DC BLOX
Headquarters: Atlanta
Q: Please tell us about your company.
DC BLOX is a vertically integrated digital infrastructure provider building connected, AI-ready data centers and fiber network solutions across the Southeastern United States. The company was founded in 2014 to address the critical need for modern digital infrastructure outside traditional core markets, delivering edge-market colocation, hyperscale campuses, dark fiber and subsea-ready connectivity solutions that enable enterprises, cloud and hyperscale providers, carriers and technology companies to offer enhanced digital services closer to end users. DC BLOX owns and operates a growing network of interconnected data centers — backed by land and power commitments — and manages critical cable landing stations in Myrtle Beach, S.C., and Palm Coast, Fla.,(expected to be operational by Q1 2027), paired with a robust regional fiber footprint that drives low-latency performance and scalable connectivity. Through strategic partnerships with customers, utilities and local communities, DC BLOX’s infrastructure investments foster innovation, economic growth and expanded opportunity across the Southeast.
Q: Please tell us about company’s leadership.
Jeff Uphues, CEO – Jeff leads DC BLOX, where he is responsible for setting and leading the company’s strategy, vision and execution in designing, building and operating a fabric of interconnected, highly secure, Tier 3-rated data centers across the Southeast. Jeff is a 30-year veteran in the information technology industry, is a tireless, tech-savvy executive and business strategist having held C-suite leadership roles for Liquid Web, Cbeyond, Bandwidth, ACSI Network Technologies, MCI and WilTel. Jeff serves as an active board member in several technology firms.
Mark Masi, Chief Development Officer – Mark is a co-founder of DC BLOX and is responsible for land acquisition, tax incentives, energy procurement and strategic relationships critical to the development of new hyperscale campuses as AI and power demands accelerate. Since the company’s inception, he has led data center development including site acquisition, design, engineering and construction. Mark brings more than 30 years of experience driving regional and national growth as a serial entrepreneur, having co-founded companies such as Cbeyond, Intermedia Communications and FiberNet, where he led large-scale telecom, fiber, data center, real estate and capital deployment initiatives.
Chris Gatch, Chief Revenue Officer – Chris leads all revenue-generating functions at DC BLOX, including sales, marketing, channel partnerships and customer experience, driving growth across the company’s edge data centers, hyperscale campuses, dark fiber, and connectivity platform. An experienced entrepreneur and partner-focused leader, Chris previously co-founded and served as CEO of Infrapoint, a managed private cloud provider, and earlier co-founded Cbeyond, where he was Executive Vice President and Chief Technology Officer, helping scale the business to nearly $500 million in revenue prior to its acquisition in 2014. He brings deep expertise in building scalable technology platforms and go-to-market strategies that align infrastructure investment with customer demand.
Other members of the senior leadership team include:
- Kevin O’Donnell, Chief Financial Officer
- Greg Carender, Chief Operating Officer
- Jeff Wabik, Chief Technology Officer
- Melih Ileri, Chief Information Officer
- David Armistead, SVP of Sales
- John Dumler, SVP of Data Center Design & Engineering
Q: Where do you provide services?
DC BLOX provides data center, interconnection and fiber infrastructure services across strategically located markets in the Southeastern United States, purpose-built to support edge computing, hyperscale expansion, cloud performance, and subsea connectivity. The company’s footprint includes operational, under-construction and planned data centers, hyperscale campuses and cable landing stations, all connected through a growing regional fiber network.
Current markets include:
- Birmingham, Ala.
- Chattanooga, Tenn.
- Huntsville, Ala.
- Greenville, S.C.
- Myrtle Beach, S.C. (data center and cable landing station)
Current market in development include:
- Douglas County, Ga.
- Rockdale County, Ga.
- Montgomery, Ala.
- North Augusta, S.C.
- Palm Coast, Fla. (cable landing station)
Land Acquired:
- High Point, N.C. (planned)
In addition to these locations, DC BLOX supports custom fiber routes, interconnection and network expansion projects throughout the Southeast based on customer requirements. The company’s infrastructure is intentionally positioned to deliver geographic diversity, low-latency connectivity and scalable capacity for enterprises, hyperscalers, carriers and content providers.
These markets are strategically positioned along the I-85 and I-95 corridors and coastal access points, creating a connected infrastructure network that serves the Southeast’s population centers and provides geographic diversity for enterprise and hyperscale deployments. DC BLOX’s footprint connects growing edge markets with global cable landing infrastructure, enabling customers to serve local populations while maintaining low-latency paths to international destinations.
Q: What types of services do you offer?
DC BLOX delivers an integrated digital infrastructure platform purpose-built to support enterprise, carrier, cloud and hyperscale requirements across the Southeastern United States. By combining strategically located data centers, high-capacity connectivity, hyperscale-ready campuses and subsea-adjacent infrastructure, DC BLOX enables customers to deploy, scale and interconnect critical workloads with performance, resiliency and geographic diversity.
DC BLOX’s core services include:
Colocation
- Tier III data center facilities designed for high availability, security, and operational resilience
- Flexible configurations supporting enterprise, carrier, and cloud deployments
- Strategically located in high-growth Southeast markets to deliver low-latency performance closer to end users
Connectivity
- High-capacity regional and long-haul fiber interconnecting DC BLOX facilities and key aggregation points
- Carrier-neutral interconnection enabling access to cloud providers, network operators and content platforms
- Dark fiber and custom network solutions tailored to hyperscalers and bandwidth-intensive enterprises
Hyperscale Infrastructure
- Hyperscale capacity across eight campus locations
- Flexible power delivery supporting configurations from 1MW to 120MW+ per deployment
- AI- and hyperscale-ready campuses with scalable land, power, and infrastructure
- Designed to support large-footprint, high-density workloads and rapid expansion
- Flexible development models aligned with customer-specific power, cooling and deployment requirements
Cable Landing Stations
- When fully built out, combined capacity to support up to 16 subsea cable systems across two Southeast coastal locations
- An expansive dark fiber footprint connecting cable landing stations to Atlanta’s primary connectivity hub
- Hyperscale-ready cable landing stations strategically located along the Southeast coast
- Geographically diverse access points for international subsea cable systems
- Direct integration with inland data centers and regional fiber networks for efficient global connectivity
Q: What is your target customer base?
DC BLOX serves organizations that require secure, scalable and high-performance digital infrastructure to support today’s data-intensive and distributed business environments. By delivering Tier III data centers, high-speed regional connectivity and dark fiber solutions, DC BLOX enables customers to execute complex digital transformation initiatives and deploy mission-critical workloads closer to end users.
DC BLOX’s target customers include:
- Enterprises with distributed and latency-sensitive IT environments
- Hyperscalers and cloud service providers
- Financial services institutions requiring secure and resilient infrastructure
- Educational and research institutions supporting advanced computing and data needs
- Manufacturing and industrial organizations leveraging connected and data-driven operations
Q: What are the biggest challenges that your company faces and how is your company overcoming these challenges?
The digital infrastructure industry faces unprecedented challenges as AI workloads and hyperscale expansion drive exponential demand for power, speed and scale. Securing adequate power capacity has become the defining constraint across the sector, with traditional markets like Northern Virginia experiencing utility connection delays that can extend timelines by years. Data center power requirements are projected to grow 165% by 2030, while AI-ready facilities now require rack densities of 50 kilowatts or higher – more than double traditional requirements.
DC BLOX addresses these challenges through proactive utility partnerships and strategic market positioning. The company works closely with regional utilities, including Georgia Power, Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) and Duke Energy, to secure committed power allocations and co-invest in transmission infrastructure that accelerates time-to-power. This approach transforms power availability from a constraint into a competitive advantage.
DC BLOX’s Southeast focus provides access to markets with available grid capacity, favorable regulatory environments and substantial renewable energy resources – critical factors as hyperscalers seek locations that can support their sustainability commitments alongside massive scale requirements. The company’s land banking strategy secures sites with utility-committed power before announcing projects, ensuring customers can deploy rapidly without facing the multi-year delays common in capacity-constrained markets.
Additionally, DC BLOX’s design-build construction model with partners like Evans General Contractors streamlines delivery timelines and reduces costs through integrated teams and continuous communication. This operational excellence has enabled the company to earn customer and investor confidence, evidenced by securing more than two billion dollars in capital commitments, including a recent $1.15 billion green loan for hyperscale campus development.
The company’s vertically integrated platform – combining cable landing stations, regional fiber networks and strategically distributed data centers – addresses the complexity challenge inherent in modern digital infrastructure. Rather than requiring customers to coordinate among multiple vendors across fiber, subsea and colocation providers, DC BLOX delivers end-to-end solutions from global cable landings through regional edge deployments.
Q: What sets you apart from other companies?
Serve Locally. Connect Globally.
DC BLOX provides connected data center infrastructure that spans from colocation facilities in high-growth edge markets to globally connected cable landing stations and hyperscale-ready, build-to-suit campuses. By combining data centers, integrated regional network services and dark fiber solutions, DC BLOX enables customers to meet the performance, scale and connectivity requirements of modern digital business.
Across the Southeastern United States, accelerating adoption of cloud, AI and data-driven applications is driving unprecedented demand for digital infrastructure beyond traditional core metros. DC BLOX addresses this need by investing in edge-market data centers, building new high-capacity fiber networks, and extending connectivity to locations underserved by legacy telecom-based infrastructure.
