Data centers in Lee County, North Carolina: 2 projects mapped

Imagery: Esri, Maxar

A data center that was never formally proposed set off Lee County's fight over the issue. In November 2025, Inside Climate News reported that Deep River Data, a company with ties to the cryptocurrency industry, had asked state officials about tapping natural gas from an old exploratory well near the Deep River to power an AI data center south of U.S. 421, on the Lee-Chatham line. No application was ever filed, but fears of fracking drew long lines of residents to county and Sanford meetings asking for a moratorium on data centers and fracking.

Commission chairman Kirk Smith called a moratorium "on its face dictatorial." Neighboring Chatham County enacted one in February 2026. In March, Lee's commissioners voted 6-1 to have staff draft moratorium language, but turned instead to permanent standards: minimum setbacks from homes and roads, a ban on metal siding and shipping containers, a 65-decibel noise limit backed by fines of up to $10,000 per failed study, and a ban on any data center tied to fracking. State law bars counties from banning data centers outright.

The first real application came in June. Virginia-based PointOne and local developer Helix Ventures filed for a 300,000-square-foot, 90-megawatt data center on 56 acres off Lower Moncure Road, to be owned and operated by CyrusOne, valued at $900 million with no incentives sought. CyrusOne says its closed-loop cooling system will be filled once, with 250,000 gallons trucked in and "no discharge whatsoever." The project would employ 30 to 40 people; work is planned to begin in fall 2026 with operation by 2028.

Every project above is drawn from public records, filings and local reporting. Each row links to what it is based on. Statuses change, so check the source date before you rely on one. Found something wrong? Write to [email protected] and it gets fixed.