FROM CENSUS BUREAU CONFIRMATION TO $2B DATA CENTER POWER PLANT: Columbus Metro Grows 4.67% in Five Years Outpacing the National Average While Ohio State Bets Big on AI With 100 New Faculty and Arsenal-1's 4,000 Jobs, and Vantage Data Centers Plans a 1,300-Megawatt On-Site Power Plant for Millersport Campus Breaking Ground This Year

Hey, it's Gagan - still the only one in the world!

Btw, we did an interview with the MOST FAMOUS man in Columbus, asking his opinion on all the change…he did not hold back, click the link below to watch.

And the data just caught up to what Columbus already knew.

This week we've got three stories that individually would turn heads in any major market — but together they tell you something bigger about where this city is in 2026. The Census Bureau officially confirmed Columbus is outgrowing every major metro in Ohio and most of the country. Ohio State just made the boldest AI bet of any university in America. And a data center developer in Millersport is building its own private power plant because the electric grid literally can't keep up with demand.

In today's newsletter:

Columbus Is Growing Faster Than Everyone: The Census numbers are in — 4.67% metro growth over five years, 11,000 international arrivals in the last year alone, and five of Ohio's fastest-growing counties all sitting right here in Central Ohio.

Ohio State Is Going All-In On AI: President Ted Carter laid out the most comprehensive AI initiative of any major university in the country — 100 new faculty, AI embedded into every undergraduate degree, and a research hub spanning all 15 colleges. Anduril's 4,000-job Arsenal-1 facility is already following the talent.

Vantage Is Building Its Own Power Plant: When a developer commits $2 billion to a data center campus and the electric grid can't keep up, they don't walk away — they build a 1,300-megawatt power plant. That's exactly what's happening in Millersport, and it tells you everything about how valuable Central Ohio real estate has become.

THE CENSUS JUST CONFIRMED WHAT COLUMBUS ALREADY KNEW — THIS IS THE FASTEST-GROWING MAJOR METRO IN OHIO AND IT ISN'T CLOSE

New U.S. Census Bureau data shows the Columbus metro area grew 4.67% from 2020 to 2025 — outpacing the national average of 3.08% and every other major Ohio metro — adding roughly 21,000 residents to reach 2.24 million people while leading the entire state in international migration with 11,000 new arrivals between July 2024 and 2025. [Columbus Business First]

Here's What The Numbers Actually Say:

Columbus grew at 0.96% year-over-year from 2024 to 2025. The national average was 0.52%. Cincinnati came in at 0.57%. Cleveland managed 0.12%.

That gap isn't a rounding error — it's a structural difference in trajectory between Columbus and every other Ohio metro.

The suburbs tell an even sharper story. Union County grew 16.45% over five years. Delaware County grew 12.48%. Both landed in the top ten fastest-growing counties in the entire Midwest. Central Ohio counties claimed all five of Ohio's top spots for percentage population growth — Union, Delaware, Pickaway, Madison, and Fairfield.

The International Migration Number Is Underrated:

Columbus led the entire state in international migration with approximately 11,000 people arriving from other countries between July 2024 and July 2025. That's not a coincidence — it's the result of a diversifying economy, university presence, refugee resettlement infrastructure, and a cost of living that still makes sense compared to coastal alternatives.

International migration is one of the most durable long-term growth drivers a metro can have. It tends to compound — established communities attract more arrivals, which builds more economic activity, which attracts more people. Columbus has been building that flywheel quietly for years.

The One Caveat Worth Noting:

Domestic migration — people moving to Columbus from other U.S. cities — actually declined slightly, with Central Ohio seeing 850 fewer domestic migrants compared to the prior year. Dayton led the state in domestic migration at 4,270 newcomers.

That's worth watching. International migration is strong. Domestic migration softening could reflect housing affordability pressures making Columbus less of an obvious destination for people relocating from other states.

What It Means:

Every data point in this report reinforces the same thing — Columbus is not a regional hub on an Ohio scale anymore. It's a nationally competitive metro growing faster than most of its peers. The companies, restaurants, manufacturers, and institutions choosing Columbus aren't making random decisions. They're following the population curve. And the population curve keeps pointing up.

OHIO STATE IS MAKING THE BIGGEST AI BET OF ANY MAJOR UNIVERSITY IN THE COUNTRY — AND CENTRAL OHIO IS THE DIRECT BENEFICIARY

Ohio State President Ted Carter declared at the Columbus Business First Power Breakfast that OSU is taking "the most comprehensive, bold" approach to artificial intelligence of any major university in the United States — backed by 100 new tenure-track AI faculty over five years, an AI Fluency program embedded across all 15 colleges, and an AI(X) Hub driving research across every discipline while Anduril Industries plants its Arsenal-1 manufacturing facility in Central Ohio with $900 million in investment and 4,000 jobs. [Columbus Business First / Ohio State University]

Here's What Ohio State Is Actually Building:

AI Fluency is the headline initiative — embedding AI education into the core undergraduate experience across all disciplines. This isn't a standalone computer science program. It's making AI literacy a baseline expectation for every Ohio State graduate regardless of major.

One hundred additional tenure-track faculty with AI expertise are being hired over the next five years. That's not visiting professors or adjuncts — that's permanent research capacity being built into the institution.

The AI(X) Hub spans all 15 colleges and is designed to function as a university-wide catalyst for research and commercial innovation. When a university of Ohio State's scale builds cross-college infrastructure like this, the research output tends to follow within three to five years.

