Amazon plans 18-building data center campus outside Cincinnati, Ohio

Amazon Web Services (AWS) is advancing its footprint in Ohio with plans for a massive new data center campus near Cincinnati, marking another major expansion in a state that has become a hub for cloud infrastructure investment.

The proposed campus would span approximately 601 acres in Madison Township and St. Clair Township, in Butler County, just south of the city of Trenton. The largely undeveloped land, located along Wayne Madison Road and Hawkins Road near Augspurger Road and the Great Miami River, is currently in the process of being annexed into Trenton.

According to local reports, AWS intends to develop 18 buildings on the site, each totaling around 220,000 sq ft (20,440 sqm), for a combined 3.96 million sq ft (367,895 sqm) of data center space. The site's proximity to a Duke Energy substation and the utility's 692MW gas-powered Madison Power plant is seen as a key advantage for powering the facility.

The project comes amid heightened scrutiny of data center development in Butler County. In June, county officials approved a six-month moratorium on new data centers, following requests from six townships under the county's zoning control—Hanover, Lemon, Madison, Milford, Oxford, and Ross—to consider a temporary ban while the board reviews land use and infrastructure policies.

The city of Trenton acquired its share of the site, a 164-acre farmstead in Madison Township, in October 2025. According to city officials, the full scope of Amazon's plans was not clear at the time of the purchase. The annexation and zoning process will now play a critical role in determining the project's timeline.

Nearby, Prologis is developing a four-building campus adjacent to Amazon's proposed site. Construction on the first of four 220,000 sq ft buildings could begin later this year, with a targeted 2028 launch, and all four buildings potentially completed by 2029. Citing local officials, press reports indicate Amazon is the end user for that campus as well.

Elsewhere in Butler County, industrial development firm Logistix received planning approval in 2024 for a separate data center project in Hamilton, signaling the region's growing appeal for digital infrastructure.

AWS already operates a significant presence in Ohio, running its US East region in the state with three availability zones. In late 2024, the company announced plans to invest $23 billion in Ohio by 2030. It currently operates data centers across Franklin and Licking counties and is planning a five-building campus in New Albany, along with projects in Pickaway County, Sunbury, Fayette County, Marysville, and Sidney.

The scale of the proposed Butler County campus underscores AWS's continued aggressive buildout in the Midwest, a region increasingly favored for its land availability, power access, and proximity to major population centers. However, the county's temporary moratorium reflects a broader trend of local governments grappling with the rapid pace of data center development and its implications for infrastructure, zoning, and community planning.