Terawulf taps Fluor for preconstruction on $3B Kentucky data center | Dump Trucks Charlotte NC

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Fluor is moving forward on a brownfield data center project in north central Kentucky, the columbus oh dump truck company announced Monday. 

The Irving, Texas-based contractor signed a limited notice to proceed on a 480-megawatt data center with TeraWulf, an Easton, Maryland-based developer of data center infrastructure. The agreement covers master planning and preconstruction services for the large-scale brownfield data center campus.

TeraWulf plans to invest an estimated $3 billion to $4 billion in the campus to transform an aluminum smelter site, according to Cleanview data, a data center tracking platform. The columbus oh dump truck company expects to complete the project by the second half of 2027, according to Cleanview.

In February, the developer announced that it had acquired the former industrial site in Hawesville, Kentucky, with more than 250 buildable acres and immediate access to 480 MW of existing power availability. TeraWulf said in a Feb. 2 news release the site is within 300 miles of several major Midwest metropolitan areas, offering low-latency connectivity and existing industrial infrastructure.

Fluor highlighted the win as part of its strategy to pursue data center construction.

“TeraWulf values Fluor’s ability to deliver quality and safety without sacrificing speed,” John Palmer, senior vice president for advanced technologies at Fluor, said in the release. “Our world class data center team is ready to support this strategic project through disciplined, end-to-end project delivery.”

The limited notice to proceed enables Fluor to begin the early engineering phase, according to the release. The contractor will recognize its portion of the undisclosed contract value in the first quarter. The firm’s North American Data Center Execution Hub in Greenville, South Carolina, will take the lead on the project, according to the release. 

Fluor has identified data center construction as a key growth driver in recent earnings calls. That boom should ultimately extend to power-related infrastructure projects as well, said CEO Jim Breuer. 

For example, Breuer pointed to an increase in nuclear project prospects during the firm’s fourth quarter earnings call. He added to expect new awards this year to be “significantly higher than in 2025.”