Tech Energy Firm Leases 50,000 Square Feet in North San Jose

Antora Energy is scaling up in north San Jose, snapping up additional space and increasing hiring as demand surges for its industrial energy storage tech.

The San Jose-based thermal battery company has expanded into two additional buildings near its original Zanker Road home, more than doubling its footprint to roughly 101,000 square feet, Mercury News reported.

Antora initially occupied a building totaling roughly 50,300 square feet at 2350 Zanker Road. Its latest additions, consisting of two nearby buildings spanning 25,000 and 26,000 square feet, give the company room to accelerate production and bring projects online faster, David Bierman, Antora’s co-founder and chief commercial officer, told Mercury News. The buildings’ exact addresses were not disclosed.

Antora manufactures systems that store energy in graphite blocks and convert it into heat and power, targeting industrial users and, increasingly, data centers. Data center expansion in particular is emerging as a key tailwind, with operators seeking more reliable and cost-efficient energy solutions amid power constraints and electrification pressures.

San Jose is becoming a de facto data center hub in the city.

Late last year, an affiliate of Bay Area real estate firm Menlo Equities proposed transforming an office and research building at 300 Holger Way into a nearly 100,000-square-foot data center. Nvidia started leasing the building late last year. The 97,800-square-foot building would begin redevelopment into a data center late this year and wrap up by July 2027.

In October, a site in north San Jose proposed for a data center came under new ownership after a Goodman Group affiliate purchased a 46.8-acre site at 350 and 370 West Trimble Road in a $200 million all-cash deal. The parcel is largely vacant but also has a partially occupied office complex. Prior to the sale, early last year, previous owner LBA Realty submitted a development permit to the City of San Jose to build a 207,950-square-foot data center on the site. Goodman Group is known for developing, owning and managing logistics and data centers around the world.

By growing in north San Jose, Antora Energy will stay close to potential future customers.

“It was a no-brainer to manufacture products in the Bay Area,” co-founder and COO Justin Briggs said. “There is a lot of amazing talent for manufacturing physical objects. There are great people here who can do that. We produce everything in San Jose.”

— Chris Malone Méndez