Data Center Construction Market Size, Share & Forecast to 2035

The Data Center Construction Market covers the general, electrical, mechanical and site works that contractors put in place to build, expand and retrofit data center buildings and campuses. DC Market Insights values the global Data Center Construction Market at USD 65.60 billion in 2025 and forecasts USD 219.14 billion by 2035, a CAGR of 12.82%. The 2025 value is built from the work itself: about 9.79 GW-equivalent of data center capacity put in place during the year at a weighted contractor value of USD 6.70 million per MW, excluding land, IT equipment, owner-furnished long-lead equipment and design fees. Graphics processing unit (GPU) and neocloud providers are the fastest-growing segment at 17.30% a year because they build dense, liquid-cooled halls on short schedules, and the Middle East and Africa is the fastest-growing region at 17.48% a year as large AI campuses are added from a small base.

Executive Summary

The Global Data Center Construction Market size was valued at USD 19.19 billion in 2020, reached USD 65.60 billion in 2025, and is anticipated to reach USD 219.14 billion by 2035, at a CAGR of 12.82% during the forecast period.

Report attribute	Details
Historical Period	2020-2024
Base Year	2025
Forecast Period	2026-2035
Data Center Construction Market Size 2025	USD 65.60 Billion
Data Center Construction Market, CAGR	12.82%
Data Center Construction Market Size 2035	USD 219.14 Billion

The market grew at 27.87% a year between 2020 and 2025, and 2025 alone added 29.0% over 2024 as hyperscale and AI campuses moved from land deals into full construction. The United States sets the pace: US Census Bureau data, as reported by Wolf Street, put US data center construction spending for 2025 at USD 41 billion, up 32% from 2024 and 344% from 2020. The DC Market Insights US estimate for 2025, USD 41.62 billion, is within 2% of that figure.

Growth slows to 12.82% a year from 2025 to 2035 because the steepest part of the volume ramp falls in 2026 to 2028 and contractor value per MW rises only about 3% a year after 2027. Work put in place rises from 9.79 GW-equivalent in 2025 to 23.43 GW-equivalent in 2035. DC Market Insights forecasts 2026 at USD 88.67 billion, a 35.2% jump.

Market Scope: What Does the Data Center Construction Market Cover?

The Data Center Construction Market covers the value of construction work put in place each year on data center buildings and campuses, measured in current US dollars at contractor value, with 2025 as the base year and forecasts to 2035. DC Market Insights sizes it at USD 65.60 billion in 2025.

Included. General construction (foundations, structure, shell, roofing, architectural finishes and the fit-out of data halls and support space), electrical construction (medium- and low-voltage distribution, switchboards, busway, grounding, lighting, controls wiring and the installation of power equipment), mechanical construction (chilled-water and condenser-water piping, air handling, liquid-cooling distribution, plumbing and fire protection), and site and civil works (earthworks, roads, drainage, underground utilities and on-campus duct banks).

Excluded. Land, servers, storage and network equipment, long-lead power and cooling equipment that the owner buys directly and hands to the contractor to install (such as generators, uninterruptible power supply systems and chillers bought under owner frame agreements), utility substations and transmission lines outside the fence, design and engineering fees, and financing costs.

How the segments fit together. The construction-type split divides the USD 65.60 billion by trade. The data center type, tier, project type and facility size splits re-cut the same total by owner, resilience level, build route and campus scale, so each split sums to the market total.

Market Drivers: What Drives the Data Center Construction Market?

Three drivers explain most of the growth in the Data Center Construction Market: a construction pipeline of more than 23 GW worldwide, capital budgets of the largest operators expected to rise by about USD 300 billion in a year, and AI halls that need more electrical and mechanical work per MW than cloud halls.

More Than 23 GW Under Construction Lifts Work Put in Place to 9.79 GW-Equivalent

BloombergNEF counted more than 23 GW of data center capacity under construction worldwide at the end of September 2025, with 17 GW across 311 locations in the Americas, 3.2 GW across 283 sites in Asia Pacific and 2.9 GW across 258 sites in Europe, the Middle East and Africa. The United States alone hosted 15.9 GW. DC Market Insights converts that pipeline into annual work put in place by assuming an average build period of about 2.4 years, which gives 9.79 GW-equivalent of work in 2025 and, at USD 6.70 million per MW, the USD 65.60 billion market value. EMCOR reported record remaining performance obligations of USD 17.14 billion at June 30, 2026, with the most significant growth coming from network and communications, water and wastewater, institutional and healthcare (Source: EMCOR earnings release filed with the US Securities and Exchange Commission).

