Z Squared Buys Arkansas Site For 150MW AI Data Center Plan

Z Squared Adds An Arkansas Power Site

Z Squared is moving deeper into AI and high-performance computing infrastructure with a majority stake in Paradox Data and its Union County Campus outside El Dorado, Arkansas.

The Nasdaq-listed company is trying to turn a cryptocurrency-mining base into powered data-center capacity for denser AI and HPC workloads.

The Arkansas site currently offers 8MW on 10 acres and is designed around immersion cooling for high-density computing.

Z Squared says it plans to seek up to 50MW of utility power and wants to develop a 150MW behind-the-meter campus across 170 acres, using grid connectivity alongside natural gas.

The power plan gives the transaction more substance than a simple land purchase.

Z Squared still has to secure the larger utility request, execute the behind-the-meter buildout and show whether AI or HPC customers will use capacity that began inside a crypto-focused business.

Stock Deal Gives Z Squared Control

The transaction gives Z Squared a 51 percent stake in Paradox.

Z Squared will pay with newly designated Series D convertible preferred shares rather than cash or borrowed funds.

The stock is valued at $5 million.

Chief executive David Halabu said energized power and high-density immersion cooling are scarce assets in AI infrastructure.

His argument puts Paradox inside a site-by-site expansion strategy, but the company has not named first AI customers, lease terms, cloud partners or a construction timetable for the full campus.

The company says its computing equipment is spread across six sites in North Carolina, South Carolina and Iowa.

Its historical business has been Dogecoin, Litecoin and other altcoin mining, and its recent results list Minting Dome Inc. as the hosting provider for 9,800 ASIC miners.

Michelle Burke, Minting Dome's chief executive, had also briefly led Z Squared before stepping down in May.

Crypto Mining Pivot Needs Customer Proof

The Arkansas acquisition follows other attempts to reposition the company around AI-ready power.

Halabu recently said Z Squared was expanding into power generation, data-center development and high-performance compute hosting, with pending powered-site acquisitions in North Carolina and Arkansas.

In May, the company set a 100MW target for AI-ready capacity across multiple sites over the next 18 months.

It also entered a $50 million equity agreement to fund its buildout.

Another planned deal points to the same strategy.

Skycore Digital is covered by a binding letter of intent, and its three active North Carolina sites could total up to 42MW.

Of that amount, 24MW was already energized.

The Skycore transaction is being paid for with $18 million of Series B convertible preferred stock.

Paradox also had a separate strategic partnership with KRAMBU last year for an AI and blockchain data-center campus in Pennsylvania.

The available details around that project were limited, which leaves the Arkansas site as the clearer near-term test of Z Squared's powered-campus strategy.

Z Squared has assembled powered-site claims, stock-based acquisitions and a clear pivot from crypto mining toward AI and HPC hosting.

The Arkansas plan still lacks named AI tenants, final utility approval for the larger power request and a disclosed schedule for delivering the proposed 150MW campus.