For two years the capital markets treated anything under 100 MW as a rounding error. This week the rounding error got a credit rating. J.P. Morgan and Goldman Sachs closed an investment-grade-rated facility of up to $1.2 billion against a 40 MW colocation retrofit in a North Carolina town of 2,200. I Squared Capital stood up a $1 billion operating platform on 53 MW of ex-Sprint switch rooms spread across nine metros. And a small city in Kentucky drafted an ordinance that makes 75 MW and 50,000 square feet the legal boundary of what it will tolerate. The debt stack, the platform thesis, and the zoning map are all being rewritten around exactly the deal size this audience chases — and this week they were rewritten in Madison, Hopkinsville, and Maysville, not Ashburn.

Five stories this week: Nscale's $3 billion two-site debt close and the $30M-per-MW small-site facility buried inside it, the Saragon platform launch on the Cogent switch-room portfolio, four more EdgeConneX filings outside Austin, a $13.7 billion GPU contract signed in a Georgia town of 2,000, and Kentucky's new math on what counts as hyperscale.

Madison, North Carolina: Population 2,200, 40 Megawatts, $1.2 Billion, Investment Grade

Nscale announced on August 31 that it closed roughly $3 billion in senior secured delayed-draw term loans across two US sites, with J.P. Morgan and Goldman Sachs as joint lead arrangers — and both facilities carry investment-grade ratings with stable outlooks. The larger tranche, up to $1.85 billion, funds the ~275 MW Ward County campus in West Texas — that one clears our 75 MW line only because it travels in a package with the deal that matters here. The deal that matters is the smaller tranche: up to $1.2 billion against a 96-acre colocation retrofit in Madison, North Carolina, about 25 miles northwest of Greensboro, on a former mine and industrial site, specced at up to 40 MW.

Run the division and sit with it: $1.2 billion over 40 MW is $30 million per megawatt of rated, GPU-inclusive debt on a sub-75 MW site. The Ward County tranche pencils at roughly $6.7M per MW — closer to a shell-and-power number — so the Madison figure is mostly silicon, networking, and cooling capex riding on top of the real estate. Two years ago a 40 MW retrofit in Rockingham County would have been a bridge loan and a prayer. Now it is a rated instrument arranged by the two largest names on the street. Context worth holding: Anthropic reportedly signed a $45 billion, 460 MW capacity agreement with Nscale days earlier, which is the kind of offtake that makes lenders comfortable rating a neocloud's paper.

Deal specs. Sponsor: Nscale (borrower via SPVs); J.P. Morgan and Goldman Sachs, joint lead arrangers · Site: Madison, NC, ~25 mi NW of Greensboro, 96 acres at the town's industrial edge; plus Ward County, TX campus in the package · Footprint: n/d · Load: up to 40 MW (Madison); ~275 MW IT (Ward County) · Lease: not a lease — two senior secured delayed-draw term loans, investment-grade rated, stable outlook, funding GPU/network/cooling capex · Tenant credit: neocloud borrower, rated IG at the facility level · Deal value: ~$3.0B total; $1.2B ÷ 40 MW = ~$30M/MW (Madison), ~$6.7M/MW (Ward) · Source: Nscale.

The Switch Rooms Get a Name, a CEO, and a Billion Dollars

An update on the $869-a-foot Sprint switch-room portfolio we covered two weeks ago, because the material terms just changed. I Squared Capital has launched Saragon, a Phoenix-headquartered operating company built on the ten ex-Sprint/Cogent facilities, with up to $1 billion in committed capital and a leadership bench pulled from Seaborn Networks (CEO Steve Orlando) and Cumulus Data/Talen (President Kevin Dalton). The thesis is explicitly AI inference and edge colocation — retail, enterprise, and wholesale — with liquid-cooling support in urban infill buildings that sit largely inside city limits in Chicago, Atlanta, Phoenix, Los Angeles, Kansas City, Baltimore, Houston, Nashville, and Stockton.

