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Data Center Registry

Princeton University High-Performance Computing Research Center (Forrestal Campus)

Plainsboro, Middlesex County, New Jersey

OperatingNo reception on recordAI mixed useRecord updated October 9, 2026

Princeton University High-Performance Computing Research Center (Forrestal Campus) is an operating data center in Plainsboro, New Jersey (Middlesex County), operated by Princeton University. The public record puts it at announced January 2010.

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
Princeton University
Facility type
Data center, AI use mixed
Location
151 Forrestal Road, Plainsboro, Middlesex County, NJ
Coordinates
40.3461, -74.6161
Power capacity
Not established from a public source
Land
Not established from a public source
Investment
Not established from a public source
Announced
January 2010
Utility
Not established from a public source
Cooling
Evaporative
Water use
Not established from a public source
Jobs
Not established from a public source
Public subsidy
Not established from a public source
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. 2011
    Operating
    The facility was scheduled to open in 2011 and is in service. Princeton Alumni Weekly reported in April 2024 that the university's new 300-GPU Nvidia H100 cluster is housed there. Source: Princeton Alumni Weekly
  2. January 2010
    Proposed
    Princeton announced a new HPC data center on university-owned land on the Forrestal Campus, scheduled to be operational in 2011. Source: Data Center Knowledge

Opposition and litigation at this site

Nothing on record as of October 9, 2026. No lawsuit, organized opposition, or contested hearing over Princeton University High-Performance Computing Research Center (Forrestal Campus) in Plainsboro, Middlesex County, New Jersey 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.

A new status, a permit, a reception finding, or a lawsuit. Nothing else, ever.

Power and water

Gensler: a gas-powered backup generator with co-generation recovers waste heat for chilled water.

Gensler lists cooling louvers and cooling towers. A gas-fired backup generator with co-generation captures waste heat to chill water.

Notes on the record

A university research-computing data center. Gensler gives 47,000 sq ft in total, including a 12,000 sq ft data center, with Tier II space for administrative services and Tier I for HPC. DCK (2010) described it as 40,000 sq ft over two stories with a possible second phase. It houses general research systems (for example galaxy-formation modeling) and, since 2024, a 300-GPU Nvidia H100 cluster used for Princeton Language and Intelligence (PLI) AI research. That mix is why the AI use classification is mixed_use. No MW figure is published. Coordinates are the OSM building footprint named 'High Performance Computing Research Center'.

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
  • Tax abatements or other public subsidy
  • 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.
Tax abatements or other public subsidy
The abatement, PILOT, or development agreement approved by the county, city, or development authority, and the state's data center sales tax exemption certificate if one was issued.
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.

Tell us about your situation

Living near Princeton University High-Performance Computing Research Center (Forrestal Campus)?

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Questions people ask about this site

Is there opposition to the Princeton University High-Performance Computing Research Center (Forrestal Campus) in Plainsboro?

Nothing on record as of October 9, 2026. No lawsuit, organized opposition, or contested hearing over Princeton University High-Performance Computing Research Center (Forrestal Campus) in Plainsboro, Middlesex County, New Jersey 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 Princeton University High-Performance Computing Research Center (Forrestal Campus)?

No lawsuit over Princeton University High-Performance Computing Research Center (Forrestal Campus) appears in the record we track as of October 9, 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 Princeton University High-Performance Computing Research Center (Forrestal Campus) use?

No water withdrawal figure for Princeton University High-Performance Computing Research Center (Forrestal Campus) is on record here. Cooling is recorded as evaporative, which is the strongest available clue: closed loop and air cooled plant draw far less than evaporative cooling. We leave the number blank rather than estimate one.

Who operates Princeton University High-Performance Computing Research Center (Forrestal Campus), and how big is it?

Princeton University is the operator on record. No capacity figure is on record for this site.

How to cite this page

SueDataCenters.org Data Center Registry, "Princeton University High-Performance Computing Research Center (Forrestal Campus)," updated October 9, 2026, https://suedatacenters.org/data-centers/princeton-university-hpcrc-plainsboro-nj.

Facility data from Compute Atlas (E. Kubiak), version 1.34.1 (October 4, 2026), licensed CC BY 4.0, record https://www.compute-atlas.com/facilities/princeton-university-hpcrc-plainsboro-nj, retrieved October 11, 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.Princeton U. to Build New HPC Data Center · Data Center Knowledge · retrieved October 9, 2026
  2. 2.High-Performance Research Computing Center at Princeton University · Gensler · retrieved October 9, 2026
  3. 3.Research Photo: Advancing AI · Princeton Alumni Weekly · retrieved October 9, 2026
  4. 4.OpenStreetMap way 239801861: High Performance Computing Research Center, 151 Forrestal Road · OpenStreetMap · retrieved October 9, 2026

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