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An entrepreneur is transforming a Cold War-era nuclear silo into an underground data center. Look inside.

Panoramic view from the top of the silo.
Halik’s decommissioned nuclear silo is 165 feet deep.
  • Entrepreneur Nik Halik bought a defunct nuclear missile silo in Colorado for over $10 million.
  • The US government once used the facility to power, house, and potentially fire nuclear missiles.
  • Halik plans to turn the 200,000-square-foot facility into a data center to power AI.

A decommissioned nuclear silo near Denver, Colorado, that could once launch three 4.5-megaton nuclear missiles at a moment’s notice is now an entrepreneur’s pet project.

Nik Halik, an Australian venture capitalist, purchased the decommissioned Cold War-era nuclear missile silo from the US government in 2021 for more than $10 million. For the past five years, Halik has been overseeing its transformation into a modern, renovated facility, where he plans to house an AI data center.

The project is on brand for Halik, a self-described “thrillionaire” whose past endeavors have included skydiving over Mount Everest, training in Russia as a civilian cosmonaut, and diving 5 miles deep to the deck of the Titanic.

He said his interest in these types of structures pairs with his vision for what they could become.

“I’m immersed in the world of castles and underground bunkers,” Halik told Business Insider. “I’m a value-facturer. I like things that I can add value to.”

Halik took Business Insider on a tour of the facility. See what it looks like inside the roughly 75-year-old nuclear silo.

The facility was built in Colorado in 1959 for $47 million, or $350 million in today’s dollars.
Missile silo under construction.
Other Titan I silos like Halik’s were built in Colorado.

At the beginning of the Cold War, the US began developing intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs) at a rapid pace. Following the US’ first operational ICBM, the SM-65 Atlas, the Titan I went under development in the mid-1950s.

According to the National Park Service, the Titan I missiles were 98 feet tall and could deliver a nuclear warhead over 6,000 miles.

Eighteen silos, like Halik’s and the one pictured, were built across the US to house these missiles during the Cold War.

Four large diesel engines powered the facility.
A person walking into a Titan I facility.
Another Titan I silo near Denver. Thanks to diesel power, the facilities could be powered without the grid.

Thanks to the silo’s use of diesel fuel, it had the ability to stay running without being connected to the electrical grid. The amount of fuel in the silo was enough to fuel around 2,000 houses for roughly 2 weeks.

Just one of the silo’s three diesel tanks has the capacity to hold about 50,000 gallons of fuel, Halik told Business Insider.

The missiles were removed from the silo less than a decade later.
A construction worker attached to a crane touching the tip of a missile.
All Titan I missiles were decommissioned in 1965.

In all, 54 Titan I missiles were operational between April 1962 and January 1965, according to the National Park Service.

Despite the impressive stature of the Titan I silos, they proved to be short-lived. All were removed by early 1965, becoming obsolete due to rapid technological developments that led to the Titan II and Minuteman I ICBMs.

In the years that followed, the US government removed valuable materials from the silos and sold off most of the facilities to public and private owners. Halik said after his bunker was decommissioned, it was used by government defense contractors and The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency.

Today, Halik is renovating the silo at an estimated cost of $30 million.
Outdoor view of Halik's facility,
Halik’s facility is in an isolated area near Denver, Colorado.

Halik, with help from others, has been renovating the facility, located in a top-secret location in Colorado, for over four years.

Aside from the facility’s rusty metal scraps and loose wires, other hidden dangers lurk throughout the complex. The basement level, Halik said, is riddled with cyanide, lead paint, mercury, and asbestos.

The entrepreneur has taken a hands-on role in exploring and renovating the facility.
Halik holds a flashlight and points.
Halik has taken a large role in the renovation process despite safety risks.

He’s documented every step of his journey in the facility on the YouTube channel Nuclear Bunker Living. The first episode, uploaded in September 2021, shows him exploring the bunker by himself for the first time.

As Halik’s videos show, he often jumps into the exploration and renovation headfirst, despite the safety risk. On one occasion, he crawled through a rusty pipe, only to realize later that it had a live wire running through it that he said could’ve electrocuted him instantly.

“There are so many variables of danger here,” Halik said in a video. “This place is unforgiving, and it always reciprocates with interest.”

The bunker totals 200,000 square feet.
View from the bottom of the bunker's stairs.
The bunker needed to be deep enough to house the 98-feet-tall Titan I missiles.

The silo descends 165 feet below the surface, deep enough to house the missiles and the equipment necessary to launch them.

Seventeen distinct chambers make up the facility, connected by a network of tunnels spanning 4,500 feet.
A tunnel in Halik's complex.
A network of tunnels connects the complex’s rooms.

Different launcher rooms, control domes, a power dome, and other areas make the facility a sprawling complex.

