Sue Data Centers

Data Center Registry

Empire AI Beta

Buffalo, Erie County, New York · All 2 Empire AI consortium sites

OperatingNo reception on recordAI confirmedRecord updated September 10, 2026

Empire AI Beta is an operating data center in Buffalo, New York (Erie County), operated by Empire AI consortium (hosted by the University at Buffalo, SUNY). The public record puts it at announced June 2025, a reported $40 million investment.

Every line on this page traces to a public source listed at the bottom. Where a figure was looked for and not found, the row says so. A blank is never a zero.

Facility record

Operating

Operator
Empire AI consortium (hosted by the University at Buffalo, SUNY)
Facility type
Data center, AI use confirmed
Location
Buffalo, Erie County, NY
Coordinates
42.8949, -78.8677 (approximate)
Power capacity
Not established from a public source
Land
Not established from a public source
Investment
$40 million
Announced
June 2025
Utility
Not established from a public source
Cooling
Not established from a public source
Water use
Not established from a public source
Jobs
Not established from a public source
Public subsidy
Empire AI state capital funding (Beta-phase NVIDIA supercomputing equipment), $40 million, New York State, 2025
Community reception
No reception on record
Source confidence
Confirmed by multiple independent sources or official documentation

Timeline from the record

Newest first. Record entries come from the filings and reports the registry cites. Coverage entries are headlines from publisher feeds we monitor daily, linked to the outlet; last checked September 14, 2026.

  1. August 2026
    Operating
    Governor Hochul announced Empire AI Beta fully online. Source: Office of the Governor of New York State

Opposition and litigation at this site

Nothing on record as of September 10, 2026. No lawsuit, organized opposition, or contested hearing over Empire AI Beta in Buffalo, Erie County, New York appears in the sources this registry tracks. That is an absence in our sources rather than a finding that none exists, and local opposition often predates any coverage a national dataset would pick up.

If you live near this site and something is happening that this page does not show, that is worth telling us. Send us the document and it goes in the record with the source attached. For sites where opposition is already established, see every contested site we track.

Public money on the record

ProgramAmountGranted byYear
Empire AI state capital funding (Beta-phase NVIDIA supercomputing equipment)$40 millionNew York State2025

Notes on the record

New York State-funded public AI supercomputer, the second phase (Beta) of the Empire AI consortium. UB states it is "housed at the Center of Excellence in Bioinformatics and Life Sciences on the medical campus"; coordinates are geocoded to that building on the Buffalo Niagara Medical Campus, hence approximate. Described as "a $40 million NVIDIA-powered supercomputer" delivering "an 11-fold increase in AI training capacity, a 40-fold boost in AI inference and an 8-fold expansion in data storage" versus Alpha. Confirmed absences (2026-09-09): none of the three fetched sources states a GPU count, an IT load or any MW figure, a water/cooling detail, an acreage, or a job count for Beta. Empire AI overall is backed by "over $500 million in public and private funding"; that is consortium-wide, not this site, so it is not recorded as investmentUsd. The Alpha phase (launched 2024, Simons Foundation gift) is also housed at UB and is the predecessor system on the same campus, not a separate site. The permanent Gamma facility is tracked separately as empire-ai-gamma-buffalo-ny. This $340M is the consortium-wide state capital commitment (total backing over $500M incl. private/philanthropic funds), covering Empire AI statewide -- not specific to the UB Beta phase. Reported separately from the $40M Beta-specific figure above. Flag for hand review re: attribution to this specific facility record vs. the consortium generally. SUBSIDY SCOPE NOTE (maintainer adjudication 2026-09-10): a $340m consortium-wide state capital commitment (total backing over $500m including private and philanthropic funds) covers Empire AI STATEWIDE and is not attributable to this phase or site. It is deliberately NOT recorded as a site-level `subsidies` entry, because the same figure would otherwise be counted against both the Beta and Gamma records. The phase-specific $40m Beta award IS recorded.

What the record does not establish, and the document that would

In every fight on our tracker the decisive fact came out of a public records request. These are the requests for this site.

