Jeff Bezos' artificial intelligence startup Project Prometheus has signed a lease for 100,000 square feet at the former American Steel Blocks site at 1960 Mandela Parkway in west Oakland, the San Francisco Business Times reported. The deal signals how AI and robotics companies are increasingly crossing the Bay for industrial space that can handle heavy power loads - a resource San Francisco has in short supply.
Project Prometheus develops AI for designing and manufacturing products including cars, computers and spacecraft. The company had already leased roughly 30,000 square feet of offices at 101 Mission Street in San Francisco and was hunting for an industrial facility. It reportedly came close to a deal at a San Francisco warehouse before losing the space to Webcor Construction.
Power draw drives the move
The west Oakland property's infrastructure was a selling point: marketing materials tout 8,000 amps of power at the site. Landlord SKB, which bought the property in 2021 and converted it into a Class A manufacturing and research and development campus, declined to confirm the tenant but said leasing activity has been strong.
San Francisco has seen rising demand from robotics and hardware companies, but its limited supply of industrial space with adequate electrical capacity is pushing tenants across the Bay. The East Bay offers both large footprints and the power capacity these operations require.
East Bay AI cluster takes shape
Project Prometheus joins a growing roster of AI-focused firms in the region. OpenAI leased 202,000 square feet in Richmond earlier this year for a reported humanoid robotics manufacturing operation at a site with more than 14,000 amps of power. Ambi Robotics took 34,000 square feet in Berkeley, while Tesla and Amazon's Zoox have expanded manufacturing operations in Fremont and Hayward.
The migration could provide a lift to Oakland, Berkeley and Emeryville, where industrial, R&D and office vacancies remain elevated following the pandemic. For real estate professionals tracking the sector, the trend points to a widening split between office-heavy San Francisco and the East Bay's industrial corridor. Those tracking these shifts may find useful context in broader coverage of AI for Real Estate & Construction.
Why this matters for real estate and construction professionals
The deal is a concrete signal that AI hardware companies need more than office space - they need industrial footprints with serious electrical infrastructure. Brokers and developers who can identify and market properties with high amp capacity stand to capture a tenant pool that San Francisco's constrained industrial market cannot serve. The Oakland lease, combined with OpenAI's Richmond facility, suggests that demand for power-heavy manufacturing space in the East Bay is not a one-off but a pattern worth underwriting for.
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