The most secure part of the complex can withstand a nuclear blast.
A sign reading "Launcher Area No. 1." One part of the facility has strong concrete walls reinforced with steel.
One part of the facility has strong concrete walls reinforced with steel.

One portion of the facility was built by what Halik called “Hoover Dam-type engineering.” Featuring multiple layers of steel-reinforced concrete, each square inch of the wall could withstand roughly 15,000 pounds of pressure.

In this room, operators would stand ready to launch the missiles at a moment’s notice.
A desk from the control room of the facility.
Operators for the missiles would stand ready for a call from the Pentagon.

The control room was where the missile operators would have pressed the fateful buttons to launch missiles that were 300 times more powerful than the bomb dropped on Hiroshima.

“The fate of the Western world was in the hands of these 21- to 22-year-olds who had the keys to the missiles, ready to employ them on the instructions of the Pentagon from the president,” Halik said.

Halik wants to turn one part of the facility into a museum.
An up-close shot of the launch deck.
Halik and his team found papers pertaining to the missile’s launch in the bunker.

Many relics still remain in the control room and other areas, including pieces of the desk where a launch would’ve been programmed.

Recently, Halik and his team discovered papers containing launch codes, times, and other protocols.

For other rooms, he has more creative plans.
A large room that Halik said could be turned into a night club.
Halik wants to turn one room into a night club.

In another room, Halik envisions a nightclub, complete with a DJ, bar, consumption lounges, and Cirque du Soleil dancers.

At a different decommissioned missile site in New Mexico, this vision may already be a reality. The Twistflower Nuclear Missile Silo in Roswell will host the ATOMIKA festival in November.

The festival, promoted by Halik, describes itself as an “experimental, annual gathering that fuses immersive art, deep inquiry, and powerful music.”

Chief among Halik’s plans is to turn part of the facility into a data center.
The facility's power dome
The facility’s power dome could once again be used to power a data center.

Since AI requires large amounts of power, as well as a safe and reliable space for data, underground locations like Halik’s facility could prove to be prime locations.

A critical factor is the bunker’s cool temperature of 52 degrees Fahrenheit, even during the summer, which is optimal for the interior of a data center to prevent servers from overheating.

At some data centers, it can take more than 30% of a facility’s electricity to keep servers cool, the Pew Research Center reported.

“AI needs power,” Halik said. “AI needs safe environments to basically have all their computational processing power.”

The data center could be powered entirely in-house, without the grid.
Halik said he would install small nuclear reactors for power.
Halik said he would install small nuclear reactors for power.

Halik said that to power the data center, he would swap the facility’s diesel infrastructure with small nuclear reactors in an attempt to avoid the hassles of refueling.

Halik said he has already gotten the attention of tech and AI companies.
View of one room with light bulbs and wires.
Companies are increasingly looking to house data centers underground.

Although Halik didn’t disclose the specific companies interested, it aligns with a growing trend of underground data centers becoming more commonplace.

One company, called Iron Mountain, utilizes a former limestone mine in Pennsylvania for data processing and storage. The 220-foot-deep facility stretches 40 acres, about nine times the size of Halik’s bunker.

Read the original article on Business Insider

Inside the $350 million missile silo that could become a data center

As fears of global conflict grow, tech companies are racing to protect servers by turning nuclear missile silos and abandoned mines into ultra-secure data centers. Meanwhile, thousands of Americans are joining survival camps like Fortitude Ranch that are built to survive catastrophes, or even World War III.

Read the original article on Business Insider

Anthropic is close to overtaking OpenAI on this measure of AI business spending

Dario Amodei
The Claude app (left) and Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei (right)
  • US businesses that integrate AI have tended to choose OpenAI.
  • However, Anthropic has seen business spending surge in recent months, according to Ramp’s index.
  • Anthropic’s reputation got an unexpected boost after it challenged a deal with the Pentagon.

Anthropic is close to passing OpenAI when it comes to business spending on AI, according to new data.

Ramp, a finance automation and corporate card issuer, said half of its customers now pay for AI products. Among those customers, 30.6% use Anthropic, up 6.3% from March.

The gap between Anthropic and OpenAI, which accounts for 35.2% of customers, has narrowed dramatically, according to Ramp.

“At the current pace, Anthropic is on track to surpass OpenAI within the next two months,” a Ramp spokesperson told Business Insider. “It already leads among early adopters, including VC-backed companies, and in key sectors like software, finance, and professional services.”

Anthropic currently leads OpenAI in three specific sectors: information, finance and insurance, and personal services. Ramp’s data only provides a snapshot of spending by that company’s customers. However, it’s a useful yardstick for how business adoption of AI is changing over time.

Advancements in AI have begun to transform several industries. Major companies, including Meta, Microsoft and Visa, have encouraged employees to adopt the tech into their day-to-day work.

