Gov. Mike Dunleavy pushes for data centers to come to Alaska as he prepares to leave office

Iris Samuels, Anchorage Daily News on Nov 11, 2026

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ANCHORAGE, Alaska — Less than a month before leaving office, Gov. Mike Dunleavy announced that his administration had formed a public corporation intended to attract data centers to Alaska, along with a new platform to allow individuals to invest in the projects.

The initiative is led by the Alaska Industrial Development and Export Authority, an embattled state-owned corporation whose board members were appointed by Dunleavy. AIDEA partnered with Plural, a California-based startup whose chief executive, Adam Silver, met with Dunleavy several times last year.

The Monday announcement about the partnership is part of a flurry of activity as Dunleavy seeks to cement his policy priorities before he leaves office. His administration also announced this week that it transferred thousands of acres in state land to AIDEA to develop an industrial park that could include data centers, and separately approved a 50-year lease for a data center in the Arctic.

AIDEA is the sole owner of Alaska Data Corp. LLC, a corporation that formed in March. The company’s president is listed as Brandon Brefczynski, who is AIDEA’s deputy director. The company’s vice president is listed as Dave Stieren, a former talk radio host. Both Brefczynski and Stieren have worked for Dunleavy or AIDEA since 2019.

AIDEA board members voted earlier this year to send $20 million in state funds to the newly formed Alaska Data Corp., as first reported by the Anchorage Press.

Data centers and their construction were a topic of debate in Alaska leading up to this month’s elections. Democrat Jonathan Kreiss-Tomkins, who is poised to succeed Dunleavy as governor, said he would support a moratorium on data center construction in Alaska until the state adopts a comprehensive regulatory package.

Kreiss-Tomkins has also said he would support additional oversight of AIDEA, which has been used in recent years to promote Dunleavy’s policy priorities with little public input or oversight.

Dunleavy, who has not spoken publicly about what he intends to do after he leaves office next month, released a statement Monday calling for data centers to be built in the state.

“As the country debates data centers, in Alaska, we have an opportunity to learn from what has occurred in other states and do it better here in our great state,” Dunleavy said. “If there is an opportunity for data centers here in Alaska, let’s do it right. Let’s build them the right way, let’s locate them in the right places, and let’s explore how individual Alaskans can have an ownership stake so that they clearly and directly benefit all Alaskans. Here in Alaska, we can demonstrate to the world how to do data centers well, so they are a positive, not a negative.”

Dunleavy’s spokespeople did not respond to questions about the state’s partnership with Plural, the California startup backing the initiatives, which launched in 2024. Neither did Stieren.

Dunleavy first met Plural’s chief executive, Adam Silver, in San Francisco in June 2025, according to his public calendar. In the ensuing months, Dunleavy met with Silver at least seven times, including four times in Washington, D.C. Two of those meetings also included Alaska’s Republican U.S. Rep. Nick Begich. The meetings also included leaders of AIDEA and Dunleavy’s former acting attorney general, Stephen Cox.

The fate of the project — and AIDEA itself — remains up in the air with Dunleavy’s impending departure from office.

Aubrey Wieber, founder of a progressive advocacy group called the 907 Initiative, said Dunleavy is “using AIDEA to move hundreds of millions of public dollars to Lower 48 corporations he and his closest political allies are tied to,” as he prepares to leave office.

“Dunleavy is shelling out our cash to some company named Plural to build multiple data centers as quickly as they can, when he has less than a month in office,” Wieber said. “If Plural had any real interest in doing this, they would hit pause and start building a relationship with the incoming governor’s administration.”

A representative of Plural did not respond to an email seeking comment.

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