Broadwell Air Dome Data Center DATA DOME Lands in Veracruz, Mexico—Using Innovative Air Membrane Technology to Solve AI Era Infrastructure Challenges

The Broadwell Air Dome Data Center DATA DOME solution has been officially adopted by Mexico’s national key project, the Coatzacoalcos II Development Hub for Well-being (PODEBI), becoming a critical part of the technology park's infrastructure. This marks the first large-scale application of Broadwell’s air dome data center technology in the overseas AI infrastructure sector, pioneering a new paradigm for air dome buildings serving ultra-large-scale data centers.

Recently, Mexican developer URSUS Energía e Infraestructura (a subsidiary of CASARVE Servicios) and North American Totale Strata LLC formed a historic alliance at the PODEBI development hub in Allende, Veracruz. This project includes a $2.1 billion investment in a liquefied natural gas plant in collaboration with Samsung E&A of South Korea, and plans for a technology park covering up to 30 hectares, focusing on artificial intelligence (AI) and long-term energy storage technologies. Broadwell's DATA DOME technology, with its unique advantages, stood out in rigorous international technical due diligence and was chosen as the core architectural solution for the data center in the technology park.

Challenge: The "Impossible" Site Selection Problem in Veracruz

The project site at El Gavilán in Veracruz faces a seemingly insurmountable geotechnical challenge: the underground is crisscrossed by multiple active PEMEX (Mexican National Oil Company) pipelines. This geological condition forced previous developers to abandon the site, as the deep foundations and pile construction required for traditional industrial buildings posed unacceptable perforation risks in pipeline-dense areas.

Solution: Broadwell DATA DOME Overcomes Geological Bottleneck with Lightweight Design

Broadwell's DATA DOME, with its unique air membrane structural characteristics, brilliantly solves this "impossible" challenge:

• No Need for Deep Foundations: DATA DOME is a lightweight structure supported by air, maintained by a constant positive pressure of 250 to 500 Pascals, imposing almost no structural load on the ground. It eliminates the risk of damaging underground pipelines by eliminating the need for deep excavation or piling.

• Surface Perimeter Anchoring: The anchoring system does not require deep excavation or piles, allowing advanced infrastructure to be built directly over natural gas pipeline rights-of-way.

• Extreme Wind Resistance: Equipped with Broadwell’s patented Bias-Pro diagonal orthogonal steel cable net system, DATA DOME can withstand hurricane-force winds of up to 67 m/s (241 km/h). This diagonal orthogonal net cable technology safely distributes stress, completely eliminating the brittle collapse risk of traditional rigid concrete structures in extreme weather.

• 100,000-Class Clean Environment: The air dome structure naturally forms a sealed environment with a cleanliness level of 100,000. It is completely dust-free and isolates ocean moisture, which is crucial for data centers operating high-density AI microprocessors.

The DATA DOME provides a highly reliable platform for AI high-density computing while deeply integrating with Exa Energy Tech's Carbon Dioxide Compression Energy Storage (CCES) system, creating a computation-cooling-energy integrated system. This system recovers server waste heat via the CCES system, providing green cooling with zero water consumption and low electricity consumption for the data center. Additionally, it connects to the PODEBI liquefied natural gas plant to purify and utilize PEMEX's associated gas, converting otherwise wasted gas into clean electricity and industrial heating and cooling sources, achieving a full-chain circular economy loop from energy supply to computational output to thermal management.

Broadwell's DATA DOME being selected for the Mexican PODEBI project not only validates the engineering feasibility of air dome data center technology under extreme geological and climatic conditions but also demonstrates the tremendous potential of Chinese air dome technology in empowering global AI infrastructure construction.

Source: Mexico receives the world's first decarbonized digital and energy infrastructure in Veracruz by Francisco Jose Espinoza de los Monteros Cueto