to eight years of staged build) is early: IREN states it is outside its 5GW secured-power portfolio, and a scoping report was due with NSW planning at the end of October. A neighbouring CDC proposal brings the two to up to 2.3GW of proposed, not approved, capacity. In Ankara, Digital Realty and Rönesans moved to construction on 22MW, the first site of a joint venture announced in September that plans Istanbul next.

Edge colocation: Duos

Duos Technologies announced a 10-year, 20MW agreement with an unnamed publicly traded cloud provider on 20 October; DCD reports a value above $400 million over the initial term and deployment in Q2 2027, with about 100MW of additional zoned land under negotiation. This is separate from its July 2026 five-year, 10MW Columbus, Georgia deal.

GPU rental prices

Coloprice’s tracker, updated 16 October 2026 (no later refresh at time of writing), shows on-demand medians per GPU-hour.

GPU	Median	Range
H100 80GB	$3.49	$1.30-12.29
H200 141GB	$4.40	$2.09-13.78
B200 180GB	$6.25	$3.69-16.11
GB200 NVL72 (per GPU)	$13.25	$8.00-27.04

See the GPU tracker for sources per model.

What this means for buyers of capacity

1. Separate the leased phase from the campus. Anthropic’s 95MW is a lease; the other 325MW is an option on conditions. Ask providers which megawatts are contracted.
2. Check power status before the label. IREN’s 900MW and Drax’s 1.2GW both illustrate headline capacity without secured supply. Our energy hub tracks tariffs and grid constraints.
3. Financing signals delivery. Bank syndications such as Princeton Digital’s usually follow signed demand; see the transactions tracker.
4. Small phases are deliverable sooner. 20-22MW builds in Ankara and the US edge are targeted for 2027-2028, ahead of gigawatt proposals.
5. Benchmark price. Compare quotes against the Colocation Price Index and the data center catalog.

To source capacity, submit a requirement through the quote form.