Inside Nebius CLT1 in Moore, South Carolina: site history, 50 MW IT contract, power, proposed layout, moratorium risks, funding and delivery schedule.

On a roughly 16-acre property in Moore, South Carolina, 20 shipping containers tell the story of the site's first business: hosting Bitcoin miners. The next chapter calls for a 187,600-square-foot building, two AI data halls and Nebius as the tenant. AIB Data Centers plans to turn this existing industrial power location into 50 MW of critical IT capacity for Nebius under a 12-year hosting agreement, with two optional five-year renewals. AIB's contract announcement

Fifty megawatts can seem modest beside the much larger campuses in Nebius's expansion plans. Its value lies in what it could become on the way to that larger network: two defined blocks of computing capacity, delivered by a host at a property with an existing power history. Nebius can pursue that deployment alongside the years of work required for its biggest developments. CLT1's importance will ultimately be measured in the capacity customers can use, and how soon they can use it.

The project brings together several pieces that developers spend years trying to secure: a location, an electricity agreement and a committed tenant. It also brings the challenges of converting a mining operation into an AI facility, financing the rebuild and navigating a county that has paused most new data-center development. That combination makes CLT1 a revealing example of how Nebius's expansion moves from contracted megawatts to an operating cloud.

A compact site in South Carolina's industrial landscape

CLT1 sits at 389 Tyger River Industrial Drive in Moore, within Spartanburg County. The project appears as CLT1, CLT01 and CLT-01 in different company documents, but its address is firmly in South Carolina. The county identifies an approximately 16-acre leasehold on parcel 6-32-00-012.04. This is a redevelopment of a specific, bounded property, with a design shaped by what surrounds it. November 16 county packet, pages 491, 493 and 515

The main building would sit between electrical and mechanical yards, reached from Tyger River Industrial Drive. Residential property lines the northern side, while streams, buffers and detention areas shape the land available for construction. The drawing shows how much has to fit around the data halls: power equipment, heat-removal systems, drainage, screening and access. Those surrounding systems are part of the work needed to turn the building into dependable computing capacity.

AIB describes the property as already grid-connected, with carrier-neutral connectivity and a prior hosting operation. That history gives the redevelopment a starting point that an empty field would lack. The commercial question is how much of that advantage survives the conversion: existing infrastructure must support the new facility's electrical, cooling and connectivity requirements. The filing does not quantify available network capacity or establish redundant fiber routes. AIB second-quarter Form 10-Q, business discussion

From Bitcoin containers to an AI facility

The site's earlier business was built around an approximately 40 MW facility providing hosting and equipment leasing to third-party Bitcoin miners. The county describes around four years of operation and 20 containers scattered across the property. AIB now proposes replacing those containers with a single building. The historical 40 MW belongs to the mining operation; it is not existing Nebius capacity and cannot be added to the new 50 MW AI commitment. Form 10-Q, county packet, page 491

That earlier operation came to a halt in 2026. AIB's August 13 filing says the site was de-energized on June 5 and had not restarted by the filing date; material AI/HPC capacity had not entered service. The later delivery presentations still describe future AI halls. Current active Nebius IT capacity at CLT1 has not been publicly confirmed.

The physical change explains the scale of the undertaking. AI equipment needs a coordinated electrical, cooling and network environment, with systems that can be tested and accepted together. AIB is replacing a container installation with a substantially different facility. Its head start comes from the location and existing infrastructure relationships; the new building and its supporting systems still have to be delivered.

AIB builds the facility; Nebius brings the computing platform

The project involves several distinct interests. Pacolet Milliken LLC is identified as the landowner on the November 6 plan. AIB CLT1 LLC is the project company in the proposed county agreement, and One Blockchain LLC is the customer named in the electricity agreement. Nebius is the contracted AI tenant. The arrangement gives Nebius access to a host-developed facility without making it the owner of every part of the property and power infrastructure. County packet, pages 491 and 515, electricity agreement

AIB describes its role as building, owning and operating the facility and supporting infrastructure, while Nebius supplies the server platform. For Nebius, that allows another deployment to advance through a partner's development program. It also ties the computing investment to AIB's execution: the host must deliver space that is ready to accept the platform. Customer prepayments and hardware investment mean this route still requires capital from Nebius. October presentation, slide 6

What would replace the containers

The November 6 plan shows an approximately 187,600-square-foot building, one story with a mezzanine, with a stated peak height of 36 feet and a 30-foot eave height. Large electrical and mechanical yards run alongside it. Detention basins, stream protection, retaining walls and landscaping fill out the rest of the design. This is the proposed layout for the redevelopment; the drawing does not show completed construction. County packet, page 515

[[PLAN_IMAGE]]

Lockhart Power is named as the electricity provider, SJWD Water District as the water provider, and private septic as the wastewater solution. The plan requires a state septic application before the zoning permit. Those details locate the project within a real utility and permitting system. They do not, on their own, establish a water allocation or the final cooling configuration. GPU type, rack density and operating water consumption have not been specified in the cited project materials.

