Aug 2 (Reuters) - Ameren Corp ( AEE ) has agreed to

power a data center with a capacity of 250 megawatt, a move that

would boost its sales, the public utility firm said on Friday.

The agreement would represent about 40% and 5% annualized

increase to subsidiary Ameren Missouri's industrial megawatt

(MW) hour sales and total megawatt hour sales, respectively, CEO

Martin Lyons told analysts during a post-earnings call on

Friday.

Many tech-focused companies are turning to utilities to help

power data centers, which support technologies like artificial

intelligence and cloud computing.

Ameren ( AEE ) has also received expansion commitments and executed

new contracts for over 85 MW of additional load for smaller data

centers and other industries, across Missouri and Illinois.

"We have seen a significant increase in the number of data

center inquiries and formal engineering reviews are underway,

which would represent thousands of megawatts of additional

demand," Lyon said.

The St. Louis, Missouri-based firm posted profit of $258

million or 97 cents per share on Thursday, compared to $237

million or 90 cents per share, last year.

The utility benefited from an increase in electric retail

sales, as customers cranked up their cooling appliances to deal

with hot weather.