Nvidia Proposes Turning 130-Plus Brightspeed Telecom Buildings Into AI Data Centers, The Information Reports

Nvidia wants to put AI servers in old phone company buildings.

The chipmaker has proposed converting a portfolio of telecom facilities owned by Brightspeed, a broadband provider backed by Apollo Global Management, into small AI data centers, The Information reported Thursday, Nov. 5, citing people familiar with the matter. The sites number more than 130 and could span as many as 20 states.

What Nvidia proposed

Nvidia first pitched the idea to Apollo executives. They asked for a written plan to be sent to Brightspeed. Nvidia submitted it Wednesday, Nov. 4, and has requested more data and site visits, per the report.

Nvidia estimates the buildings hold roughly 1 gigawatt of available power. According to The Information, that is enough to support tens of billions of dollars of Nvidia's upcoming Vera Rubin servers. Tom's Hardware, reporting on the same figures, put 1 gigawatt at more than 2,200 Supermicro Vera Rubin NVL72 racks.

Nvidia staff have also discussed with suppliers the possibility of starting retrofits with Vera Rubin racks in the first quarter of 2027. The design could incorporate technology from Groq, the AI startup whose technology Nvidia licensed in December 2025.

Nvidia describes the sites as an "inference network." That means running models that are already trained, not hosting giant training clusters. Locations named in the report include Dothan, Alabama; Killeen, Texas; and Mansfield, Ohio.

The Brightspeed problem

Brightspeed was formed in 2022 when Apollo bought parts of Lumen Technologies' local telephone and broadband businesses for $7.5 billion. The company is reportedly nearing bankruptcy. TradingKey reported that it is seeking financing and could file for protection in December.

That adds a wrinkle. A distressed owner is negotiating over buildings that Nvidia wants to fill with some of the most expensive hardware on the market.

Nvidia has not said how many buildings it wants to convert. It is also unclear who would buy or lease the chips installed in them. Cooling systems and other supporting equipment would have to be added, so the sites are not plug-and-play, despite their existing power connections.

Permits, politics and the midterms

Retrofits would still need local permits, for items such as specialized cooling. The Information noted they would face fewer approvals than ground-up construction.

The politics add another layer. The Information said the approach gained urgency after Tuesday's midterm elections, in which Democratic candidates in states including Texas called for moratoriums on new data centers. Those candidates are the ones pressing for a pause on new builds. The reporting does not say Nvidia has commented on that link.

Opposition to large facilities is not confined to one party's candidates in these accounts, either. Tom's Hardware reported that OpenAI and Anthropic have been considering multiple smaller sites as larger facilities face delays and community backlash.

The approach has tradeoffs. A single large cluster is better for training. Scattered sites can come online sooner, and the power already exists.

Apollo's other Nvidia exposure

Apollo is already deep in Nvidia hardware. Tom's Hardware reported that the firm is involved in a $40 billion deal with SpaceX that would give it around 360,000 Vera Rubin GPUs across 5,000 NVL72 racks. The outlet said the Brightspeed sites could help Apollo find a home for chips it has ordered. No source has confirmed that is the plan.

Nvidia's stock

Nvidia shares closed down 9% on Thursday, their worst day since January 2025, amid a broader drop in chipmaker stocks. Yahoo Finance attributed the selloff to regulatory fears over data center buildout. The Information's report on Brightspeed came out the same day, but no source ties the stock drop to it.

The Kobeissi Letter noted that Nvidia now trades at a forward price-to-earnings ratio of about 13x, versus about 20x for the S&P 500. "Ironically, the name at the forefront of the AI buildout is now one of the 'cheapest' stocks in the market," the firm said.

Nvidia shares were up more than 4% in premarket trading Friday, Nov. 6, according to TradingKey. U.S. markets are closed today, Saturday, Nov. 7.

What is still open

TradingKey listed the uncertainties: the scale of any retrofit, whether operating costs would actually come out lower, and whether anyone commits to buying the chips. Nothing is signed.

The next concrete steps are Brightspeed's response to Nvidia's proposal and the site visits Nvidia has requested. A bankruptcy filing, if one comes in December as reported, would put every one of those buildings under a court-supervised process.