Capital Spending of the Largest Operators Rises Toward USD 750 Billion

BloombergNEF expects the capital expenditure of the 14 largest publicly owned data center operators to come close to USD 750 billion in 2026, against a little less than USD 450 billion in 2025. DC Market Insights estimates that hyperscale data centers took USD 33.91 billion (51.7%) of construction value in 2025. Meta has expanded its economic investment in the Hyperion campus in Richland Parish, Louisiana, from USD 10 billion to USD 50 billion for 5 GW of computing capacity, with 2 GW expected by 2030 and more than 7,500 jobs at peak construction.

AI Halls Carry a 7% to 10% Construction Cost Premium

Turner & Townsend identified a 7% to 10% construction cost premium between traditional and AI data centers in the United States in its Data Centre Construction Cost Index 2025-2026. DC Market Insights estimates that electrical and mechanical construction together took 68.9% of the market in 2025 and will take 74.5% by 2035, as campuses add higher-voltage distribution, larger cooling plants and liquid-cooling piping to every hall. See the Data Center Liquid Cooling Market report for the cooling side.

Market Trends: How Is Data Center Construction Changing?

The Data Center Construction Market is moving toward larger campuses, denser multi-story halls and contractors that self-perform electrical and mechanical work, with campuses over 100 MW growing from 46.7% of value in 2025 to 58.7% by 2035.

Campuses Over 100 MW Take 58.7% of Construction Value by 2035

Data center construction value is concentrating in very large campuses. DC Market Insights estimates that facilities over 100 MW accounted for USD 30.63 billion in 2025 and will reach USD 128.64 billion by 2035, growing 15.43% a year. OpenAI, Oracle and SoftBank have announced five new Stargate sites that bring planned capacity to nearly 7 GW, with over USD 400 billion of investment over the following three years and over 25,000 onsite jobs.

Multi-Story Liquid-Cooled Halls Raise Mechanical Scope

Builders are stacking data halls to shorten cable runs between accelerators. Microsoft’s Fairwater 2 site in Atlanta uses a two-story layout to increase chip density and a closed-loop liquid cooling system. DC Market Insights forecasts mechanical construction to grow at 13.74% a year, the fastest of the four trades, from USD 17.91 billion in 2025 to USD 64.87 billion in 2035.

Specialty Contractors Take a Larger Share of Each Project

Electrical and mechanical contractors are capturing a rising share of each project. Comfort Systems USA reported a record backlog of USD 14.1 billion at mid-2026, and technology customers generated 58% of its first-half 2026 revenue, up from 40% a year earlier. Sterling Infrastructure reported that revenue in its E-Infrastructure Solutions segment rose 192% in the second quarter of 2026, with mission-critical projects, including data centers, at 92% of that segment’s backlog. Factory-built capacity is covered in the Modular Data Center Market report.

Market Challenges: What Holds the Data Center Construction Market Back?

Skilled labor and cost inflation are the two constraints that DC Market Insights expects to slow the Data Center Construction Market most in 2026 and 2027, with development costs up 21% per MW in under two years.

Development Costs Rose 21% per MW Since Late 2024

Cushman & Wakefield’s latest data center development cost guide reported that data center construction costs had risen an average of 21% per MW since the fourth quarter of 2024, and that all-in greenfield development costs in the United States and Canada average USD 17.6 million per MW for the most modern facilities, excluding chips and GPUs. Powered land in primary US markets reached an average of USD 584,000 per MW in 2026 year-to-date, 51% higher than a year earlier. Turner & Townsend measured cost inflation for traditional data centers averaging 5.5% across 52 markets in 2025. DC Market Insights builds a 7.6% rise in US contractor value per MW into 2026 and 4.3% into 2027, falling to 3.0% a year from 2028.

