30 Jan 2025, Thu

Multibillion-dollar data center projects to watch


What started as a relatively niche sector a few years ago has transformed into a powerhouse of construction activity, with no signs of a slowdown this year.

Data centers continue to drive significant growth in nonresidential construction planning, said Sarah Martin, associated director of forecasting at Dodge Construction Network. These projects contributed to a 19% increase in planning activity since December 2023, compared to just 5% growth without their inclusion, according to Dodge.

That momentum shows no signs of fading.

J.P. Morgan estimates spending on data centers could add between 10 to 20 basis points to U.S. economic growth in 2025 and 2026, according to Reuters. Big tech companies are a major reason for the surge, doubling down on data center investments in order to meet growing artificial intelligence demand.

For example, President Donald Trump recently announced Stargate, a joint venture between OpenAI, Softbank and Oracle. The JV plans to invest $100 billion in artificial intelligence infrastructure, with the potential to scale up to $500 billion by 2028. Each data center facility will span about 500,000 square feet, according to Stargate.

Here are some other major data center projects that top tech giants plan to build in 2025:

Amazon

Amazon is going big on data centers, with plans to invest $150 billion in the coming 15 years on its infrastructure to handle the expected demand for artificial intelligence and other cloud computing needs, Bloomberg reported. 

The tech giant first started opening data centers in central Ohio in 2016, and recently announced a $10 billion plan to further expand its cloud computing infrastructure in the state, per a December news release from Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine. The new investment follows a $7.8 billion plan announced in 2023including work in New Albany, Ohio.

Those planned projects include a new $2 billion data center campus in Sunbury, Ohio. Amazon’s facility will occupy about 200 acres in an industrial park in the city, according to WBNS10. Construction of the first 450,000-square-foot building is expected to begin in January 2028 and be complete by December 2034, Data Center Dynamics reported.

Google

The Mountain View, California-based multinational corporation plans to continue its aggressive expansion into data center construction, with a number of high-profile projects slated for 2025, according to Devon Smiley, communications manager of technical infrastructure at Google.

For example, Google broke ground in July 2023 on its first data center in Arizona. The site will span 750,000 square feet, with the first phase due in July, according to Data Center Dynamics.

Plans feature a $600 million facility to support some of the firm’s signature services, such as Gmail and Google Cloud. The Mesa project will tie into the establishment of a new Phoenix cloud region, expanding Google’s digital infrastructure footprint in the area. No general contractor has been confirmed yet, said Smiley.

In the Midwest, Google broke ground in April 2024 on a $2 billion data center in Fort Wayne, Indiana. The facility will power its global AI and cloud infrastructure, according to the company. The Indiana Economic Development Corp. will give Google a 35-year data center sales tax exemption for the first $800 million invested, with options to extend up to 50 years. Atlanta-based Holder Construction is the general contractor on the project, according to local outlet 21Alive.

Meanwhile, in Nebraska, the tech giant’s newest date center project in Lincoln is under construction on roughly 580 acres, according to the Nebraska Examiner. That project complements a separate $750 million facility under construction in Omaha, according to a government release. Once complete, Google will have four data center campuses in the state, according to the company. Google did not disclose the projects’ general contractors.


By admin

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *