Key Takeaways

  • Stratacache is selling a 1.19-million-square-foot former semiconductor plant on 197 acres in Eugene.
  • Interest in converting the property into a data center raised questions about power, water, and infrastructure capacity.
  • Any buyer considering a data center would face closer scrutiny as AI pushes national electricity demand sharply higher.

Stratacache has listed its large industrial property in Eugene for sale, shifting attention from a possible data center conversion to the future of one of the region's most substantial manufacturing sites.

The property consists of a 1.19-million-square-foot former semiconductor plant spread across four lots totaling 197 acres. Stratacache has owned the facility since 2020. Its scale, industrial history, and existing infrastructure made it a potential candidate for data center reuse, but that possibility also prompted local concern about electricity and water consumption, according to coverage aggregated by Ground News.

A listing does not settle what happens next. A buyer could pursue another industrial use, redevelop portions of the site, or revisit the data center concept. The eventual outcome would depend on zoning, utility capacity, environmental review, infrastructure costs, and the buyer's business model.

Still, the sale arrives during an unusually intense period for data center development. Artificial intelligence systems require dense clusters of specialized servers, while cloud computing, video services, enterprise applications, and consumer platforms continue adding demand. Existing industrial campuses can look attractive because they may offer large buildings, utility connections, security perimeters, and room for additional equipment.

A building's size is only one part of the equation. Modern data centers require substantial and highly reliable power, along with backup generation, network connectivity, cooling equipment, and agreements governing when and how electricity is delivered. A former semiconductor plant may possess useful infrastructure, but it is not automatically ready for AI servers.

The national numbers explain why communities are taking a harder look. The Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory estimates that U.S. data centers consumed about 192 TWh of electricity in 2024, equivalent to 4.7% of national consumption. By 2030, their share could reach 9.5% to 15.3%. Its 2025 update places potential 2030 consumption between 521 TWh and 843 TWh, a wide range reflecting uncertainty about AI-server adoption and the pace of facility construction.

That uncertainty complicates planning for utilities. Large facilities can bring long-term customers and support grid investment, but projected loads do not always become operating campuses. Utilities therefore have to weigh major generation and transmission commitments against construction schedules, financing risks, and changing technology.

Water adds another layer. The Oregon Data Center Advisory Committee found that evaporative cooling can consume large amounts of water, while cooling designs that use less water generally require more electricity. Direct data center water consumption remains a small, single-digit share of statewide use, according to the committee's policy discussion, but local demand can become more consequential during seasonal irrigation peaks.

How should a city compare those trade-offs when facility-level information is incomplete? Oregon's advisory findings note that widespread nondisclosure agreements limit public visibility into water use. That can make it difficult for residents, utilities, and policymakers to distinguish an efficient proposal from one that could place heavier demands on local systems.

Major operators such as Amazon Web Services, Google, and Microsoft illustrate the broader dilemma. Hyperscale facilities can support cloud availability and digital growth, yet their cooling and power strategies vary by climate, workload, and infrastructure. There is no single consumption profile that applies to every project.

For a future buyer in Eugene, efficiency commitments could become central to winning public confidence. ISO 50001:2018 provides a structure for energy-management systems, while ASHRAE Standard 90.4-2022 addresses energy efficiency in data centers. Using those standards would not resolve every local concern, but it could give officials and stakeholders clearer benchmarks for evaluating a proposal.

The sale therefore resets the conversation without ending it. Stratacache may transfer the property to an owner with entirely different plans. But if data center development returns to the table, the discussion is likely to focus less on whether servers can fit inside the former plant and more on who pays for power upgrades, how cooling water is managed, and what operational data the buyer is prepared to disclose.