The underlying real estate math is unchanged and still the best comp in the segment: $225 million for 259 ksf of colo space carrying roughly 53 MW of installed power — $4.25M per MW, $869 per foot, and about 205 W/sf of installed density across ten buildings averaging 5.3 MW each. That is precisely the inference-edge profile everyone claims to want and almost nobody owns at scale. The caveat carries over from DCD's reporting: engineering reports flag major refurbishment needs and less spare utility power than assumed at some sites. The close is expected by end of Q3 — that is this month.

Deal specs. Sponsor: I Squared Capital (up to $1B committed); Saragon opco; seller Cogent Communications · Site: 10 facilities in 9 metros — Chicago, Atlanta, Phoenix, LA, Kansas City, Baltimore, Houston, Nashville, Stockton — urban infill, mostly within city limits · Footprint: 259 ksf total (~26 ksf avg/site) · Load: ~53 MW installed (~205 W/sf across the portfolio) · Lease: fee-simple owned; platform to sell retail/enterprise/wholesale colo · Tenant credit: PE-backed platform; target tenants AI inference, CDN, enterprise · Deal value: $225M portfolio (~$4.25M/MW, $869/sf) + up to $1B platform commitment; close expected Q3 2026 · Source: DCD.

Four More Filings on FM 535: Another $2.8 Billion, Thirteen Miles From Austin

Four new Texas TABS filings landed for Cedar Creek in unincorporated Bastrop County, roughly 13 miles southeast of Austin's city limits: two 577 ksf single-story buildings at 6543 FM 535 at $700 million each (construction October 2026 to December 2028), and two 730 ksf buildings at 6682 FM 535, also $700 million each (September 2026 to March 2029). The filings aren't officially named, but the naming convention — EDCAUS31/32 and EDCAUS13/14 — and the land records point at EdgeConneX, whose Bastrop position could exceed a dozen buildings on 1,500-plus acres, with at least part of the campus leased to CoreWeave.

This is the build-to-suit cost tape for inner-ring Austin: $1,213 per square foot on the 577 ksf boxes and $959 on the 730s, filed value against shell-plus-fit. For density, the campus comp is AUS01 at 96 MW over 920 ksf — about 104 W/sf, a wholesale number, roughly half Saragon's urban-infill 205. Two campuses, one week, and the spread between them is the whole inference-real-estate market in two data points.

Deal specs. Sponsor: EdgeConneX (developer, per filing convention); CoreWeave (neocloud tenant on part of campus) · Site: Cedar Creek, unincorporated Bastrop County, TX, ~13 mi SE of Austin city limits · Footprint: 2× 577 ksf + 2× 730 ksf = 2,614 ksf filed this week · Load: n/d for new buildings; campus comp AUS01 = 96 MW / 920 ksf (~104 W/sf) · Lease: build-to-suit/wholesale; CoreWeave terms n/d · Tenant credit: neocloud · Deal value: $2.8B filed construction value ($1,213/sf and $959/sf) · Source: DCD.

A Town of 2,000 Signs a $13.7 Billion GPU Contract

Rum Group — the company formerly known as Rumble, post its Northern Data acquisition — disclosed a six-year GPU capacity and services agreement worth up to $13.7 billion with an unnamed "US-based third-party cloud customer" at its under-construction campus in Maysville, Georgia, population roughly 2,000, an hour northeast of Atlanta. The campus runs 120 MW initially, expanding to 180 MW, with an operational target of Q1 2027. This one is over our size line, and it's here for one reason: the contract structure is a benchmark that smaller GPU-colo deals will price off. Payment comes in three tranches, with tranche three contingent on the customer approving the delivery schedule, plus warrants for 50.81 million Class A shares at a penny, vesting with purchase volume. Take-or-pay-adjacent revenue with an equity kicker riding on volume — expect to see this template again at 20 and 40 MW.

