Mapping the Mega Data Centers Powering the AI Revolution

To help you understand the trends surrounding business and technology and what we expect to happen in the future, our highly experienced Kiplinger Letter team will keep you abreast of the latest developments and forecasts. (Get a free issue of The Kiplinger Letter or subscribe.) You'll get all the latest news first by subscribing, but we will publish many (but not all) of the forecasts a few days afterward online. Here's the latest…

The high-profile Stratos data center in Box Elder County, Utah, highlights the rising peril for AI developers. Fierce opposition and litigation have hindered the start of the project. The facility would use more electricity than the entire state if fully built out to 9 gigawatts of power and would emit enough heat to hike local temperatures a few degrees. Backers say the project will initially use 1.5 gigawatts of power and have launched a campaign to combat attacks they see as unfair or inaccurate.

But other massive data centers have fewer roadblocks and are on pace for completion, according to Epoch AI, a market research firm that tracks construction using satellite imagery, permits and public documents.

To rank the top projects, Epoch AI has converted the estimated capacity of each data center to the equivalent number of Nvidia’s H100 graphics processing units, a standard industry metric.

From just $107.88 $24.99 for Kiplinger Personal Finance

Become a smarter, better informed investor. Subscribe from just $107.88 $24.99, plus get up to 4 Special Issues

CLICK FOR FREE ISSUE

Sign up for Kiplinger’s Free Newsletters

Profit and prosper with the best of expert advice on investing, taxes, retirement, personal finance and more - straight to your e-mail.

Profit and prosper with the best of expert advice - straight to your e-mail.

Sign up

Source: Epoch AI (computing capacity measured by H100-equivalents)

OpenAI is scheduled to have two of the biggest data centers in 2030, with Stargate New Mexico in Santa Teresa and Stargate Shackelford in Abilene, Texas. Each will cost about $60 billion, with major financial backing from SoftBank and Oracle and will use over 1 gigawatt of power for millions of AI chips. The Stargate project is a $500 billion effort by OpenAI to “unlock the next generation of AI breakthroughs.”

The next-biggest facilities in 2030 will be Microsoft Fairwater in Wisconsin, Meta Hyperion in Louisiana and QTS Cedar Rapids in Iowa. These projects will be far bigger than today’s top data center, SpaceX’s Colossus 2 in Tennessee. Keep an eye on the rocket company’s aggressive plans for AI data centers, including efforts in 2027 and beyond that could send it climbing up the 2030 rankings.

Source: Epoch AI (computing capacity measured by H100-equivalents)

Currently, Virginia is home to the most data centers, followed by Texas. Texas is expected to overtake Virginia in coming years, having more projects in the pipeline. Other states with lots of planned construction include Ohio, Arizona, Iowa and Nevada.

However, future projects come with some uncertainty and assume demand for AI computing keeps soaring.

This forecast first appeared in The Kiplinger Letter, which has been running since 1923 and is a collection of concise weekly forecasts on business and economic trends, as well as what to expect from Washington, to help you understand what’s coming up to make the most of your investments and your money. Subscribe to The Kiplinger Letter.

Related Content

• Is An AI Data Center is Coming to Your Backyard?
• Why AI Superiority is Measured in Gigawatts
• The Risks of an AI Bubble