The Construction Workforce Must Add 349,000 Workers in 2026

Associated Builders and Contractors has estimated that the US construction industry needs to attract about 349,000 net new workers in 2026 and 456,000 in 2027, and said demand for electricians capable of precision wiring has surged because of the rapid increase in data center construction. Electrical construction, worth USD 27.29 billion for 2025, is the largest trade, so a shortage of licensed electricians limits how fast campuses can energize. In the Turner & Townsend survey, 83% of respondents said local supply chains are not well prepared for advanced cooling.

Market Opportunities: Where Are the New Revenue Pools?

The two largest new revenue pools in the Data Center Construction Market are GPU and neocloud campuses, growing at 17.30% a year, and the retrofit of operating halls for higher densities, growing at 15.28% a year.

GPU and Neocloud Campuses Grow to USD 27.83 Billion by 2035

Specialist GPU cloud operators spent USD 5.64 billion on data center construction in 2025, and DC Market Insights expects their spending to reach USD 27.83 billion in 2035, almost five times the 2025 level. Their mechanical share of 31.8% in 2025 is the highest of any owner type.

Retrofit and Renovation Grows to USD 22.57 Billion by 2035

Many operating halls were designed for lower rack densities than AI clusters need, so hosting them requires new power distribution and liquid cooling. DC Market Insights models retrofit and renovation work at USD 5.44 billion in 2025 and USD 22.57 billion by 2035, rising from 8.3% to 10.3% of the market.

Pricing: How Much Does Data Center Construction Cost per MW?

Contractor construction value averaged USD 6.70 million per MW worldwide in 2025 and USD 6.55 million per MW in the United States, according to DC Market Insights estimates that exclude land, IT equipment, owner-furnished long-lead equipment and design fees.

Contractor value per MW (USD million)	2020	2025	2030	2035
United States	5.00	6.55	8.04	9.32
Europe	6.60	8.42	10.08	11.58
Asia Pacific	4.90	6.05	7.17	8.19
Latin America	4.50	5.82	6.99	8.07
Middle East and Africa	5.60	7.11	8.54	9.85
Global weighted average	5.26	6.70	8.11	9.35

Europe carries the highest contractor value per MW in the model, reflecting DC Market Insights assumptions on labor rates and planning requirements. Third-party cost surveys show the same spread between cities: Turner & Townsend ranked Tokyo and Singapore as the two most expensive markets at USD 15.2 and USD 14.5 per watt, with Zurich third at USD 14.2 per watt, on Turner & Townsend’s own cost basis, which differs from the contractor value used here.

Standards and Regulation: Which Rules Shape Data Center Construction?

Three sets of rules shape what contractors build: the TIA-942 infrastructure standard of the Telecommunications Industry Association (TIA), the Uptime Institute Tier classification, and the energy-reporting rules of the European Union (EU).

ANSI/TIA-942-C (May 2024). The ANSI/TIA-942-C Telecommunications Infrastructure Standard for Data Centers specifies infrastructure requirements for data centers and computer rooms, including single-tenant enterprise and multi-tenant facilities. Revision C changes requirements for telecommunications, power, cooling, architecture, fire protection, safety and physical security, so it reaches every construction trade covered here.

Uptime Institute Tiers. Tier II facilities include redundant critical power and cooling components. A Tier III data center requires no shutdowns for equipment replacement and maintenance, and Tier IV adds fault tolerance, so that equipment failures or distribution path interruptions stop short of the IT operations. DC Market Insights estimates that Tier III and Tier IV designs took 90.6% of construction value in 2025.

EU data center rating scheme. Commission Delegated Regulation (EU) 2024/1364 of 14 March 2024 sets up the first phase of a common EU rating scheme for data centers. Operators of data centers with an installed information technology power demand of at least 500 kW must report 24 performance indicators, first by 15 September 2024, then by 15 May 2025 and annually after that. Reporting on energy and sustainability indicators pushes new European builds toward metering, heat-reuse connections and efficient cooling plants at the design stage.

Market Segmentation: Which Segment Leads the Data Center Construction Market?

Electrical construction leads the Data Center Construction Market with 41.6% of 2025 value, hyperscale data centers lead owners with 51.7%, and Tier III designs take 71.8%. Among owner types, GPU and neocloud providers are the fastest-growing segment at 17.30% a year, against 13.27% for hyperscale and 6.85% for enterprise, because their AI halls are built in compressed schedules with the highest electrical and mechanical content per MW.

By Construction Type: Electrical Construction Leads with 41.6%

Construction type	2025 (USD billion)	Share 2025	2035 (USD billion)	CAGR 2025-2035
Electrical Construction	27.29	41.6%	98.39	13.68%
Mechanical Construction	17.91	27.3%	64.87	13.74%
General Construction	15.22	23.2%	41.86	10.65%
Site and Civil Works	5.18	7.9%	14.03	10.47%

Electrical and mechanical work gain 5.6 points of share by 2035 because rack density rises faster than building area: a hall of the same floor area now carries more power, cooling and distribution than it did in 2020.

By Data Center Type: Hyperscale Data Centers Lead with 51.7%

Data center type	2025 (USD billion)	Share 2025	2035 (USD billion)	CAGR 2025-2035
Hyperscale Data Centers	33.91	51.7%	117.90	13.27%
Colocation Data Centers	17.97	27.4%	54.57	11.74%
Enterprise Data Centers	6.10	9.3%	11.83	6.85%
GPU and Neocloud Providers	5.64	8.6%	27.83	17.30%
Edge and Modular Data Centers	1.97	3.0%	7.01	13.55%

Enterprise construction grows slowest as companies move workloads into cloud and colocation.

By Tier Standard: Tier III Leads with 71.8%

Tier III designs account for USD 47.10 billion in 2025 and USD 159.10 billion by 2035, growing 12.94% a year. Tier IV designs are worth USD 12.33 billion (18.8%) and grow fastest at 14.24% a year. Tier I and II designs hold USD 6.17 billion (9.4%) and grow 8.04% a year.

By Project Type: Greenfield New Build Leads with 72.4%

Greenfield new builds are worth USD 47.49 billion in 2025 and USD 149.45 billion by 2035, a CAGR of 12.15%. Brownfield expansion on existing campuses is worth USD 12.66 billion (19.3%) and grows 14.04% a year. Retrofit and renovation grows fastest at 15.28% a year, from USD 5.44 billion to USD 22.57 billion.

By Facility Size: Campuses Over 100 MW Lead with 46.7%

Campuses over 100 MW account for USD 30.63 billion in 2025 and grow 15.43% a year to USD 128.64 billion by 2035. Facilities of 20 to 100 MW hold USD 25.39 billion (38.7%) and grow 10.52% a year, while sites under 20 MW hold USD 9.58 billion (14.6%) and grow 8.41% a year.

DC Exclusive: The Construction Value per MW Model and Trade × Owner Matrix

At USD 14.64 billion in 2025, electrical construction for hyperscale data centers is the single largest cell of the matrix and 22.3% of all data center construction value. The matrix below cross-tabulates the two splits that contractors and owners ask about most: which trade does the work, and for whom.

2025, USD billion	Electrical	Mechanical	General	Site and Civil	Total
Hyperscale Data Centers	14.64	9.23	7.56	2.49	33.91
Colocation Data Centers	7.28	4.82	4.39	1.49	17.97
Enterprise Data Centers	2.17	1.60	1.71	0.62	6.10
GPU and Neocloud Providers	2.55	1.79	0.99	0.30	5.64
Edge and Modular Data Centers	0.65	0.47	0.57	0.28	1.97
Total	27.29	17.91	15.22	5.18	65.60

GPU and neocloud providers spend 77.0% of their construction budget on electrical and mechanical work, against 61.7% for enterprise data centers, where general construction still takes 28.1%.

The matrix is a DC Market Insights model, not a count of contracts. It is built from 30 inputs: 5 owner-type totals, 4 trade totals, 20 trade-mix shares (one per owner type and trade) and the 2025 market total, and it sums to the USD 65.60 billion market. The construction value per MW model behind it has two inputs that any reader can check: work put in place each year (9.79 GW-equivalent in 2025) and contractor value per MW (USD 6.70 million in 2025). The model and its assumptions are explained on our research methodology page.

Regional Insights: Which Region Leads the Data Center Construction Market?

North America leads the Data Center Construction Market with 66.7% of 2025 value, and the Middle East and Africa is the fastest-growing region at 17.48% a year, because DC Market Insights expects campus-scale AI capacity to be added there from a small base.

