Correction: The 3M Site Is Both R&D and Data Center — Here's What the Records Show
Project Cosmos • Updated September 4, 2026
Update, Sept. 4, 2026: New records add real detail to what SB Energy told us in August.
I need to correct something, and I want to be straight about it rather than quietly edit an old post.
Twice, I’ve reported what SB Energy told Four Points News on the record: that the former 3M site is an R&D center, not a data center. Most recently, last week, the company’s spokesperson said it again to Four Points News: "Regarding the site usage, it still remains planned as an R&D Center. Per building application to the city of Austin, it is permitted as an office and lab space as intended use."
That’s what SB Energy told local media. It’s what I reported.
Here’s the fuller picture now, based on SB Energy’s Sept. 1 SEC filing and Austin Business Journal’s reporting on it, published Sept. 2.
Two things appear to both be true.
SB Energy’s SEC filing states that the tenant’s lease at the site is for data center and office uses. Separately, an S&P Global report from late August describes the campus as an "R&D technology center comprising 50 megawatts of critical IT load of rack development halls, silicon development bench spaces and high-density powered lab halls." Those aren’t contradictory descriptions of two different projects. They’re describing one facility that’s both — a specialized R&D and chip-development site that itself runs on data-center-scale power and cooling infrastructure.
The big lease isn’t with Graphcore.
The $2.5 billion, 15-year lease driving most of this — the one that shows up as a "data center" lease in the SEC filing — is with Silver Bands 3 (US) Corp, another SoftBank affiliate, signed in November 2025, before SB Energy even purchased the campus. Graphcore, the company SB Energy named to Four Points News on Aug. 25, is described separately in the filing as simply "a tenant at the campus." I can’t tell you yet whether Graphcore’s R&D operation and the Silver Bands lease occupy the same space or different buildings on the property. That’s a real open question, not a detail I’m skipping past.
One number I need to correct on my own.
I’ve previously cited a $610 million construction figure from a Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation filing. Austin Business Journal reports SB Energy paid $285.6 million for the campus — about half that figure — and questions whether the $610 million number was accurate to begin with. I’ll use the ABJ-confirmed purchase price going forward.
What I still don’t know:
why SB Energy told the 2222 Coalition of Neighborhood Associations and Four Points News, repeatedly, that this wouldn’t be a data center, when its own SEC filing and an industry report both describe data-center-scale infrastructure at the same address. SB Energy and Karlin both declined to comment for Austin Business Journal’s story, the same way SB Energy has gone quiet on Four Points News’s questions. I’m not going to guess at why. I’ll tell you when there’s an answer.
What actually matters for the neighborhood is simpler than the corporate structure: 50 megawatts of critical IT capacity is a meaningfully different neighbor than a 40-person R&D office, regardless of what label ends up sticking. Noise, power draw, water use, and traffic all scale with that distinction. That’s the thing worth watching, not the name on the door.
I’ll keep asking, and I’ll keep correcting this in the open as more comes in.
Thinking about selling or buying near this site? Given how much is still unresolved, I’d rather talk through it directly than guess at what it means for your specific street.
Get my Steiner Ranch market updates →Original post below
Originally published August 26, 2026
It’s Graphcore. The Former 3M Campus Finally Has a Name.
via Four Points News
After five months of "we’ll share the tenant in a couple of months," SB Energy told Four Points News today who is moving into 6801 River Place Blvd: Graphcore, a UK-founded AI chip and systems company and a wholly owned subsidiary of SoftBank Group.
The campus will be Graphcore’s U.S. engineering headquarters.
First, a correction. In May I wrote that the signs pointed to Arm.
They didn’t. Arm was reportedly scouting the site, and the SoftBank connection was real, but the SoftBank company that landed here is Graphcore, not Arm. I’d rather say that plainly than let the old post sit there unexamined.
The good news is that the correction doesn’t change the argument. Here’s what we now know and what it means if you own or are shopping in Steiner Ranch, River Place, or the rest of Four Points.
What’s actually going in
An R&D center, not a data center. SB Energy was direct about this: the site is permitted as office and lab space, the work is being done under the original 1980s site development agreement 3M negotiated with the City of Austin, and no zoning or usage changes have been requested. That agreement includes a strict sound ordinance that still applies.
SB Energy described the purpose as an R&D hub for multiple companies working on chips, high-performance computing, and robotics. Graphcore is the first tenant. The phrasing leaves room for others.
Graphcore already has about 40 people on site. Phase one of construction is expected to wrap in spring 2027, and the campus could eventually have hundreds of workers. That’s a gradual ramp, not a switch flipping.
The questions neighbors have been asking
Water
Graphcore’s cooling system is closed loop, so water is recirculated rather than continuously drawn. Ongoing water use is described as restrooms, landscaping, and typical office needs.
Noise
The old parking garage footprint becomes a mechanical and electrical equipment yard, and SB Energy is installing a sound-dampening screen around it, approved in the city site plans.
Traffic
SB Energy expects less traffic than 3M generated.
On the question everyone in Steiner Ranch cares about, LISD buses cutting through the campus, the answer for now is no. The tenant needs the facility secured from non-project traffic. A meeting with LISD is reportedly happening in the next couple of weeks, and SB Energy says it wants to find other ways to partner with the district.
Linda Bailey of the Lake Austin Collective said the community will be glad SB Energy is finally communicating, while noting there are still open questions on electricity, water, and noise.
What it means for the neighborhood
The buyer profile I described in May holds. Graphcore’s Austin postings are for embedded firmware engineers, silicon bring-up and validation engineers, mechanical engineers for data center systems, and executive-level system architects. These are senior, highly compensated technical roles. People in those jobs buy homes, they care about schools, and they want a short commute. The closest neighborhoods to the campus are the ones this site covers.
What’s different from the speculation phase is the pace. Forty people today, phase one done next spring, hundreds over time. That’s demand arriving in waves over a few years, not a surge next quarter. If you’re a seller, this is a reason for patience, not a reason to list tomorrow. If you’re a buyer, the window before this shows up in comps is real but not indefinite.
I’ll keep tracking the LISD conversation, the community meetings SB Energy committed to, and any sign of a second tenant. If any of those move, you’ll read it here.
