DataOne Cements Speedy Data Center Build With Precast Concrete Forms

‘That’s very, very appealing for the entire industry, because everybody is targeting these kind of lead times. Nobody is able to achieve them. The fastest in the (United) States takes nine months, 12 months to build. Here we are talking about not even six months. Like at the end, we are targeting not even four months to build this turnkey data center,’ DataOne CEO Charles-Antoine Beyney tells CRN.

DataOne CEO Charles-Antoine Beyney has staked his company’s future on the bet that with precast concrete forms, he can cut the time it takes to build data centers from a year to a few months.

“The U.S. is amazing. You have super-skilled people. You have factories. When you find the right team, the sky is the limit,” he told CRN. “And that’s exactly what we’re doing right now.”

This week, DataOne announced the investment of an undisclosed sum from Northeast Precast as well as a business partnership in delivering customers a turnkey data center building.

That comes a few weeks after it announced that it is building a 100-megawatt facility in Vineland, N.J., on behalf of AI infrastructure company Nebius. The data center plans to scale that up to 300 megawatts by the end of 2026, with the potential to reach 1 gigawatt over time. This week, DataOne announced that it would leverage its partnership with Northeast Precast to build the job.

“Basically, the entire shell is made in precast, so all the walls, all the beams, like everything, is made in precast concrete,” Beyney told CRN. “We want to show the world that we’re able to build the shell of a 125,000 building in 10 weeks, and that’s exactly what we are delivering.”

The main structure on a 107-acre site is being assembled now, slab by precast slab. In one week earlier this month, the company had installed 18 wall panels and set 22 posts as it races to open the first stage by July. He said the project is now two weeks ahead of schedule.

For electrical power, Beyney said the company is using 25 megawatts from an outside power supplier, but it is able to produce 25 megawatts on site “behind the meter” through a dedicated natural gas pipeline. While preformed, the walls are insulated and designed to create a temperature-controlled space for the electronics inside.

Beyney (pictured above) called out the robustness of the precast concrete material being used to create the forms.

“We are not using wood. We are not using metal. If I have a twister coming in, I don’t care. That’s still going to be there. It’s not going to move. It’s not going anywhere,” he said.

But the business advantage, he said, is speeding up the time to market to deliver a piped and wired data center from a year to four months.

“That’s very, very appealing for the entire industry, because everybody is targeting these kind of lead times. Nobody is able to achieve them. The fastest in the (United) States takes nine months, 12 months to build,” he said. “Here we are talking about not even six months. Like at the end, we are targeting not even four months to build this turnkey data center.”

Beyney – who said he has spent 15 years leading more than 27 data center construction projects across Europe, North Africa, and South America – founded DataOne in November of last year.

Beyney is sharing progress of the construction on LinkedIn, through aerial photos, but is not publicly releasing direct images of the precast forms just yet. He showed one photo of a wall form being placed at the site to CRN. It appeared to be a large, dark grey square made of concrete.

“It’s like kind of a grayish material. But not the usual gray. It’s a dark gray and that’s just the base,” he told CRN. “There is something on top that we’re going to build, that’s going to look like a spaceship. So, you know, I’m French. I love to build beautiful things, right? And, and that’s going to be looking very, very nice.”