North America Leads with 66.7% Share

North American construction was worth USD 43.74 billion in 2025 and is forecast to reach USD 144.39 billion in 2035, a CAGR of 12.69%. The United States accounted for 15.9 GW of the more than 23 GW under construction worldwide in late 2025, and US Census Bureau data compiled by the Associated General Contractors of America show data center construction spending up 57% between July 2025 and July 2026. North America holds its share almost unchanged to 2035, at 65.9%, in the DC Market Insights model, as new campuses move into secondary US markets rather than out of the region.

Europe Holds 14.5% Share

Europe is worth USD 9.51 billion in 2025 and USD 26.40 billion by 2035, a CAGR of 10.74%, the slowest of the five regions. Europe has the highest contractor value per MW in the model at USD 8.42 million in 2025, but DC Market Insights assumes that grid connection limits in the largest metro hubs cap volume. Exyte has announced three AI data center projects in the Greater Frankfurt region worth about EUR 750 million and about 80 MW of IT load, due for completion by 2028.

Asia Pacific Holds 12.5% Share

Asia Pacific is worth USD 8.22 billion in 2025 and USD 29.66 billion by 2035, growing 13.69% a year. BloombergNEF counted 3.2 GW under construction across 283 Asia Pacific sites in late 2025, slightly more than in Europe, the Middle East and Africa combined. Contractor value per MW is lower than in Europe on average, at USD 6.05 million, because the DC Market Insights cost model prices China and India below the regional average, even though Tokyo and Singapore rank as the two most expensive markets in the Turner & Townsend index.

Middle East and Africa Holds 3.4% Share

The Middle East and Africa is worth USD 2.20 billion in 2025 and USD 11.03 billion by 2035, growing fastest at 17.48% a year. Saudi Arabia accounts for 28.4% of the regional total, or USD 625.98 million for 2025, and grows 18.81% a year in the DC Market Insights allocation. Investors weighing new markets can read how we assess power, fiber routes and permitting in our data center site selection and feasibility work.

Latin America Holds 2.9% Share

Latin America is worth USD 1.92 billion in 2025 and USD 7.67 billion by 2035, a CAGR of 14.84%, led by Brazil at USD 868.53 million in 2025, or 45.2% of the regional total in the DC Market Insights allocation.

Country Analysis: Which Countries Spend the Most on Data Center Construction?

The United States leads country spending on data center construction with 63.5% of global value, or USD 41.62 billion for 2025, followed by China at USD 2.78 billion (4.2%) and Canada at USD 2.11 billion (3.2%).

Rank	Country	Region	2025 (USD billion)	Share 2025	2035 (USD billion)	CAGR 2025-2035
1	United States	North America	41.62	63.5%	136.05	12.57%
2	China	Asia Pacific	2.78	4.2%	8.51	11.84%
3	Canada	North America	2.11	3.2%	8.33	14.71%
4	United Kingdom	Europe	1.98	3.0%	4.96	9.63%
5	Germany	Europe	1.86	2.8%	5.07	10.51%
6	Japan	Asia Pacific	1.24	1.9%	4.06	12.59%
7	France	Europe	1.07	1.6%	3.11	11.32%
8	India	Asia Pacific	0.97	1.5%	5.07	17.99%
9	Brazil	Latin America	0.87	1.3%	3.30	14.29%
10	Netherlands	Europe	0.83	1.3%	1.95	8.96%
11	Australia	Asia Pacific	0.78	1.2%	2.70	13.20%
12	Ireland	Europe	0.77	1.2%	1.69	8.16%

India is the fastest-growing large country market at 17.99% a year, overtaking Japan and France by 2035, in the DC Market Insights allocation, as hyperscale and colocation operators add capacity from a small base. Ireland grows slowest in the top 12 at 8.16% a year. Outside the top 12, Malaysia is worth USD 583.81 million in 2025 and grows 15.48% a year. The country figures are a DC Market Insights allocation of the regional totals, weighted by each country’s estimated share of capacity under construction and its contractor value per MW; the United States and Canada are modeled directly from their own work-in-place and cost series.

Forecast Scenarios: How Could the 2035 Forecast Change?

