DataOne's $7.5 Billion Frankfort AI Factory: What the September 28 Council Vote Won't Answer

DataOne, a French-based data center developer founded in November 2024, is asking the Frankfort Common Council to approve a $7.5 billion AI campus at the Logix Innovation Campus in Clinton County at a special meeting on September 28th. The facility would draw 350 megawatts through IMPA (the Indiana Municipal Power Agency) plus 175 megawatts from on-site Bloom Energy fuel cells, for a combined load of 475 megawatts.

DataOne's CEO has said the company will fund two new substations and cover all infrastructure costs.

Here is what the September 28th vote will not answer. DataOne has only 15 megawatts of operational capacity globally across two French campuses. It is backed by a debt fund, not equity. No anchor tenant, no offtake agreement, and no construction financing have been publicly disclosed. That 350-megawatt IMPA commitment is a single load addition with no known IMPA precedent.

If you are an IMPA-served manufacturer, the time to understand what this does to your wholesale power costs is before the council votes, not after. Ask your energy manager or advisor what a 350-megawatt load addition means for your IMPA rate structure.

For background on how large new loads are allocated across existing ratepayers, see Utility Cost Allocation for Data Centers: How Indiana Manufacturers Avoid Paying for Grid Buildout They Didn't Cause.