The run-rate math is the part to underwrite carefully: $13.7 billion over six years is about $2.28 billion a year, which on 120 to 180 MW works out to somewhere between $12.7M and $19M per MW per year — GPU services pricing, not rent. Against that, Rum Group posted a $79.1 million net loss on $40.4 million of revenue in Q2. The gap between the contract and the operator's current P&L is the credit story, and the tranche structure is how the customer priced it.

Deal specs. Sponsor: Rum Group (operator, via its Quake AI cloud); unnamed US cloud customer writing the check · Site: Maysville, GA, at the town's edge, ~60 mi NE of Atlanta · Footprint: n/d · Load: 120 MW initial, expanding to 180 MW · Lease: 6-yr GPU capacity/services agreement, three tranches (tranche 3 conditional on delivery-schedule approval), warrants for 50.81M shares at $0.01 tied to volume · Tenant credit: n/d (unnamed) · Deal value: up to $13.7B (~$2.28B/yr run-rate) · Source: DCD.

Kentucky Draws the Line at 75 Megawatts — and 1,500 Watts a Foot

In Hopkinsville, Kentucky, about 70 miles northwest of Nashville, North Campbell Land Co. — a Sphere 3D subsidiary since June — wants to convert its 15 MW Bitcoin mine at the Hopkinsville Electric System's Holland Substation into AI/HPC and build a second 50 MW facility elsewhere in the city, on TVA power, with a new substation possibly ready in six to twelve months. A 65 MW crypto-pivot in a secondary metro is a familiar story. What's new is the city's response.

Hopkinsville's draft ordinance would cap "large-scale" data centers at under 75 MW and under 50,000 square feet, with 1,000-foot residential setbacks — and flatly prohibit anything bigger as "hyperscale." Run that ratio: 75 MW over 50 ksf is a regulatory density line at 1,500 W/sf, drawn by a city council rather than a mechanical engineer, and almost certainly by accident. Whatever the intent, the effect is a template: a small city defining exactly how much data center it will absorb, in megawatts and square feet, before the word hyperscale becomes a prohibition. Other councils will copy the numbers without re-deriving them. Watch where 75 and 50,000 show up next.

Deal specs. Sponsor: North Campbell Land Co. (wholly owned by Sphere 3D; ~53 MW operating across IA/KY/TN) · Site: Hopkinsville, KY, within city limits at HES Holland Substation; second site elsewhere in the city, undisclosed · Footprint: ~22 modular units at the existing site; sf n/d · Load: 15 MW conversion + 50 MW new build = 65 MW planned · Lease: owner-operated; curtailable-load arrangement with TVA; no AI/HPC customers announced · Tenant credit: crypto-pivot, public microcap · Deal value: n/d · Source: DCD.

What to Watch Next Week

September 21 — the federal courts go colo shopping. The Administrative Office of the US Courts has an RFI out on sam.gov for two geographically diverse enterprise colocation sites; the incumbent contract (Digital Realty El Segundo, Csquare Ashburn) runs to July 2029, the new term goes to at least 2032, and the office prefers one location near Washington, DC. Responses due September 21.

By September 30 — the Saragon close. The I Squared/Cogent ten-site portfolio is expected to close in Q3, which is now. Also watch Cogent's remaining Sprint sites — multiple parties reportedly in diligence, some for single buildings.

September — shovels at Cedar Creek. The EDCAUS13/14 filings show construction starting this month, EDCAUS31/32 in October. Watch Bastrop County permits for the first MW disclosures on the new buildings.

Date TBD — Hopkinsville's second hearing. Community & Development Services holds a second public hearing on the 75 MW / 50 ksf ordinance before a council vote. The numbers that survive that hearing are the ones other small cities will copy.

Q4 setup — Rum Group tranche three. The Maysville contract's third tranche hinges on customer approval of the delivery schedule; the campus targets Q1 2027 operations. Customer identity may surface in future SEC filings.

Disclaimer: Edge Cases is Barrio Energy's deal-flow product. Nothing here is investment advice, a recommendation to transact, or a substitute for your own diligence. Specs are sourced from public filings, press, and reporting; verify before you wire anything.