February 3, 2026 – Austin, TX – Infrastructure Masons (iMasons) today announced that Open Compute Project Foundation (OCP) has become the first official sponsor of the new iMasons AI Incubator, an initiative designed to give college and university students access to advanced AI tools, industry mentorship, and real-world digital infrastructure projects. OCP’s contribution enables the launch of the first student capstone project, led by student ambassador Jean Park from NYU, as well as state level hackathons starting in Texas in the first quarter of 2026. The iMasons AI Incubator platform is fully powered by second-life OCP hardware.
The incubator was developed by Infrastructure Masons (iMasons) to bridge the industry’s growing talent gap as senior engineers retire over the coming decades. The program provides applied experience using open hardware platforms and modern AI workflows—introducing emerging talent to OCP-recognized solutions early in their careers, a key benefit for OCP and its community.
A Circular, Low-Carbon AI Platform Built on OCP Hardware
The iMasons AI Incubator is powered by second-life OCP servers from Meta, sourced through Sims Lifecycle Services, redeployed via the Rack Renew program, assembled autonomously by Molg Microfactories, and deployed into data centers by Cato Digital. All systems include Molg’s OriginMark carbon label for tracking embodied carbon, aligning with the partnership between OCP and iMasons to advance carbon accounting standards.
“This is a unique opportunity to showcase OCP circularity coupled with OCP partner company innovations enabling college students to build AI solutions on OCP hardware with the lowest possible carbon impact. This program can inspire the next generation of OCP community engineers,” said Dean Nelson, Founder & Chairman of Infrastructure Masons and member of the iMasons Climate Accord’s governing body.
Expanding Across the OCP Ecosystem
OCP plans to amplify the incubator across its global ecosystem of 500+ member companies and thousands of engineers worldwide, and explore opportunities such as:
- issuing a community challenge to match OCP’s sponsorship to drive further use of circular OCP hardware,
- enabling student workgroups to support OCP members’ real-world projects and hackathons, and
- evaluating a student-run OCP community or workstream to accelerate global expansion.
“OCP is proud to serve as the founding sponsor of the iMasons AI Incubator. This program aligns directly with our mission to advance open innovation, circularity, and sustainability across the digital infrastructure. By empowering students to build AI solutions on second-life OCP hardware, we are helping develop the next generation of engineers, while demonstrating what circular, low-carbon compute can achieve. We are excited to help scale this initiative across the global OCP Community” states Dirk Van Slyke, OCP’s Chief Marketing Officer.
Interest from partners—including OCP, Grundfos, Cato Digital, Kaya, BlackBox, Sims, Crusoe, NVIDIA and more—signals strong demand for upcoming hackathons and collaborative student projects.
iMasons aims to onboard the first 1,000 students into the program and invites universities, students, and industry partners to participate.
To learn more, visit imasons.ai or contact incubator@imasons.org.
About Infrastructure Masons
Infrastructure Masons (iMasons) is a global, nonprofit, professional association of individuals connected and empowered to build a greater digital future for all by uniting people that innovate to drive efficiency. Since its launch in 2016, the organization has brought together 6,000 individuals representing US $1.5T+ in infrastructure projects across 130 countries. iMasons provides an agnostic platform for members to connect, grow, and give back.
To date, iMasons has contributed USD $1+ million in scholarships, launched Member Focus Groups and opened regional and local Chapters across four continents. In 2022, iMasons spearheaded the Climate Accord, uniting leaders on carbon reduction in digital infrastructure. In 2024 iMasons established a strategic alliance with OCP to advance industry carbon accounting. To learn more, visit imasons.org
About the Open Compute Project
The Open Compute Project (OCP) brings at-scale innovations and hyperscaler best practices to all, spanning technology domains from the data center to the edge, and the technology stack from silicon, to systems, to site facilities and services. The international OCP Community is made up of organizations and people from hyperscale, neocloud and cloud data center operators, communications providers, colocation providers, diverse enterprises, and technology providers. With The OCP Tenets of Openness, Impact, Efficiency, Scale and Sustainability, the OCP Foundation engages with industry ecosystems, our growing membership, and educates thousands of engineers and industry leaders, every year. Across many projects and initiatives, the OCP Foundation and its Community are meeting the AI Data Center market evolution today and shaping the future. Learn more at: www.opencompute.org.