Data center construction reached record levels by Q3, 2025

Data center construction jumped by 18.5% year-on-year in October 2025, reaching $42B annualized. Digital infrastructure almost caught up with the $45B spent on office buildings. 

Spending on data center construction expanded in 2025, on track to soon surpass new office construction. Spending on data centers tripled since the launch of ChatGPT in 2022. 

At the same time, new office construction slowed down by 40%, tracking the already weakening post-pandemic market. 

Spending on infrastructure had a major shift in the US market, reversing the previously peak level of office construction. If the growth rate for data center construction is preserved, the spending will surpass office building investments by the end of 2026. 

Data center construction accelerated rapidly

Data center construction accelerated rapidly from a low baseline. With just $1.4B in construction in 2014, 2025 turned into a record year. The planning of data centers is already shaping business decisions across industries, as the new construction competes with the plans for offices, warehouses, and industrial construction. 

Land and power source decisions are also key, as new high-capacity compute centers are being planned. Rough estimates of costs for data centers range between $600 to $1,100 per square foot, including equipment peripherals. Large data centers can cost between $250M to $500M, while small facilities can reach $2M to $5M.

The biggest effect of planned data centers will be their electricity demand. The share of data centers may rise from roughly 2% today to 9% by 2050. Data centers are already making up a significant share of electricity usage in some regions. 

The effect of data center construction is also affecting commodity markets like copper, as well as some precious metals. The effect goes beyond the elevated price of computational components, memory, and other elements of AI computation.

On a global scale, data center construction is expected to reach $300B in 2026, and over $760B by 2035. The USA remains a leader, with the fastest available financing and suitable locations. 

Bottlenecks may include energy contracts, copper prices, and even local opposition to data centers due to pollution and water consumption. 

Former crypto firms boost data center construction

Former crypto firms, which also supplied cloud computing, are one of the drivers behind large-scale data center construction. Applied Digital, formerly Applied Blockchain, is among the planners of some of the biggest US data centers. 

Applied Digital recently started the construction of a 430 MW data center, building a campus at an undisclosed location in the USA. Following the news, APLD shares recovered to $37.01, trading near their all-time peak. 

IREN is the other former mining company planning several large-scale 2GW and 750 MW data centers in Texas and other locations, with expected expansions of existing data, cloud, and mining centers. The focus on data centers also boosted IREN stock to $52.52, near its higher range for the past 12 months. 

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