Alcoa, the Pittsburgh-based aluminum giant, intends to sell 10 of its closed or curtailed sites for use as data centers.
Alcoa CEO Bill Oplinger announced the sell-off Tuesday at the BMO Global Metals, Mining and Critical Minerals Conference in Florida. Of the 10 facilities going on the market, “we think we’ll have the first sale in the first half of this year. There are two that could follow quickly after that,” he said.
The planned sales do not appear to include Alcoa’s New Kensington Technical Center or any company properties in Pennsylvania, although an Upper Burrell building previously owned by Alcoa and later its spinoff company Arconic is being adapted for data-center use.
In response to questions from TribLive, Alcoa representatives pointed to investor remarks from January and in October 2025, during which CFO Molly Beerman said the company was “pursuing several opportunities across our global portfolio of transformation assets, but primarily active in the U.S., Australia and Italy right now.”
Beerman told investors that selling the sites could bring Alcoa between $500 million and $1 billion that would offset over a billion dollars in remediation spending through 2030. Beerman specifically identified the former Kwinana refinery near Perth, Australia, as a strong candidate for lease or sale. The company recently came under legal scrutiny in Western Australia for breaches of a state mining agreement there.
Alcoa appears to have 10 closed and three operational sites in the United States that it views as “Transformation Assets” with potential to become data centers. Locations the company identified to investors in a 2025 PowerPoint presentation included facilities in Washington, New York, and several Southern states.
Oplinger said low prices for raw materials such as alumina had left half of global refineries operating at a loss. The price of aluminum itself has risen steadily since May 2025. Following Oplinger’s remarks, Alcoa’s stock rose 2.7% before falling again on Thursday.
Per a 2024 SEC report, the company’s global footprint extends to eight countries and 26 operating locations. That doesn’t include closed sites the company could sell or redevelop.
Alcoa isn’t alone in seeing a major upside to selling to technology firms as the AI boom continues. Rival company Century Aluminum recently sold a Kentucky smelting facility for use as a “digital infrastructure campus.”
In its presentation to investors, Alcoa said it expects “global data center demand to grow by 20% [compounded annual growth rate] over next three years, presenting opportunities for idled assets.”
