The Wall Street Journal reported that three veterans of President Donald Trump’s Energy Department—Adam Blake, Nick Poradek and Seth Cohen—founded a company called Mavria over the summer to mass-produce smaller, modular data centers. According to the Journal (via an X post on Nov. 9, 2026), Mavria recently reached a $1 billion valuation after raising $130 million in total funding and expects to begin testing products next year.
The bet: smaller, faster-to-deploy units
The Journal described Mavria’s flagship system, Terrain, as a 5‑megawatt modular data-center unit that integrates power distribution, direct liquid cooling, controls and server racks. Poradek told the Journal, “Everything is modular. It is almost entirely built in factory, and then you basically plug it in on site.”
Because of their smaller footprint, the Journal wrote, Terrain units could be placed on local distribution lines to use available capacity and potentially avoid the multi‑year waits large data centers face to connect to the grid. The Journal also said units could be added “like Lego blocks” at bigger sites.
Why now: AI demand vs. local pushback
Western Journal, citing the Wall Street Journal, framed the effort as a response to surging AI infrastructure needs and rising resistance to mega‑projects over environmental, quality‑of‑life and power‑grid concerns. Blake told the Journal, “Our power infrastructure, manufacturing capacity and supply chains are nowhere near ready to meet the demand from AI,” calling that a “strategic vulnerability.”
Investor Alana Palmedo of Paradigm said the modular approach offers a nimbler alternative to large developments, calling Terrain “not intrusive” and noting that “local residents are predominantly responding to these large mega projects that they don’t want in their backyard,” according to the Journal as summarized by Western Journal.
More broadly, the Guardian reported that at least 75 proposed data center projects were blocked or delayed in the first three months of 2026.
Backers see geopolitical stakes
Anjney Midha, a founder of AMP and an early investor in Anthropic, told the Journal the “AI story is an infrastructure story,” adding, “We have a pretty daunting challenge ahead to stay competitive with China,” per Western Journal’s account of the interview.
What’s next
The Journal reported Mavria aims to begin testing Terrain units next year. Details on deployment locations, customers and grid interconnection outcomes were not provided in the Western Journal summary.
