Alcoa Corporation to Sell Idle Smelters for Data Center Projects
Aluminum | 2026-02-26 06:56:14
In Kentucky, Century Aluminum sold its Hawesville plant to a TeraWulf affiliate for $200 million, creating a 750-acre data center campus with 480MW power capacity.
By Paul Ploumis
SEATTLE (Scrap Monster): US aluminum giant Alcoa Corp is exploring the sale of multiple smelting sites to data center developers, aiming to repurpose idle or curtailed plants for technology infrastructure. Speaking at the BMO Global Metals, Mining and Critical Minerals Conference in Florida, CEO Bill Oplinger confirmed, “We have 10 sites that we're focused on selling into that space…We think we'll have the first sale in the first half of this year.”
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While details of the specific plants and potential buyers remain undisclosed, industrial brownfield sites like smelters are attractive for redevelopment due to existing transmission infrastructure and favorable zoning. One example is the former Alcoa Eastalco Works in Frederick County, Maryland, now being converted into a 2,100-acre, gigawatt-scale data center park by TPG Real Estate Partners, with customers including Aligned, Amazon, and Rowan Digital.
In Kentucky, Century Aluminum sold its Hawesville plant to a TeraWulf affiliate for $200 million, creating a 750-acre data center campus with 480MW power capacity. Alcoa’s Washington sites, including Intalco and Wenatchee, along with plants in Indiana and New York, remain closed or curtailed, positioning them as potential candidates for similar redevelopment.
These moves highlight a growing trend of converting former industrial facilities into high-demand data infrastructure in the US.
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Will more US industrial plants be converted into data centers?
Frequently Asked Questions
- Why are smelter sites attractive for data centers?
They offer high-capacity transmission infrastructure, industrial zoning, and large land footprints.
- Has this model been executed before?
Yes. The former Eastalco Works site in Maryland is being transformed into a gigawatt-scale data center park.
- When could Alcoa finalize its first sale?
The company expects its first transaction in the first half of the year.