The neighboring homes and stream buffers put practical limits on equipment placement. The plan references lighting and sound studies dated October 8, and the county's standards make noise, glare and screening part of the development process. Final equipment choices must work within those limits. That is why the yards and buffers deserve attention alongside the building: they help determine how the facility can operate once the servers arrive.

The power behind the 50 MW commitment

Measure

What the evidence supports

What it means for the reader

Contracted critical IT capacity

50 MW for Nebius, in two 25 MW halls

Planned capacity for computing equipment under the hosting commitment; not confirmed active load

Proposed total facility limit

65 MW in the county development-agreement draft

The proposed overall facility envelope, including supporting systems; not another 65 MW of compute

Executed electricity contract demand

65,000 kVA at 34.5 kV

The contract uses apparent-power units. AIB describes 65 MW of utility capacity, but the legal units should remain visible

Current active Nebius capacity

Not publicly confirmed as of November 7, 2026

The contracted halls remain future capacity; no active operating total is established

Sources: contract announcement, county packet, page 496, electricity agreement, section 1.

The three figures describe different parts of the same project. The IT commitment concerns computing equipment. The facility limit also has to accommodate cooling, electrical losses and other support loads. The electricity contract uses kVA, a measure of apparent power, which cannot automatically be relabelled MW without a power-factor assumption. AIB describes 65 MW of utility capacity, but the contract's original units matter when assessing what supports the 50 MW IT design. Nor does dividing the facility limit by the IT commitment establish measured operating efficiency.

The electricity agreement is a substantial piece of the development case. It has an October 1, 2026 effective date and calls for commercially reasonable efforts toward initial delivery by December 15, subject to the prior agreement ending and specified delay provisions. The 15-year term begins at initial delivery. That provides a long-term framework for the site, although the contract's effective date should not be confused with confirmation that power has physically begun flowing under it. Electricity agreement, sections 3 and 4

[[POWER_IMAGE]]

AIB says significant additional electrical infrastructure upgrades are not required. If that assessment holds through the build, the existing power location could save work that would otherwise fall on a greenfield development. The remaining task is to translate that starting position into reliable service for the new facility, including its distribution equipment and commissioning requirements. AIB announcement

A project moving through a county moratorium

Spartanburg County adopted a 12-month data-center moratorium beginning September 21, 2026, then readopted it on October 19. Council can extend it by resolution. The ordinance nevertheless allows qualifying projects to proceed through exemptions for specified prior approvals or permits, or for qualifying industrial locations under stated conditions. The industrial-location provision has a 65 IT MW ceiling, a different measure from CLT1's 65 MW whole-facility limit. Readopted Ordinance O-26-26, pages 2-4

CLT1's mining history does not automatically carry the AI redevelopment through the moratorium. Digital-mining businesses are excluded from the ordinance's data-center definition. The proposed CLT1 agreement instead invokes one or more of the Section 4 exemptions. Its industrial setting and 50 MW IT scope appear consistent with the industrial-location route, although the draft does not identify the precise exemption determination.

The project has already made progress through that process. Second reading was approved on November 3, and the tentative November 16 agenda places third reading under item XVII.U. As of November 7, that final reading is still ahead. CLT1 therefore has a more developed approval path than a newly announced site, with a specific agreement nearing a decision. County status page, November 16 agenda, page 12

The agreement would provide a 12-year protection period with two possible five-year renewals, subject to its terms and retained government powers. Noise, light, glare, landscaping and applicable permits remain part of the obligation, alongside state and federal requirements. For AIB and Nebius, an executed agreement would make the development rules more predictable and give construction and financing a firmer foundation.

Those protections would cover a defined project: a cumulative 50 MW IT and 65 MW facility maximum. The separate 65 IT MW ceiling in the moratorium does not give Nebius an additional 15 MW at CLT1. Any expansion beyond the agreed project would need its own commercial support and regulatory assessment.

A more concrete development proposal

The package prepared for November 16 gives the proposal much more physical substance. A dated site plan and survey replace the earlier master-plan placeholder, and four pages of design standards replace another placeholder. The earlier Article V condition concerning sites in the same industrial park or within one mile is absent from the successor text. These are changes to the proposed agreement ahead of the vote, rather than adopted permissions. November 3 packet, pages 106, 123 and 125, November 16 packet, pages 496 and 512-520

The county is also negotiating a local economic bargain. The proposal includes at least $400 million of company investment, an anticipated $1.2 billion when tenant investment is included, and at least 28 full-time jobs. A proposed $12.6 million community benefit would begin with $6 million, followed by annual $600,000 payments across the remainder of the 12-year initial term. These commitments help explain the effort to reach a site-specific agreement: the county would receive investment and local benefits while setting conditions on how the facility operates. The amounts remain proposed commitments, not spending already completed. County packet, pages 497 and 501-502

The path to two operating halls

AIB's timing has changed as the project has developed. Its September presentation measured delivery from assumed electricity-service commencement. The October presentation places both halls in the fourth quarter of 2027, expressly describing the timing as an estimate rather than guidance. The sequence matters for Nebius: power service enables the facility, completed halls enable equipment installation, and customer-ready systems enable revenue.

