County Board Unanimously OKs Incentives for $3.2 Billion Applied Digital Data Center in Brookwood

Applied Digital has officially confirmed Brookwood, Alabama, as the site for its $3.2 billion Delta Forge 2 AI data center campus. The announcement follows a unanimous vote by the Tuscaloosa County Economic Development Authority to approve an incentive package for the project, which includes roughly $314.5 million in tax abatements and a $270 million community benefit agreement over 20 years.

The Delta Forge 2 campus, the fifth in Applied Digital's AI Factory platform, is a collaborative investment with an unnamed U.S.-based high investment-grade hyperscaler that has leased 210 megawatts of computing capacity. Nick Phillips, Executive Vice President of External Affairs for Applied Digital, emphasized the company's role as a designer, builder, owner, and operator of data centers, leasing data halls to hyperscalers.

Local officials, including Tuscaloosa County Economic Development Authority Executive Director Justice Smyth and Brookwood Mayor Joe Barger, lauded the project for its potential to create over 100 full-time jobs, strengthen local schools through education taxes, and position Brookwood for future growth. The project, expected to become Brookwood's largest taxpayer, will occupy 1.26 million square feet on a 160-acre footprint within a larger 1,300-acre site. Mayor Barger anticipates construction to begin in October and conclude in 2028, with final approval votes pending from the Tuscaloosa County Commission and Brookwood City Council.

The development is part of a broader trend in the Brookwood corridor, which has seen at least two other data center projects, one tied to Youngwoo & Associates (which recently had its rezoning approved by the city council) and another to Provident Data Centers.