WhiteFiber pays $60m for two Unifi plants, and buys the shell rather than the site

WhiteFiber has agreed to pay $60 million for two industrial properties in Yadkin County, North Carolina, which it plans to retrofit into data center campuses called NC-2 and NC-3 ^[1]. The seller is textiles manufacturer Unifi, the same company that sold WhiteFiber the site now operating as NC-1, roughly 55 miles away ^[3][6].

The price works out to about $120 per square foot across roughly 120 acres and 500,000 square feet of warehouse space ^[3][1]. The two properties are expected to provide a combined minimum of 60MW of initial gross utility capacity, 30MW each ^[2], putting the entry cost near $1 million per megawatt of initial capacity ^[2]. WhiteFiber says the pair could support up to approximately 200MW combined over time ^[4]; if that arrives, the acquisition basis falls to roughly $300,000 per megawatt ^[2], with about 3.3 times the initial capacity as headroom ^[3]. Added to the 40MW NC-1 campus in Madison, the state footprint would start at about 100MW and could reach 240MW ^[4].

The schedule is the part worth studying. The deal runs through Enovum Data Centers, WhiteFiber's wholly owned data center subsidiary, and is expected to close in Q4 2026 ^[5], with initial ready-for-service capacity targeted for Q3 2027 ^[2] - roughly three quarters after closing ^[6]. WhiteFiber has already demonstrated the conversion once with the same counterparty: NC-1 was previously a Unifi manufacturing site and went live over the summer ^[6]. CEO Sam Tabar framed the purchase as building on capabilities and relationships already established in the region ^[7].

Unifi's side is a balance sheet transaction. CEO Eddie Ingle said the carve-out makes Unifi "a leaner and more profitable organization," is expected to have minimal operational impact with no downtime, will leave US production capacities unchanged, and on closing would let Unifi retire a substantial amount of debt ^[8]. That alignment is why these deals keep clearing: an industrial owner with idle square footage and debt, and a buyer that needs a roof and a utility path rather than a factory.

Demand is stated but not yet contracted. WhiteFiber says it is in advanced discussions with prospective customers and has received non-binding letters of intent with investment-grade credit support around the Yadkin sites ^[9]. Non-binding is the operative word, and it will be nine months of closing risk before anything is signed against steel.

The financials argue for cheap capacity. In Q2 2026 WhiteFiber reported revenue of $28.8 million, up 54 percent year on year, with an operating loss of $9.3 million and a net loss of $15 million ^[10]. Cloud Services revenue of $23.8 million included approximately $12.3 million tied to a previously disclosed customer termination ^[11]; excluding that, the underlying figure is around $11.5 million, about 31 percent below the prior-year $16.6 million ^[5]. Colocation revenue, the business these retrofits feed, was $4.7 million, up 173 percent ^[11]. The company also signed a partnership with Krambu aimed at adding 100MW of capacity over 2027 and beyond ^[12].

Watch whether the Q4 2026 close holds ^[5], whether the letters of intent convert to binding contracts with the credit support described ^[9], and whether the utility interconnection path actually stretches from 60MW to 200MW ^[4]. Also watch the colocation line against cloud services stripped of termination revenue ^[11][5].