By Chris Morris
Publication Date: 2026-05-07 16:15:00
Neighborhoods might be fighting against data centers in their area, but Nvidia and a California startup are betting those homeowners would be okay if their homes became the data centers.
It’s an unusual ask in the current environment, but the two companies believe the promise of “heavily discounted” energy and internet bills could sway homeowners.
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California-based Span has teamed with the tech giant to create fractional data centers, via nodes called XFRA units, that can be put on the side of homes and small businesses. Working as a cluster, they can supplement or replace large data centers, the company says.
These XFRA units will use technology from NVIDIA including a liquid-cooled, fanless component inside the server. “The design helps eliminate the noise typically associated with data centers—a frequent complaint in communities near large facilities” says Realtor.com (1).
The fractional centers would take advantage of unused electrical capacity on local grids, and would allow AI cloud providers to draw from them as needed.
This is more than theoretical. The company has already conducted testing of prototype nodes with paying customers — and this fall, it plans to deploy them in 100 new construction homes in the southwestern U.S. (2)
Assuming that goes well, the company hopes to begin scaling the network to an annual capacity of more than 1 gigawatt.
Lowering bills
The advantages for data center users are fairly…