Dated record

Timing described

How to interpret it

Executed electricity agreement

October 1 effective date; efforts toward initial delivery by December 15, 2026, with conditions

Establishes contractual dates, not verified energization

September 30 presentation

First hall around month 10 and second around month 14 after assumed commencement

With an October 1 start, approximately August and December 2027; a conditional historical schedule

October presentation, furnished October 20

Two 25 MW halls expected in Q4 2027

AIB labels the timing an estimate, not a target or guidance; financing, permits and construction remain dependencies

County development-agreement draft

Start and substantial-completion obligations measured from approvals

Municipal compliance windows, not a commercial handover forecast

Sources: electricity agreement, September presentation, slide 6, October presentation, slide 8, county packet, page 495.

The Q4 2027 estimate is subject to utility commencement, permits, procurement, construction and financing. The September schedule would imply roughly August and December 2027 if measured from an October 1 start, but those conditional dates should not be treated as two confirmed handovers. A current hall-by-hall schedule tied to actual progress will be more useful than any single date taken out of its original context.

Each 25 MW hall is a meaningful step in its own right. Delivery of the first would create a smaller, staged deployment for Nebius; it would not mean the entire 50 MW commitment had arrived. Hardware installation, testing, customer activation and utilization then determine the revenue ramp. Even an on-time building handover late in a year would not contribute a full year's revenue at nameplate capacity.

Who funds the rebuild, and where the risk sits

AIB's October 7 letter sets out a funding strategy built around customer prepayments, project debt and preferred equity. Its October presentation says financing was incomplete. The Nebius agreement gives the developer a contracted customer around which to arrange capital, but the funding still has to close and become equipment, construction work and a completed facility. Capital availability therefore belongs in the delivery discussion alongside permits and power. CEO letter, October presentation, slide 11

The headline investment numbers cover different things. The county's minimum company commitment and anticipated company-plus-tenant investment have different scopes from the September presentation's roughly $800 million illustrative funding example. They do not establish final Nebius spending or future cloud revenue. The October deck also cautions against deriving AIB's lease price from peer comparisons, so the earlier illustrative implied lease value should not be read as a disclosed contract value. September presentation, slides 4 and 7, October presentation, slide 10

For Nebius, the return depends on when this capital starts supporting paying workloads. AIB takes responsibility for delivering the host infrastructure, while Nebius invests in its computing platform. A delay at the host can push back the point at which that deployment becomes productive, even if demand for the eventual service remains strong. The partnership gives Nebius another way to expand, with a different set of execution dependencies from developing the entire facility itself.

Why a small South Carolina site matters to Nebius

Nebius's network will be built from individual deployments that come online at different times. A gigawatt-scale campus can define the company's long-term ambition, while a 25 MW hall can determine how much additional business it can serve during a particular period. CLT1 offers two such steps at a clearly identified property. Its contribution would come from adding usable capacity to the network before every phase of the largest developments is finished.

The host model adds another route to that growth. Nebius can install its platform in infrastructure developed by AIB while advancing other projects elsewhere. That broadens the ways capacity can reach the business, although it also requires the company to coordinate with another developer's funding and construction timetable. The location matters because it gives Nebius a specific property and power relationship around which to expand, with two halls whose progress can be followed individually.

The project also gives investors a clear set of milestones to follow. An executed county agreement would settle part of the development framework. Issued permits, financing close and actual electricity-service commencement would strengthen the construction case. Acceptance of each hall would then bring Nebius closer to deploying equipment and serving customers. Following those steps shows how much of the company's expansion is becoming available capacity, one location at a time.

From this site to the wider investment case

CLT1 is one part of a network with several different development paths. Follow its capacity and delivery milestones in the CLT1 tracker entry, and use the Nebius data-center hub to compare the wider footprint. The Vineland report and Independence report explain how other major locations contribute to that expansion.

For the valuation, the relevant question is how these individual delivery schedules add up across a year. Timing affects how much IT capacity is available; utilization and customer ramp affect revenue; hardware and infrastructure commitments affect the capital required to get there. Premium members can explore the wider assumptions in the Nebius company model section. CLT1's eventual contribution depends on that operating sequence, rather than its contracted megawatts alone.

The next county decision is scheduled for November 16. Beyond that vote, the most consequential news will be progress that gets the two halls closer to accepting Nebius's equipment. A former mining property in Moore could become another working piece of the AI cloud. Delivering those two halls is how a relatively small site earns its place in a much larger growth story.

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