Kaufman & Company, a Los Angeles-based private investment firm, has started construction on two hyperscale data center projects in Utah and Texas, using a proprietary geodesic dome design that aims to solve the two biggest challenges facing AI infrastructure: water consumption and power demand.
The domes, which are being built outside Salt Lake City and in El Paso, are engineered for AI workloads with a curved, column-free interior that creates natural convection, reducing the need for traditional chiller plants. The hybrid air and direct liquid immersion cooling system cuts water use by approximately 90% compared with conventional data centers, and the geodesic shape requires about 30% less structural material than a standard rectangular shell.
Each dome can draw up to 90% of its power from behind-the-meter sources. In Utah, that power comes from rooftop solar; in El Paso, the company is also developing geothermal generation that will produce enough capacity to supply external users. The green roof collects water for cooling, meeting an estimated 90% of each site's cooling needs.
Daniel Kaufman, founder of Kaufman & Company, said, "The issues of power, water, appearance and jobs are real, impactful concerns, and we were seeing them in our own projects and across the industry. The geometry is what makes this exciting. It is a dome with a green roof that blends into the landscape rather than another lit box stretching for miles."
The El Paso project sits on roughly 24,000 acres of formerly idle ranch and oil and gas land. Phase one already has tenants secured, and the company expects to build as many as ten additional domes on the site over the next decade. The company is also in early conversations to bring the model to Louisiana, Oklahoma, North and South Dakota, as well as international markets including India, Europe, and Canada.
Given the scale of hyperscale development, which exceeds Kaufman & Company's typical self-funded model, the firm has brought in outside capital and infrastructure partners for the first time, including Meta, Google, Oracle, Microsoft, AT&T, Zayo, Fiberlight, and Aurelia, along with institutional lenders and government agencies.
Ryan Wallace, Managing Director of Server Dome Global, will lead the data center initiative, supported by a team including David Keegan, CEO, a data center industry leader with 40 million square feet of development experience. David Jackson serves as President, and Bradley Blewett as CFO. The company is pursuing LEED Platinum certification for the facilities.
Kaufman said, "In Utah, the community saw the server dome, and it changed the whole conversation. Drive through that area, and you see traditional data centers that are just big boxes. This is not blight, it is something we hope will be beautiful."