Anthropic’s Claude Code has been a huge hit with software engineers and developers, which is likely one of the main drivers behind business spending on the startup’s technology. The company also has top-performing models, according to benchmarking specialist Arena.ai. That likely influences which AI technology businesses choose.

Data from Ramp showed that funding is a key predictor of whether a business adopts AI. VC-backed businesses have a 80% adoption rate, while companies backed by private-equity firms have a 64% adoption rate. Companies without either have a 45% adoption rate.

Although Ramp didn’t provide a specific reason for Anthropic’s surge among corporations, the company received an unexpected reputation boost in February when it challenged a deal with the Pentagon. That month, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth urged the company to agree with the military’s terms of use for Claude or be blacklisted by the government.

Anthropic refused, resulting in President Donald Trump telling federal agencies to stop using the tech and the Department of Defense designating Anthropic as a supply chain risk. OpenAI stepped in to offer its services to the Department of Defense.

In response, some users rallied around Anthropic. Claude temporarily surpassed ChatGPT on the App Store, and major tech companies like Microsoft showed support.

Read the original article on Business Insider

‘Unwanted shoulder pads’: An issue has emerged with Nike soccer shirts ahead of the World Cup

Federico Valverde of Uruguay during the international friendly match between England and Uruguay at Wembley Stadium on March 27, 2026 in London, England.
Uruguay’s Federico Valverde is seen with material bulging at his shoulders during a match against England in London on March 27.
  • Nike’s soccer shirts to be worn by players at the FIFA World Cup appear to have a design issue.
  • Material was seen bulging at the shoulders of footballers in recent international matches.
  • The issue was raised on X by a sports journalist. Fans have complained about their version of the shirts.

With just two months to go before the FIFA World Cup kicks off, design issues have emerged with the Nike shirts to be worn by several teams in the tournament, including the USA and Canada.

Soccer’s biggest event, hosted jointly by the US, Canada and Mexico, gets underway on June 11 with the opening match in Mexico City.

During international matches played since Nike unveiled its World Cup kits on March 16, several soccer players were seen with shirts bulging at the shoulder.

Prominent Spanish football journalist Alejandro Mendo raised the issue with his 14.6 million followers on X.

“You’ve all seen the unwanted shoulder pads on the Nike shirts for the World Cup,” he said. “What seemed like a minor aesthetic detail has turned into a global controversy.”

Sharing images of international players with bulging material at the shoulders, Mendo added:Nike acknowledges the problem. These aren’t isolated cases, but something structural in the design.”

Soccer fans have also reported similar issues with their versions of the shirt, with one posting on Reddit: “Its actually a complete joke.”

Showing off his Canada shirt, the fan added: “The way the shoulders are sewn together just make them bunch like this no matter what. This is a stupid, STUPID design.”

Business Insider contacted Nike for comment and didn’t get a response on Saturday.

Some 48 teams have qualified for the tournament, the highest number in its history. The final takes place at the MetLife Stadium in New Jersey on July 19.

Read the original article on Business Insider

Anthropic’s Claude for Word is another challenge to Microsoft’s software empire

Dario Amodei, chief executive officer of Anthropic.
Dario Amodei, chief executive officer of Anthropic.
  • Anthropic launched a beta version of Claude for Word.
  • It follows February’s release of Claude add-ins for Excel and PowerPoint.
  • The AI startup’s latest launch is partly aimed at legal professionals.

Anthropic launched a beta version of Claude for Word, another challenge to Microsoft‘s software empire and a bid to appeal more to the legal profession.

The AI startup, having pushed Claude into Excel and PowerPoint earlier this year, said its latest add-in for Word is “designed for professionals who work extensively with documents, particularly in legal review, financial memo drafting, and iterative editing.”

On Saturday, Anthropic said Claude for Word would allow users to ask questions about their documents and get answers with clickable section citations.

Other features include the ability to edit selected text while preserving surrounding styles, numbering, and formatting, while a “tracked changes mode” would allow users to accept or reject every edit as a revision, Anthropic explained.

Claude could also work through comment threads, editing the anchored text and replying with what it changed, according to the release.

Anthropic gave examples of prompts lawyers could try when reviewing a legal contract while using Claude for Word.

  • “Summarize the key commercial terms: parties, term, governing law, and anything off-market.”
  • “Flag provisions that deviate from standard market position, ranked by severity.”
  • “Make the indemnification mutual and insert our standard fallback language.”
  • “Work through all five reviewer comments as tracked changes.”
  • “What did the counterparty change, and which revisions are dealbreakers?”

It’s currently available only to Team and Enterprise plans.

With this and other recent launches, Anthropic is making clear it no longer wants to be known primarily as a tool for developers. It wants Claude embedded across the enterprise, supporting finance teams, HR departments, analysts, and executives alike.

