THE ALASKA STORY
Gov. Mike Dunleavy announced a state-backed push to attract digital infrastructure investment, with a financing platform that could eventually allow individual Alaskans to buy ownership stakes in various projects.
The initiative pairs Alaska Data Corporation LLC, a subsidiary of Alaska Industrial Development and Export Authority, with InvestNorth, a platform developed with infrastructure finance company Plural. The data corporation will work with developers on distributed data centers across Alaska, combining public capital with private development. It’s unclear what the next governor will do with this project, but it’s already under way.
Dunleavy’s announcement also sets up a potential policy clash with Democrat Jonathan Kreiss-Tomkins, Alaska’s likely next governor, who made a pause on new data centers a prominent campaign theme.
Kreiss-Tomkins has proposed a statewide moratorium until the Legislature passes comprehensive regulations, along with requirements for local approval and protections against shifting electricity costs onto residents. The Alaska Story previously reported that six employees of Anthropic, the San Francisco artificial-intelligence company, contributed a combined $372,000 to his campaign. His proposed moratorium leaves uncertainty over how aggressively the next administration would pursue the data-center investments Dunleavy is seeking to attract.
InvestNorth uses tokenization — digital records of asset ownership — to administer investments, distributions and ownership transfers through Plural’s AssetOS system.
Dunleavy said the state should explore “how individual Alaskans can have an ownership stake,” linking development to direct benefits for residents.
Some future opportunities could be reserved for Alaskans, although a changing administration alters that calculation.. No securities offering is underway, and investment structures, terms, and timing are not yet announced. Any offering would require compliance with applicable US securities laws, rules, and regulatory requirements.
The effort started earlier this year when, on Jan. 21, AIDEA’s board approved a resolution authorizing Alaska Data Corporation to investigate blockchain, tokenization, and related financing technologies. The passed resolution authorized a $20 million transfer from AIDEA’s revolving fund, or another appropriate fund, to capitalize the subsidiary and provide working capital to what is described as a broader purpose than data centers alone: expanding access to financing for resource development, energy, and other economic projects. It also authorized the subsidiary to negotiate with technology providers and professional advisers.
In a July 30 letter to Mat-Su legislators addressing a potential transfer of approximately 19,950 acres north of Houston, AIDEA said no project had been selected or approved. It did list data centers among several possible uses, alongside manufacturing, logistics, and energy infrastructure.
One thought on “Dunleavy launches data-center investment initiative, explores ownership stakes for Alaskans”
All planned data centers need to have power generation adequate to meet their planned needs as an integral part in their development plan.
.
Any of the Utilities’ Board of Directors that sign a contract that puts provision of existing power supply to one of these entities over that of their current customers, whom have been the basis of all their planning for future needs, ought well find themselves very uncomfortable walking around in the communities they purport to represent.