Juan Santa Maria, CEO of the Madrid-based parent, told analysts at a May 13 earnings conference call that the data center development plan announced last year was moving forward. It involves ACS forming a 50% partnership to develop “from scratch” land and obtain permits and connections in order to lease data centers to “hyperscalers,” he said.

So far ACS has $568 million invested in the venture, with the process of forming the partnership “still ongoing,” said Santa Maria, “but until now, all [details of obtaining a partner are] very confidential.”

Hyperscalers of cloud computing services often include companies such as Amazon, Microsoft and Google and those with cloud-based services that involve artificial intelligence.

ACS is majority owner of Hochtief, the Essen, Germany-based contractor that owns Turner, which ranks again as No. 1 on the ENR Top 400 Contractors list, and figures prominently in the parent's financial picture.

As for Turner, the company recorded $199 million in pretax profit on revenue of $6.6 billion in its latest quarter, up 62.3% and 45.2%, respectively, from the same quarter last year, said ACS Group. Growth in its existing business building data centers, health care, sports and educational facilities provided much of the profit and revenue, the firm said. Turner's 2024 acquisition of Irish electrical and mechanical engineer Dornan Engineering also added to the financial good news.

Turner's profit margin increased 3%, reflecting the company's “successful strategy focused on advanced technology projects,” ACS Group noted in its financial report.

Last July, ACS Group announced it was integrating its North American civil engineering and construction businesses by combining the Dragados unit with Flatiron Construction into a single operation.

This story was revised May 27 to reflect the fact that ACS Group, not Turner, is advancing plans to become a data center co-developer.