Read the original article on Business Insider

KORE teams with Kigen on SGP.32 eSIM to simplify global IoT provisioning

KORE teams with Kigen on SGP.32 eSIM to simplify global IoT provisioning

KORE teams with Kigen on SGP.32 eSIM to simplify global IoT provisioning

By Marc Kavinsky, Lead Editor at IoT Business News.

KORE says it will introduce an SGP.32-compliant connectivity portfolio in partnership with eSIM specialist Kigen, aiming to make it easier for enterprises to provision, switch and localize cellular IoT connectivity across global device fleets.

Global IoT deployments have a familiar weak point: connectivity decisions made at manufacturing time often age badly. Devices move, networks change, regulations evolve, and the operational cost of physically touching endpoints—whether that’s swapping SIMs or dispatching technicians—quickly becomes a line item that overshadows the sensor itself.

Against that backdrop, KORE has announced a new portfolio of connectivity solutions aligned with the GSMA’s SGP.32 eSIM standard, developed in partnership with Kigen. KORE says commercial availability is planned for later in 2026, positioning the offering for enterprises that want the benefits of remote provisioning without being locked into first-generation IoT eSIM approaches.

The core of the announcement is straightforward: KORE plans to deliver SGP.32-compliant connectivity options that can be adapted over a device’s lifetime. Kigen, for its part, is contributing what it describes as a secure, GSMA-certified SGP.32 eSIM and eIM technology to underpin the solution’s architecture.

Why SGP.32 matters—and why this isn’t just another “eSIM-ready” claim

Many connectivity announcements still treat eSIM as a checkbox: “remote provisioning” becomes a vague promise, with few specifics on how enterprises will actually operate fleets at scale. What makes this KORE-Kigen news distinct is the explicit focus on SGP.32 as the organizing principle for an enterprise portfolio—combined with an emphasis on operational models such as streamlined roaming, multi-network resiliency, and local connectivity with failover and recovery.

In other words, the story here isn’t merely that the SIM can be provisioned remotely. It is that KORE is packaging connectivity behavior—roaming, localization, and resiliency patterns—as selectable profiles intended to match different deployment realities, from stationary assets to mobile ones. That framing aligns with what large deployments tend to ask for: repeatable templates that can be applied across products, geographies, and contract cycles.

Programmable connectivity shifts the burden from hardware logistics to lifecycle operations

KORE is also using this announcement to reinforce a longer-term direction: a “unified eSIM-based platform” and what it calls programmable connectivity. Even without additional technical detail, the implication for IoT operations teams is concrete: if connectivity can be switched and optimized over time, procurement and device lifecycle management become more software-driven and less dependent on physical intervention.

That matters because the biggest pain in global IoT isn’t typically initial activation—it’s change management. When a fleet needs to adapt to a new network partner, a new coverage footprint, or a shift in local requirements, the cost is rarely the new connectivity plan alone; it’s the coordination across manufacturing, field operations, and support. KORE is explicitly positioning SGP.32 as a way to reduce those “truck roll” scenarios by making changes remotely.

Interoperability and carrier-grade integrations are the real gating factors

The announcement leans on interoperability and “carrier-grade integrations,” and this is where SGP.32 success will be won or lost for many enterprises. Standards remove some friction, but they don’t eliminate integration work across connectivity providers, provisioning infrastructure, and the enterprise’s own device management stack.

A practical insight derived from KORE’s positioning: by centering “deep carrier relationships” and global infrastructure, KORE is implicitly acknowledging that SGP.32 on its own is not the endgame. Enterprises will judge these offerings by how smoothly profile management, switching logic, and recovery workflows translate into day-two operations—especially when devices are deployed across multiple countries and connectivity must be localized.

What OEMs, integrators, and enterprises should take from the announcement

For OEMs, an SGP.32-aligned portfolio could reduce the pressure to region-split hardware SKUs purely for connectivity reasons, assuming the provisioning and profile strategy is robust enough to handle localization requirements. It may also change how OEMs negotiate connectivity: the commercial relationship can become more dynamic over a device’s service life, rather than fixed at shipment.

For system integrators, the opportunity—and the work—will likely sit in stitching provisioning workflows into existing enterprise tooling. Remote provisioning is most valuable when it is operationalized: linked to device state, policy rules, and exception handling, rather than treated as a standalone portal activity.

For connectivity providers in the ecosystem, KORE’s move underscores a broader trend: enterprises increasingly expect connectivity to behave like a software layer, with policy-driven selection and resilience options. That expectation tends to raise the bar on orchestration, lifecycle visibility, and multi-network operating models.

Broader industry relevance is clear: as the GSMA’s IoT-focused eSIM standards mature, the differentiator shifts from “supports eSIM” to “can you run a global fleet through years of network, regulatory and commercial change without operational disruption?” KORE and Kigen are betting that SGP.32, delivered as an enterprise-ready portfolio rather than a point capability, is the next step in answering that question.

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