The Data Center Construction Market reaches USD 219.14 billion by 2035 in the base case, with a range of USD 177.94 billion to USD 254.86 billion across the low and high scenarios.

Scenario	Assumption from 2026	2035 (USD billion)	CAGR 2025-2035
Low	Work put in place about 12% below base by 2035; contractor value per MW rises 2% a year after 2027	177.94	10.49%
Base	Work put in place rises to 23.43 GW-equivalent in 2035; value per MW rises 3% a year after 2027	219.14	12.82%
High	Work put in place about 12% above base by 2035; contractor value per MW rises 3.5% a year after 2027	254.86	14.54%

The low case reflects a two-year pause in AI capital spending after 2027. The main swing factor is power: BloombergNEF reported that hyperscalers now take about 5.3 years to develop a data center, so delays in grid connections move construction value later rather than removing it.

Competitive Insights: Who Leads the Data Center Construction Market?

• Turner Construction
• Holder Construction
• DPR Construction
• Clayco
• HITT Contracting
• Hensel Phelps
• Skanska
• AECOM
• Jacobs
• EMCOR
• Comfort Systems USA
• Quanta Services
• Sterling Infrastructure
• Exyte
• Mercury Engineering
• Kirby Group Engineering
• Larsen & Toubro

Turner Construction holds about 13% of the Data Center Construction Market in 2025, the highest share DC Market Insights can derive from public contractor disclosures (DC Market Insights estimate: Turner’s reported data center revenue of USD 6.4 billion in the first nine months of 2025, annualized and set against the USD 65.60 billion market). DC Market Insights estimates that the five largest general contractors hold about 35% of construction value. Holder Construction states it has delivered more than 6.4 GW of data centers across the United States, and Jacobs states it has delivered or designed more than 5,000 MW for hyperscale and AI data centers over the past decade. Skanska booked a USD 1.2 billion contract for four data centers in the southeastern United States, totaling about 75,000 square meters, in its third-quarter 2026 order bookings. Quanta Services’ Cupertino Electric has installed electrical systems in more than 20 million square feet of data centers, Exyte is delivering three AI data center projects near Frankfurt, Kirby Group Engineering provides mechanical, electrical and high- and medium-voltage contracting for data centers, and Larsen & Toubro is building a 10 MW data center in Tashkent, Uzbekistan.

Recent Developments

• In September 2025, OpenAI, Oracle and SoftBank announced five new Stargate data center sites in the United States, bringing planned capacity to nearly 7 GW (Source: OpenAI announcement).
• In November 2025, Turner Construction reported data center revenue of USD 6.4 billion in the first nine months of 2025, compared with USD 3.6 billion for all of 2024 (Source: Data Center Dynamics news report).
• In June 2026, Exyte secured three AI data center projects in the Greater Frankfurt region worth about EUR 750 million (Source: Exyte press release).
• In July 2026, Meta expanded its economic investment in the Hyperion campus in Louisiana to USD 50 billion for 5 GW of computing capacity (Source: Bisnow news report).
• In July 2026, EMCOR reported record remaining performance obligations of USD 17.14 billion, with growth including network and communications (Source: EMCOR earnings release).
• In September 2026, Cushman & Wakefield reported that data center construction costs had risen an average of 21% per MW since the fourth quarter of 2024 (Source: Cushman & Wakefield press release).

We follow these contracts, campus announcements and cost updates as they happen in our data center industry updates.

Methodology: How We Built the Data Center Construction Market Model

DC Market Insights built this market bottom-up from 16 annual cohorts (2020 to 2035) of construction work put in place, measured in GW-equivalent for 6 geographies (the United States, Canada, Europe, Asia Pacific, Latin America, and the Middle East and Africa), and priced each cohort with a contractor value per MW for that geography and year: 96 volume inputs and 96 price inputs in all. The 2025 volumes were set from the capacity under construction at the end of September 2025 and an average build period of about 2.4 years. The total was split by 4 construction types, 5 data center types, 3 tier levels, 3 project types and 3 facility size bands, and every split sums to the market total. The result was checked top-down against US Census Bureau construction spending on data centers, which the US model matches within 2% for 2025 and within 1% for growth since 2020, and against the backlog and revenue disclosures of 4 listed contractors.