Mesa just landed a heavyweight in the AI arms race: a 36-megawatt, waterless data center purpose-built for high-density training and inference, sitting a short drive from Phoenix. The new Edged US campus is designed to run racks above 400 kilowatts each without using a drop of operational water for cooling, and company and city officials say the project delivered hundreds of local construction jobs along with permanent tech roles.
According to Edged US, the Mesa site offers 36 MW of critical IT capacity and uses ThermalWorks waterless cooling to eliminate operational water consumption. The company says the design is expected to conserve more than 138 million gallons of water each year and is targeting a portfolio-average power usage effectiveness of about 1.15.
Technology Built for AI, Without the Water
Trade coverage casts the Mesa build as a template for next-generation compute. The facility is set up for plug-and-play liquid cooling to support ultra-high densities above 400 kilowatts per rack, according to Data Centre Magazine. Standard air cooling can still push more than 120 kilowatts per rack, a level that keeps the site firmly in AI-first territory, per Data Center Dynamics.
Those outlets frame the launch as part of a broader industry push toward high-density, water-efficient campuses in drought-stressed metro areas, where both regulators and neighbors are paying close attention to cooling systems and utility footprints.
Local Officials, Partners Welcome the Site
City leaders and project partners turned out for the ribbon cutting, and Mesa’s mayor praised how the waterless design fits into the region’s long-term water planning, according to Edged US. The company also named Salt River Project as its utility partner and Light Source Communications as the first network provider to build into the campus. Light Source later highlighted its role at the opening on its own site.
All of that is playing out against Arizona’s tricky water math. The state draws roughly 41 percent of its water from groundwater, a growing pressure point for planners in the Salt River Valley, according to the Arizona Department of Water Resources.
Meanwhile, Edged is in expansion mode. The company recently announced nearly $2 billion in year-to-date financing to speed its rollout across key U.S. markets, PR Newswire reported, a move backers say should make waterless cooling easier to deploy at scale.
What Comes Next
Operators and customers will now be watching whether zero-water cooling can keep up with traditional systems on reliability and cost once the racks are fully loaded with AI gear. Early adopters argue that cutting water use can ease permitting and community concerns in arid metros, especially as data centers get larger and thirstier.
Data Center Frontier notes that Edged is pursuing a portfolio-first strategy, rolling out similar waterless, high-density campuses in other U.S. markets. If the Mesa build performs as advertised, it is likely to serve as a reference point for how far AI infrastructure can grow in the desert without turning up the tap.