As a vertically integrated digital infrastructure provider, DC BLOX owns and operates data centers across the Southeast, maintains a growing regional fiber network, and manages a critical cable landing station in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. The company also secures land and power and partners with leading utilities, customers, and technology providers to deliver customized, hyperscale-ready infrastructure with integrated connectivity.
DC BLOX’s mission is to provide the digital infrastructure essential to support rich customer experiences, business growth, and community opportunity. Through long-term investment and close collaboration with customers and partners, DC BLOX is helping build the foundation for sustained economic growth across the Southeast.
Q: How is the evolving communications marketplace impacting your business model?
The communications marketplace is undergoing its most significant transformation in decades, driven by the convergence of artificial intelligence, cloud computing maturity, and hyperscaler investment in private subsea cable infrastructure. These forces are fundamentally reshaping where and how digital infrastructure gets built.
Hyperscalers are now the primary investors in new subsea cable systems, representing a shift from traditional carrier-led models to private infrastructure optimized for massive data flows between cloud regions. The global submarine cable market is projected to grow from $30.9 billion in 2025 to $56.9 billion by 2035, with strategic cable landing locations becoming critical competitive assets. DC BLOX recognized this trend early, developing the Myrtle Beach Cable Landing Station (CLS) – now the largest facility of its kind on the Eastern Seaboard – which hosts subsea cables including Google’s Firmina, Confluence Networks’ Anjana, and other systems connecting the Southeast to Europe, South America and the Caribbean.
The announced expansion of the Myrtle Beach CLS with a second facility (MYR2) capable of supporting five additional cables, plus the Palm Coast, Fla., CLS opening in Q1 2027 with capacity for six subsea systems, positions DC BLOX as the Southeast’s subsea gateway. This infrastructure provides geographic diversity from Florida and Mid-Atlantic landing points while offering direct fiber connectivity into the rapidly growing Atlanta market through DC BLOX’s regional dark fiber network.
Edge computing requirements are pushing infrastructure investment beyond saturated core markets. As Northern Virginia faces power constraints and extended utility timelines, the Southeast has emerged as America’s fastest-growing data center region. Atlanta became the hottest U.S. data center market in 2023, with development applications increasing more than sevenfold compared to the prior three years. DC BLOX’s strategy of building in high-growth secondary markets including Huntsville, Chattanooga, Birmingham, Greenville, and Montgomery – connected through fiber to hyperscale hubs – aligns with this geographic redistribution of digital infrastructure investment.
AI workloads demand infrastructure designed fundamentally differently than traditional colocation. AI training and inference require high-density power (up to 200 kilowatts per cabinet versus 5-10 kilowatts for traditional workloads), advanced cooling systems, and flexible configurations that can evolve as chip architectures advance. DC BLOX has engineered its hyperscale campuses and newer facilities to support these requirements, offering power densities ranging from 20 kilowatts to 200 kilowatts per cabinet with provisions for future liquid cooling integration.
This evolving marketplace has transformed DC BLOX’s business model from primarily serving regional enterprises seeking edge colocation into a platform supporting hyperscale partners deploying AI-ready infrastructure at scale. The company now develops build-to-suit hyperscale campuses exceeding 120 megawatts of critical power alongside its edge facilities, creating an integrated ecosystem that serves distributed workloads from global cable landings through regional edge nodes. This vertically integrated approach — rare among regional providers — enables DC BLOX to address the full spectrum of modern connectivity and compute requirements within a single partnership framework.
Q: Have you recently entered new markets? Added new services/products?
DC BLOX has recently expanded its coastal and subsea-adjacent footprint with the development of a second CLS campus in Palm Coast, Fla., which is expected to be operational in Q1 2027. This expansion will strengthen DC BLOX’s ability to support global connectivity and hyperscale growth across the Southeastern United States. Strategically located between existing East Coast landing points, the Palm Coast CLS campus provides geographic diversity, scalable land and power, and direct integration with inland data center and fiber infrastructure.
In addition, DC BLOX is expanding its Myrtle Beach, S.C., CLS, reinforcing the region’s role as a critical hub for subsea connectivity. The Myrtle Beach CLS is designed to support multiple subsea cable systems and provide seamless connectivity to regional and long-haul fiber routes serving key Southeast markets.
Together, these investments extend DC BLOX’s vertically integrated digital infrastructure platform — combining cable landing stations, edge and hyperscale-ready data centers and high-capacity regional fiber — to meet rising demand from hyperscalers, carriers, cloud providers and enterprises seeking performance, resilience and geographic diversity.