- Vacant rates collapse as data centers fight to match the unprecedented demand
- The north of Virginia dominates the capacity, while emerging markets grow at an explosive rate
- Rush developer projects, but 73% of the new capacity is already prelimated
Data centers are becoming the backbone of digital infrastructure, with vacancies rates in North America now in a historical minimum of 2.3%, according to New Jll investigation.
Although the inventory reaches 15.5GW in mid -2025, the absorption rate continues to exceed available capacity.
This mismatch feeds on a growing dependence on AI, digital transformation and cloud storage services, which have created a crunch of supply in established and emerging markets.
Demand increases faster than supply
JLL states that North America could see up to $ 1 billion in the development of new data centers by 2030.
“There was a significant increase in the amount of capital deployed in data centers under construction or reaching stabilization in the first half of 2025 compared to the previous year,” said Carl Beardsley, senior managing director, leader of the Data Center, JLL Capital Markets.
“We are seeing developments with long -term leases that reach up to 85% lenders of senior lenders in competitive differentials … North America could see $ 1 billion of data centers between 2025 and 2030”.
In addition, more than 100 GW of placement and hyperscale capacity is expected to break or enter online in the next five years.
Although construction hastened to meet the growing demand, 73% of these projects are prelimated, leaving limited flexibility for companies looking for new spaces.
The northern Virginia leads with a planned 5.9GW, followed by Phoenix in 4.2GW, Dallas-Fort Worth at 3.9GW and Las Vegas/Reno at 3.5GW.
Secondary markets are also experiencing surprising growth. Columbus has expanded 1,800% since 2020, while Austin/San Antonio has grown 500% of a smaller base during the same period.
This differential reflects developers looking for new opportunities as established centers fight with the limitations of power and increased costs.
“The days of construction and will have gone. What we are seeing now is to commit a work dynamic of the US Data Center.
Energy availability has become the defining challenge for the development of the data center, since average commercial electricity rates have increased almost 30% since 2020, reaching 9.7 cents per kilowatt-hora.
Developers are increasingly going to areas such as Salt Lake City and Denver, where rates remain below the national average.
Even so, the waiting time for the connections of the network is now approximately four years, delaying projects and slowing down the rhythm to which the supply can meet the demand.
Industry analysts argue that power is now “the new real estate”, with access to affordable and reliable energy that dictates where the capacity can expand.
“Power has become the new real estate sector. With the vacancy effectively to 0%, practically all absorption is the result of the preliminary with the delivery times that extend beyond 12 months,” said Andrew Batson, head of the investigation of the United States Data Center in JLL.
“The market has been growing to a remarkable CAG of 20% since 2017, and our development pipe data suggest that this rhythm will continue until 2030, with the placement market potentially expanding to 42 GW capacity.”
This bottleneck can prevent speculative overmidad, but also guarantees that shortage persists for years.
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