Key Highlights

  • Zone Frontier signed a 10-year colocation agreement with Cerebras Systems worth about $800 million over its initial term, with Revenue not expected to begin until the first quarter of 2027.
  • Hyperscale Data has invested more than $70 million converting its Michigan Facility to AI colocation, with operations expected to begin in November 2026 under a 10-year, roughly $1.2 billion master services agreement.
  • Zone Frontier closed a $100 million public offering at $0.25 per share on August 12, 2026, after selling about 463 million Dogecoin for roughly $33.4 million to fund its pivot.
  • Hyperscale Data reported Q2 2026 revenue of about $34.8 million and a net loss of about $19.4 million, and has set up a $300 million at-the-market Equity program.

Demand for AI computing has pulled some unlikely small companies into the Data Center business. Zone Frontier (NYSE American:ZONE), which until this month was a cleaning-products maker called CleanCore Solutions, and Hyperscale Data (NYSE American:GPUS), a Holding Company that grew out of a bitcoin-mining and diversified-investment group, are now both trying to turn land, power and signed customer contracts into operating AI facilities. For both, the headline contract figures matter less than whether the sites get built on time and on budget.

Zone Frontier (NYSE American:ZONE): From Cleaning Products to AI Campuses

Zone Frontier completed its name change from CleanCore Solutions on September 1, 2026, keeping its ZONE ticker on the NYSE American. The pivot happened fast. In 2025 the company ran a Dogecoin treasury strategy alongside its legacy cleaning business, but in July 2026 it sold about 463 million DOGE for roughly $33.4 million, according to crypto-industry coverage, and redirected the money into AI infrastructure. The company has said it is exploring a sale of the cleaning-products segment.

The centerpiece is a Minnesota campus. In a July 29, 2026 release, the company said it had signed a 10-year colocation agreement with Cerebras Systems worth about $800 million over the initial term, with a potential value above $3 billion including renewal options. The site is planned for 55 MW of Utility power and 40 MW of critical IT load at full buildout; the release said 20 MW of utility power was already energized, the remaining capacity was expected in the first quarter of 2027, and initial revenue was expected that same quarter. Zone Frontier holds about an 80% stake in the project alongside an unnamed development partner, and it is also working with HST Technologies on a West Texas campus that it says could exceed 500 MW.

Funding came through equity. On August 12, 2026, the company closed a public offering of 400 million shares (or pre-funded warrants) at $0.25, raising about $100 million in gross proceeds, with an equal number of five-year warrants that could bring in another $100 million if fully exercised. The legacy financials are small by comparison: the 10-Q for the quarter ended March 31, 2026 showed revenue of about $544,000 and a net loss of about $30.8 million, a figure the company attributed partly to one-time charges.

Hyperscale Data (NYSE American:GPUS): Converting a Bitcoin Site to AI Colocation

Hyperscale Data, also listed on the NYSE American, is converting its Michigan facility, run through Subsidiary Alliance Cloud Services, from bitcoin Mining to AI colocation. In a September 2026 update, the company said it had invested more than $70 million in the Business and the facility, and it expected operations to begin in November 2026. Its first customer, a California-based neocloud provider, signed a 10-year master services agreement for an initial 20 MW, which the company projects at about $1.2 billion over the initial term, or more than $3.0 billion if the customer expands to 52 MW and exercises extensions. The site has roughly 340 MW of potential capacity.

Unlike Zone Frontier, Hyperscale Data already has sizable revenue from other businesses, including Ault Capital Group, which it plans to divest in 2027. For the quarter ended June 30, 2026, it reported revenue of about $34.8 million and a net loss of about $19.4 million; six-month revenue was about $78.9 million. The company has set up a $300 million at-the-market equity program and reported about $51 million in bitcoin, cash and restricted cash as of September 13, 2026.

Why Execution Is the Real Test

Both companies can point to long-term contracts with large headline values, but those values depend on delivering powered, cooled and connected capacity on schedule. For investors, the useful questions concern delivery rather than contract size. Zone Frontier is essentially a pre-revenue infrastructure developer with a new identity, while Hyperscale Data is attaching a data center build-out to an existing conglomerate. Those starting points shape how much of each stock's value depends on the new projects.

  • Timeline: Whether Hyperscale Data starts Michigan operations in November 2026 and Zone Frontier brings Minnesota revenue online in the first quarter of 2027.
  • Capital needs: How much more equity or Debt each company needs to finish construction, beyond the $100 million offering and the $300 million ATM program.
  • Customer concentration: Each initial campus relies on a single anchor tenant, so that customer's financial health matters a great deal.
  • Partner structure: How project Economics are split between Zone Frontier and its development partner, and how Hyperscale Data's planned divestiture changes its business mix.

Using the Nasdaq Composite as a Benchmark

Neither company trades on Nasdaq; both are listed on the NYSE American. The Nasdaq Composite is used here purely as a comparison benchmark because it is heavily weighted toward the technology companies driving AI demand. Comparing each stock's returns and swings with the index over the same period can show whether moves reflect broad sentiment toward AI or company-specific events such as contract announcements and financings.

That context is especially useful here. Both companies rely on equity funding, and offerings with attached warrants can weigh on per-share performance even when the underlying projects advance.

Risks

For Zone Frontier, the risks stem from how quickly it changed direction. It has limited operating history in data centers, depends on a partner for development expertise, is still selling its legacy business and has diluted shareholders heavily to fund the build. Its revenue from Cerebras is not expected until 2027.

Hyperscale Data faces conversion risk at the Michigan site, reliance on one customer for its first 20 MW, ongoing losses across a complex group of subsidiaries, and a controlling shareholder, Ault & Company, whose preferred-stock structure shapes voting power. Continued ATM sales could also dilute common holders.

Construction Schedules and Tenant Relationships Will Decide the Outcome

Zone Frontier and Hyperscale Data are both trying to turn power and property into contracted AI capacity, and both have signed customers whose headline values are much larger than their current revenue. Zone Frontier starts almost from scratch with new capital and a new name; Hyperscale Data layers a conversion project onto an existing, loss-making group. In both cases, the coming quarters will show whether construction schedules, financing and tenant relationships hold together.