North America Data Center Report Midyear 2026
JLL · Andrew Batson, Ben Davalos
JLL's midyear 2026 North American market report: vacancy at about 1% for a third year, more than 66 GW under construction and strong construction-finance liquidity.
On this page
Overview
JLL's midyear 2026 report reviews the state of the North American data center market. Its authors are Andrew Batson and Ben Davalos. It is published as a freely accessible public research page.
According to its main findings, vacancy has been about 1% for the third consecutive year and tenants are contracting for 2028 deliveries; the page heading says vacancy is likely to stay near zero through 2028. More than 66 GW is under construction in North America, and 77% of that capacity is in 'frontier' markets, with examples such as West Texas, Ohio, Louisiana, Indiana and the Carolinas.
On financing, construction loans for top-tier hyperscalers carry spreads of roughly the low 200 bps and up to 85% loan-to-cost. This points to strong liquidity in construction finance. The source is market research from a real estate advisory firm; it is not a technical design standard and focuses on North America.
Key points
- Vacancy is about 1% for the third consecutive year.
- Tenants are contracting for 2028 deliveries.
- More than 66 GW is under construction in North America.
- 77% of capacity under construction is in frontier markets (West Texas, Ohio, Louisiana, Indiana, Carolinas).
- Top-tier hyperscaler construction loans carry spreads in the low 200 bps.
- Loan-to-cost reaches up to 85%.
- Authored by Andrew Batson and Ben Davalos of JLL.
Using it in design
- For site selection, include frontier-market locations in the climate and grid databases.
- Set default schedule assumptions to reflect multi-year forward leasing and long lead times.
- Use the report as market context, not as a design rule, and do not apply it directly to projects outside the region.
Monthly newsletter · free
Keep your reading list current
Once a month: new library sources, changes to Turkish regulations and upcoming data centre events.
SoSo CAD
Compare the cost of design decisions
Evaluate equipment costs, energy expenses and total cost of ownership (TCO) using your inputs and assumptions in SoSo CAD.
Request a demo
Who should read it
Decision makers and planning engineers working on site selection, capacity schedules and investment planning.
Publication details
- Authors
- Andrew Batson; Ben Davalos
- Publisher
- JLL
- Year
- 2026
- Document language
- English
- Source type
- Expert / community
- Access
- Free to read
- Licence
- Copyright retained; citation only — the publisher’s terms apply to the original document
Original licence note
Public JLL research web page; cited only.
Citation
Andrew Batson; Ben Davalos (2026). North America Data Center Report Midyear 2026. JLL. https://www.jll.com/en-us/insights/market-dynamics/north-america-data-centers
Events on this subject
Browse the events calendarAll content and rights belong to the respective authors and publishers. SoSo CAD provides only the citation, its own summary and a link to the source, and is not responsible for the sources' content.
Related sources
All sources on this topicJLL 2026
2026 Global Data Center Market Outlook
In the cost module, use $/MW shell-and-core benchmarks (with year) as a sanity range for capex estimates, and show tenant fit-out separately.
- Tenant technology fit-out can reach $25M per MW for AI infrastructure.
arXiv preprint (University of Alberta) 2026
To Defer or To Shift? The Role of AI Data Center Flexibility on Grid Interconnection
In large-load interconnection negotiation, present AI load flexibility (a deferral window of up to about 3 hours) as a lever for interconnection capacity and timing; returns diminish beyond 3 hours.
- In the IEEE 14-bus study, data centres on buses connected to congested lines benefit most from geographic load shifting.
Frontiers in Environmental Science (Frontiers Media SA) 2026
Net sustainability assessment of AI-driven data centers in the GCC: an MCDA approach framework
In AI data-centre investment assessment in hot, arid regions, weigh carbon, water, social and governance criteria together with explicit weights (0.40/0.25/0.20/0.15); indirect water (desalination energy) was about 0.68 times direct cooling water.
- In the extended boundary, embodied carbon adds 15-25% to the operational footprint.
Geothermal Energy (Springer Science and Business Media LLC) 2026
Potential of aquifer thermal energy storage (ATES) for data centres in Germany
Before linking data-centre waste heat to nearby building heating, check that site subsurface geology suits ATES and that the site is outside water-protection zones; only 13 of 19 sites did.
- Annual waste heat available for storage was Eth = Qth × F_load × (1 − F_free) × (1 − F_down), with a conservative mean annual load factor of 0.6.
arXiv (University of Michigan preprint) 2026
Data Center Cooling Choices Shift Water Impacts Across the Grid: An Integrated Water-Energy Model for Sustainable Data Center Development
In cooling selection, calculate direct and indirect water together: an air-cooled chiller cut direct water 97% but raised the indirect share to 96.6% and electricity by 32%.
- Indirect water intensity varied by about 50% across months, depending on which generators supplied the added load.
International Energy Agency 2026
Energy and AI in East Asia
In a site module for Korea and Japan, flag grid-congested metro regions and suggest renewable-rich regions.
- Data centres use 1.5% of global electricity and are projected to reach about 945 TWh (about 3%) by 2030.