  • Power capacity in megawatts
  • Cooling method and water use
  • Permanent jobs promised
  • Land area
  • How the community has received it
  • Which utility serves it
Which document closes each gap
Power capacity in megawatts
The utility's large load service agreement, the interconnection request in the grid operator's queue, or the electrical site plan in the permit file.
Cooling method and water use
The water service agreement, any groundwater appropriation permit, and the mechanical narrative in the site plan.
Permanent jobs promised
The economic development application or incentive agreement, which usually states a job commitment and a clawback.
Land area
The rezoning application, the plat, or the deed recorded with the county.
How the community has received it
Planning commission and governing body minutes, public comment records, and any petition or lawsuit filed in the county.
Which utility serves it
The electric service agreement or the utility's filing with the state public utility commission.

Have one of these documents? Send it to us and we will add it to the record with attribution.

Other sites within 30 miles

Distances are between recorded coordinates, many of which are a city or county centroid, so treat them as approximate. Cumulative load on one utility and one aquifer is the question a planning commission rarely asks.

Questions people ask about this site

Is there opposition to the Empire AI Beta data center in Buffalo?

Nothing on record as of September 10, 2026. No lawsuit, organized opposition, or contested hearing over Empire AI Beta in Buffalo, Erie County, New York appears in the sources this registry tracks. That is an absence in our sources rather than a finding that none exists, and local opposition often predates any coverage a national dataset would pick up.

Has anyone filed a lawsuit over the Empire AI Beta data center?

No lawsuit over Empire AI Beta appears in the record we track as of September 10, 2026. Residents most often reach a lawyer over water supply, well drawdown, noise from cooling plant, property value, or a rezoning approved without the notice the ordinance required. If any of that is happening near this site, it is worth a review whether or not a case has been filed yet.

How much water does Empire AI Beta use?

No water withdrawal figure for Empire AI Beta is on record here. Water use is rarely published voluntarily; it usually surfaces through a utility service agreement or a state withdrawal permit, both of which are public records. We leave the number blank rather than estimate one.

Who operates Empire AI Beta, and how big is it?

Empire AI consortium (hosted by the University at Buffalo, SUNY) is the operator on record. We hold 2 sites for that company across the registry. No capacity figure is on record for this site.

How to cite this page

SueDataCenters.org Data Center Registry, "Empire AI Beta," updated September 10, 2026, https://suedatacenters.org/data-centers/empire-ai-beta-buffalo-ny.

Facility data from Compute Atlas (E. Kubiak), version 1.32.0 (September 7, 2026), licensed CC BY 4.0, record https://www.compute-atlas.com/facilities/empire-ai-beta-buffalo-ny, retrieved September 14, 2026.

Corrections with a public source are welcome at the Compute Atlas record or through our contact page. The whole registry is available as CSV and JSON under CC BY 4.0.

Sources for this record

As compiled and cited by Compute Atlas, with our own reporting appended. Archived links are used where the original has moved.

  1. 1.Governor Hochul Announces Empire AI Beta Fully Online as Federal Government Takes Inspiration From New York to Launch State and Regional AI Infrastructure Hubs · Office of the Governor of New York State · retrieved September 9, 2026
  2. 2.Empire AI Beta, housed at UB, now fully online · University at Buffalo (UBNow) · retrieved September 9, 2026
  3. 3.Governor Hochul Announces $40 Million to Launch Empire AI Beta Supercomputer · Office of the Governor of New York State · retrieved September 9, 2026
  4. 4.Empire AI, housed at UB, awarded $40 million, Gov. Hochul says · University at Buffalo (UBNow) · retrieved September 10, 2026

Is a data center disrupting your home?

Tell us what is happening. We will connect you with an independent attorney who handles data center cases in your state, free and with no obligation. These cases are commonly taken on contingency, so there are typically no upfront fees.

  • Free case review
  • Independent attorneys
  • No obligation
Get my free case reviewDo I even have a case?

Attorney or law firm handling data center matters? Speak with us