The Brookings Institution Already Noticed:

Jason Hall, CEO of the Columbus Partnership, cited a Brookings Institution assessment identifying Columbus as one of 28 AI Star Hubs in the country — alongside New York and Austin. Columbus making that list isn't a participation trophy. Brookings was measuring actual early-stage AI economic activity, not potential.

Being in that tier now, before the full buildout of Ohio State's AI infrastructure, matters enormously for where Columbus sits in five years.

The Anduril Connection:

Anduril Industries — a defense technology company founded by Palmer Luckey — chose Central Ohio for its Arsenal-1 manufacturing facility. The commitment is $900 million in capital investment and approximately 4,000 jobs.

Luckey specifically cited infrastructure, workforce, and Ohio's tradition of aerospace and defense innovation as the deciding factors. That's not marketing language — that's a hard-nosed defense contractor explaining why they picked Columbus over every other option they evaluated.

The Bigger Picture:

Columbus Partnership CEO Jason Hall said it plainly — Columbus is punching above its weight in the early AI era. Ohio State's comprehensive AI initiative is designed to make sure that advantage compounds rather than fades.

When a major research university makes a structural commitment to AI at this scale, the downstream effects run for decades. Startups form around faculty research. Graduates stay in the city where they built their networks. Companies locate near the talent pipeline. Columbus has watched this cycle play out with biomedical research and logistics technology. AI is the next chapter of the same story.

VANTAGE DATA CENTERS IS BUILDING ITS OWN POWER PLANT IN MILLERSPORT BECAUSE THE GRID CAN'T KEEP UP — $2B CAMPUS BREAKS GROUND THIS YEAR

Vantage Data Centers is moving forward on a $2 billion, four-building data center campus in Millersport with Advanced Power planning a dedicated 1,300-megawatt natural gas and battery generation facility on 100 adjacent acres — because Ohio's electric grid lacks the capacity to support the campus through traditional interconnection, with 2,500 to 3,000 construction jobs expected and a first phase operational target of Q1 2030. [Columbus Business First]

Here's What's Actually Being Built:

Four data centers, two security buildings, and one admin and warehouse building make up the Vantage campus at the corner of Route 37 and Route 204 in Fairfield County.

The power plant — developed by Advanced Power, which operates generation projects across North America and Europe — will combine gas turbines with up to 1,000 megawatts of battery energy storage. For reference, 1,300 megawatts is enough electricity to power hundreds of thousands of homes. This entire facility exists solely to power four data center buildings.

Construction on the power generation facility starts by end of 2026. First phase operational target is Q1 2030.

Why They're Building Their Own Power Plant:

This is the part of the story that deserves more attention than it's getting.

Vantage isn't building a private power plant because it wants to — it's building one because Ohio's electric grid cannot provide interconnection capacity on a timeline that works for the project. The original developer, AlphaStruxure, had filed plans for a 1,600-megawatt plant for this same campus. Those plans were withdrawn without explanation.

The grid constraint is real and it's not unique to this project. Data centers require enormous, reliable power delivered immediately. Ohio's transmission infrastructure wasn't built for this scale of demand, and the interconnection queue — the line of projects waiting to connect to the grid — runs years long in many cases.

Vantage's solution is to bypass the grid entirely for now, build dedicated generation, and plan to connect to grid power later when interconnection becomes available. At that point, the on-site plant could potentially supplement regional power supply.

The Jobs Picture:

Vantage has committed to at least 50 permanent jobs — but Fairfield County's economic development director expects the real number to be significantly higher. The construction phase alone is projected at 2,500 to 3,000 jobs. The power plant construction adds approximately 500 more.

What It Means For Central Ohio:

Columbus has been the center of a national data center buildout for several years now — driven by land availability, fiber infrastructure, water access, and a central location. This project confirms that momentum is continuing even as power constraints force developers to get creative.

The fact that Vantage is willing to build a $2 billion campus and a private power plant to serve it is the most honest signal possible about how valuable Central Ohio data center real estate is right now. When developers solve grid problems with billion-dollar workarounds instead of walking away, that tells you everything about the underlying demand.

The Millersport corridor in Fairfield County just became a significantly more interesting place to watch.

THIS WEEK'S WRAP-UP

Homeowners: The Census confirmation of 4.67% metro growth over five years is the single most important number for your property value trajectory. Population growth at that rate — led by the fastest-growing counties in the Midwest — doesn't produce falling home prices. The fundamentals underneath Columbus real estate remain as strong as any market in the country.

Home buyers: The suburban county data matters for your location decision. Union and Delaware County aren't growing at 16% and 12% by accident — jobs, schools, and infrastructure investment follow population. If you're evaluating where to buy, those growth rates tell you something about where amenities and appreciation are likely to concentrate over the next decade.

Investors and business watchers: Three stories this week pointing the same direction — Columbus is building the infrastructure for a significantly larger economy. Ohio State's AI initiative creates a talent pipeline. Anduril's Arsenal-1 creates defense manufacturing density. Vantage's $2 billion data center campus creates digital infrastructure. These aren't isolated announcements. They're compounding investments in the same regional ecosystem.

Bottom line: The Census made it official, Ohio State made it structural, and Vantage made it physical. Columbus isn't growing by accident and it isn't slowing down. The question for anyone reading this newsletter isn't whether to pay attention to this market — it's whether you're positioned to benefit from what's already in motion.

See you next week,

Gagan Timsina