Data Center Development Cost Guide

Key takeaways

• Power is the gating factor. Grid-connected power is increasingly scarce in primary markets, pushing land acquisition into secondary and tertiary markets and driving a premium for truly powered sites.
• Land values reflect risk, not just location. Powered land commands significantly higher prices than non-powered land, with regional and market-level variability shaping the tradeoff between certainty and upside.
• Labor shortages are raising costs and timelines. An aging workforce and surging construction demand are straining the skilled trades market, particularly in MEP fields.
• Construction costs are climbing sharply. Critical equipment lead times, rising wages, and material cost inflation have pushed development costs up 21% per MW since we published our last report.
• All-in costs vary widely by market. Developers can expect average greenfield costs of $17.6 million per MW for the most modern facilities, with significant variation by market and end-use workload type.
• The pipeline is shifting beyond primary markets. Of the $2.3 trillion development pipeline, $492 billion is under construction today, with the remaining $1.8 trillion planned and precommitted—and capital increasingly flowing toward secondary, tertiary and frontier markets over the next decade.