Digi Power X lands Cerebras deal

AI data centers are starting to look less like ordinary server farms and more like custom power plants with racks attached. That is the real story here. Digi Power X just signed a 10-year colocation agreement with Cerebras Systems for a purpose-built 40 MW campus in Columbiana, Alabama, and the headline number is big — about $1.1 billion on the initial term, with as much as $2.5 billion if renewals get exercised. But the deeper point is that Cerebras is not just renting space. It is locking in power, cooling, and delivery timing. ### What actually got signed? Digi Power X said it executed a Master Services Agreement with Cerebras Systems on May 5, 2026. The deal covers a 40 MW AI data center campus that Digi will build and operate in Columbiana. The first phase is 15 MW, and the second adds 25 MW. Digi says construction starts immediately, with Phase 1 targeted to be ready for service on December 15, 2026, and full deployment by the end of Q1 2027. ### Why is 40 MW such a big number? Because this is not ordinary enterprise compute. A 40 MW campus is a serious chunk of electrical infrastructure, especially when it is tuned for dense AI hardware that throws off huge amounts of heat. Digi says the site is being built around them — not the other way around. ### Why Alabama? Power and land, mostly. Digi says the Columbiana site was chosen for robust power infrastructure, a favorable regulatory environment, and proximity to major fiber corridors in the Southeast. More importantly, Digi says it already owns the land, has completed the riskiest development risks up front. ### Why does Cerebras need a custom site? Cerebras sells and deploys very large AI compute systems, and those systems are unusually hungry for power, cooling, and predictable uptime. The catch is that frontier AI workloads do not fit neatly into generic wholesale colocation built for your thermal profile. That is what this contract appears to buy. The inference there is straightforward from the design specs Digi disclosed. ### Why does the contract structure matter? Because it turns a speculative build into something closer to a pre-sold utility asset. Digi gets long-term revenue visibility from day one of service, while Cerebras gets guaranteed capacity. That is a very different risk profile from building first and hoping tenants show up later. In plain English — the money is tied to the power plan early, which makes financing and expansion easier. ### Is this just good news for Digi Power X stock? Maybe in the short run, yes. But the more durable takeaway is strategic. Digi is trying to move from being a small operator with AI ambitions into a landlord-builder for specialized compute campuses. Landing Cerebras as the anchor tenant is the kind of validation that can help with future customers, suppliers, and capital. ### So what changes now? Construction risk becomes execution risk. Digi says the enabling pieces — land, substation, interconnection, and utility agreement — are already in place. Now it has to deliver a live 15 MW AI facility by December 15, 2026, then scale to the full 40 MW by the end of Q1 2027. If it hits those dates, this stops looking like a promotional AI infrastructure story and starts looking like a real capacity platform. ### Bottom line This deal is not just about one tenant in Alabama. It is a sign that AI compute is getting physically reorganized around power access, not just chip supply. The winners may be the companies that can secure land, substations, interconnection, and cooling first — then sell the megawatts before the concrete is even dry.