Local officials and community members gathered on July 15, 2026, for a groundbreaking ceremony for a new $950 million, 714,540-sq.-ft. data center campus being built in Umatilla, Ore., by Sabey Data Centers, according to eastoregonian.com.

Sabey is a privately-owned multi-tenant data center operator in the United States known for build-to-suit data centers. It designs, builds and operates a custom data center facility from scratch tailored to a client's technical and operational requirements.

The 60-acre campus will be designed to support more than 150 megawatts of capacity, eastoregonian.com reported.

"It took months of planning, coordination and investment to get here," Sabey Vice President Ryan Beebout said. "Building a data center is hard."

Eastoregonian.com reported that Sabey chose to build a campus in Umatilla because of the Columbia River Cloud Corridor, which is a fast-growing, hyperscale and cloud data center cluster along the Columbia River. The river provides direct access to plenty of renewable hydroelectric power that can fill massive electrical needs.

Dozens of individual data center buildings are already operating or under development across 10 Morrow County campuses.

"We believe Umatilla is a perfect spot," Sabey President Tim Mirick said. "There's room for expansion, and we're in a region that has already demonstrated itself as a place for data centers. Umatilla is uniquely positioned to meet our needs."

Hundreds of skilled workers will build the campus, Mirick said.

State Rep. Bobby Levy said the campus is a significant development for Northeastern Oregon, according to eastoregonian.com.

"Groundbreakings represent more than a new building," Levy said. "They represent confidence in our region's future. Investments like this create momentum. When other industries see this, they are more likely to come here and build here."

Sabey said the company's data centers use far less water than other companies, according to eastoregonian.com.

"We use a closed-loop cooling system here," he said.

That type of system features a sealed liquid cooling architecture that continuously recirculates water, removing and absorbing heat from servers. Since it is sealed, the fluid isn't exposed to the environment, which eliminates daily water losses associated with more traditional evaporative cooling towers.

Umatilla City Manager Dave Stockdale said that aside from construction workers, the project will attract ancillary companies such as fiber optics, pipefitting and others, according to eastoregonian.com.

"Those are permanent jobs," he said.