PHOENIX — Calling it a “significant milestone,” Montreal-based 5C Data Centers recently announced plans to launch a new service region in Phoenix.

The company said the expansion will start with a 140,000-square-foot facility called PHX01, which will go live next year within miles of downtown Phoenix.

“Expanding our footprint to Phoenix marks a significant milestone for 5C Data Centers as we continue to support the growing demand for high-performance and sustainable data center solutions,” Steve Perez, the company’s CEO, said in a press release Wednesday.

The planned Phoenix data center is designed to handle demanding artificial intelligence and machine learning workloads with a system that minimizes water and power usage.

“This project will bring economic growth and high-quality job opportunities to the area. We are excited to see this substantial investment and infrastructure improvements to the neighborhood,” Phoenix Councilwoman Laura Pastor said in the release.

5C Data Centers enters strong market for sector

The Valley is one of the nation’s strongest markets for the data center industry, according to JLL’s midyear sector report. For example, the West Valley city of Buckeye recently approved a $20 billion data center complex.

“Data center investment is a vital component to meeting the growing advancements of the technology cluster,” Chris Camacho, president and CEO of the Greater Phoenix Economic Council, said in the release.

5C Data Centers currently provides services to cloud providers — including hyperscalers — and enterprise customers at facilities in Columbus, Ohio, and the Dallas-Fort Worth area.