Universities Face Land Pressure as AI Data Centers Expand, GWU Sells Campus to Amazon

George Washington University has agreed to sell its 120-acre Virginia Science and Technology Campus in Ashburn to Amazon Data Services for $427 million, underscoring a new pressure point as AI data-center developers seek sites with robust electricity, water and fiber. The university, citing financial pressures from federal research funding and international student policies, will continue operating on the campus for up to five years while it plans relocations, and will allocate part of the cash to a new endowment and one-time payments for eligible faculty.

Ellen Scully-Russ, a former GW professor, described the transaction as a "physical threat" to higher-education resources and criticized the lack of transparency with faculty and students. In contrast, the University of Michigan is building a $1.25 billion high-performance computing facility in Ypsilanti Township, partnered with Los Alamos National Laboratory, and has faced local opposition. The Michigan project is framed as a research center rather than a commercial data hub, aiming to support AI-driven scientific work.