Former Chillicothe mill could be serving AI customers by New Year's Day
CHILLICOTHE — SOAR AI says its planned artificial intelligence campus at the former paper mill site remains on schedule, with the first GPUs expected to be operational by the end of 2026 and customer revenue projected to begin in January 2027. SOAR AI was previously known as the Volato Group, which merged with Alignment Engine in August of this year. During that merger, Alignment Engine was valued at around $500 million. “Less than two months after closing our merger, we are turning a shuttered Ohio paper mill into one of the most advanced AI compute facilities in the Midwest,” Chris Ensey, chief executive officer of SOAR AI, said in a news release. “Reusing the mill’s existing power and water infrastructure, combined with direct liquid cooling, lets us bring capacity online in months rather than years. Our power systems are commissioned, and the data hall equipment is going in now. We expect our first AMD Instinct MI355X GPUs to be serving our first customer on Dec. 31, with next-generation MI455X GPUs on the Helios platform to follow in 2027.” For months, the city stated that no permits had been filed for work at the site; however, in early November those from
