Aroostook County to get Maine’s first AI data center

An aerial view shows pavement and woods.

FILE PHOTO / COURTESY KELLER WILLIAMS REALTY Green 4 Maine LLC, a development company that acreage at the former Loring Air Force Base, brought in a tenant planning to build Maine’s largest AI data center.

Write a Comment

By Laurie Schreiber

Plans are in the works to install an artificial intelligence data center at the former Loring Air Force Base in the Aroostook County town of Limestone, that’s expected to Maine’s first such facility.

Green 4 Maine LLC, a development company that owns acreage at the base that’s designated as the Green 4 Maine Campus and Innovation Hub at Loring, said Loring LiquidCool Data Center entered into a long-term lease for 115,000 square feet of space.

It will furnish the center with information technology hardware developed by LiquidCool Solutions, a Rochester, Minn., maker of data infrastructure and an immersion cooling technology.

“This is more than a data center. This is a blueprint for the future of clean tech infrastructure,” said Herb Zien, LiquidCool Solutions’ vice chair.

The pairing of the firm’s cooling technology with the Green 4 Maine site could help meet growing artificial intelligence, high-performance computing and cloud computing demands while reducing capital expense and operating costs, Zien said.

Scott Hinkel, Green 4 Maine’s managing director, said the data center could help turn Maine into a hub for digital innovation.

About 10 miles east of Caribou, the former Loring Air Force Base, now known as Loring Commerce Centre, is 8,700 acres.