Nearly 100 Gigawatts (GW) of new data center capacity are expected to come online globally between 2026 and 2030, effectively doubling what exists today. North and South America sit at the center of this expansion, accounting for about half of global data center capacity, with the United States driving roughly 90% of that capacity.1
Data center construction is entering a new phase – one defined not just by scale, but by strategic, more distributed growth. The locations (check out this interactive map) have been predictable for some time, with Northern Virginia, Silicon Valley, Dallas and Pheonix being hot spots, thanks to their connectivity, power and proximity to demand.
But with vacancy rates in these primary U.S. markets falling below 5% and pre-leasing at more than 70%, builders are looking elsewhere.2 Secondary and emerging markets across the Midwest, Southeast and Mountain West are getting attention. They offer affordable land, scalable power and geographic diversity, enabling providers to build for long-term growth.
While the U.S. data center real estate market is booming, hyperscale and colocation show up very differently on the ground.
Hyperscale data centers such as AWS, Microsoft and Google are built for immense scale and have historically been concentrated in primary markets. However, growth areas like Georgia, Oregon, and the Midwest are now beginning to flourish. Hyperscale campuses are designed to expand over time, often spanning 50-200+ acres, with individual buildings exceeding 1,000,000 square feet. They are optimized to support cloud platforms and large-scale AI training workloads that benefit from centralized compute, without an emphasis on low network latency.
Colocation data center providers (including CoreSite) take a different approach. They typically locate individual data centers and campuses in or near major metro areas, close to enterprise facilities and dense population centers. Secondary markets such as Colorado, Indiana, Pennsylvania and Minnesota are beginning to attract new colocation investments.
AI workloads are shifting. Training still happens at hyperscale centers, but inference – the real-time application of AI – is expected to become the dominate workload by the end of the decade. Unlike training, it doesn’t tolerate distance: It needs to be close to users, close to data and close to networks to keep latency low and experiences valuable.
That demand is driving regional and distributed infrastructure, and colocation is well-suited to that shift. Its connectivity, scalability, access to cloud providers (and Inference Zones) make it ideal for inference workloads. As AI applications grow and diversify, inference will follow people, putting colocation at the heart of the AI economy.
Unlike hyperscale campuses, colocation sites are typically 10-50 acres with buildings in the 10,000 to 100,000+ square feet scale. The value to tenants isn’t access to thousands of GPU clusters. Instead, it’s proximity, low-latency interconnection, deployment flexibility and access to the digital ecosystem enabled in a multi-tenant facility purpose-built to enable a diverse (and expanding) assortment of applications, including AI inference workloads.
Hyperscale campuses and colocation hubs look different on the map, but together they help write the story of the communities around them. Jobs, investment and innovation follow construction crews, leaving a footprint that reaches well past the fence line.
The economic impact of data centers can be significant for a community. A single data center project can generate hundreds of millions. of dollars – and in some cases more than $1 billion – in total economic output over its lifecycle. Most of that stays local.
Jobs come first, and they span skill sets. According to a McKinsey & Company article, construction alone can employ 1,500 workers: engineers, plumbers, electricians and construction managers, etc. Once operational, facilities typically support more than 50 permanent, high-skill, well-paying jobs. The impact spreads beyond the facility. For every direct job, roughly 3.5 additional jobs appear in the surrounding economy.3
Data centers also generate stable, long-term tax revenue, often contributing millions annually to the tax base. In some mature markets, they occupy only a small amount of land, but provide 30% or more of local tax revenue that funds schools, infrastructure and public services.4
Communities see infrastructure improvements that outlast the construction, such as upgraded power grids, substations and fiber networks. Data centers can also catalyze adjacent industries like cloud, telecom, green energy, software and manufacturing, turning secondary markets into lasting tech and innovation hubs.
Data centers are more than steel, concrete and servers. They are agents for change and shaping communities in the process. From new jobs and infrastructure upgrades to local/regional innovation and economic growth, they touch lives far beyond the walls that house servers. You can learn more about the impact of data centers on businesses and communities by visiting the CoreSite Knowledge Base.
Construction doesn’t come without scrutiny. Some facilities stand out for their scale and resource needs, while others quietly integrate into neighborhoods. In any case, communities thrive on openness, engagement and benefits that last beyond the build. When those elements align, a data center becomes more than infrastructure – it can lift regions, spark opportunity and leave a lasting legacy.
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To help technology leaders navigate the evolving demands of hybrid IT, Harvard Business Review Analytic Services in association with CoreSite commissioned an in-depth report on the future of digital infrastructure. This independent analysis highlights how enterprises are using colocation and interconnection to:
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References
1. 2026 Global Data Center Outlook, JLL (source)
2. North America Data Center Report Midyear 2025, JLL (source)
3. The Data Center Balance: How US States Can Navigate the Opportunities and Challenges (McKinsey & Company) (source)
4. Data Centers Drive Jobs, Growth and Community Impact, Global Internet Hub (source)