Page 28 - RE-NJ

26 WINTER 2025
BREAKING GROUND
CoreWeave begins $1.8 billion data center project in Kenilworth,
landing fi rst award under new EDA tax credit program
By Joshua Burd
CoreWeave has started
construction on a nearly $1.8
billion data center in Kenilworth
with the help of what will be a fi ve-
year, $250 million tax credit award
under a new state program.
The fast-growing cloud computing
company, which specializes in
infrastructure for artifi cial intelligence,
announced last fall that it would build
the facility at the sprawling former
Merck & Co. campus on Galloping
Hill Road. The planned 250-megawatt
project is now advancing after the
New Jersey Economic Development
Authority approved the tax credit in
mid-November, tapping into the Next
New Jersey Program – AI incentive
that it launched in mid-March.
According to the EDA, CoreWeave
began construction in mid-September
and expects the 392,600-square-foot
AI data center to be operational in
early 2027. That includes 108,100
square feet of new construction and a
retrofi t of an existing 284,500-square-
foot building known as 11 NEST, part
of the Onyx Equities-led property
now known as the Northeast Science
& Technology Center.
Livingston-based CoreWeave, an eight-
year-old startup backed by the chip
giant Nvidia, did not return requests
for comment. But the company said
earlier this year that it has a network
of 33 purpose-built AI-data centers
across North America and Europe,
with more to come, as it looks to meet
surging demand for high-performance,
AI computing power.
The company joined Onyx and its
partners — Machine Investment
Group and Pivot Real Estate Partners
— alongside Gov. Phil Murphy in
October 2024 to announce that it
had leased and planned to convert
the former lab and manufacturing
building at 11 NEST into its fi rst New
Jersey data center. This past August,
CoreWeave instead purchased the
facility and the adjacent 27 acres for
$322 million.
“We are incredibly excited to open a
next-generation
data center in
CoreWeave’s
home state of
New Jersey,”
CEO and
cofounder
Michael Intrator
said in the 2024
Michael Intrator
announcement.
“Governor Phil Murphy’s efforts
have helped spur the creation of
an AI ecosystem in the state, and
CoreWeave’s announcement today
underscores that New Jersey is open
for AI business.”
In late January of this year, Murphy
and Princeton University announced
CoreWeave and Microsoft as
founding partners of a new AI Hub
that seeks to provide a state-of-the-
art, fl exible space designed to foster
innovation in AI and advance New
Jersey’s leadership in the fi eld. That
includes a $7.5 million investment
by CoreWeave, the EDA said, while
the cloud company has pledged a
separate $25 million investment as
part of a so-called collaboration
agreement to partner with New
Jersey-based AI startups and research
entities.
“CoreWeave’s investment reinforces
its dedication to advancing artifi cial
intelligence innovation within the
state,” authority CEO Tim Sullivan