Ninety-five percent of 66 gigawatts is already leased. That single figure, from JLL’s North America Data Center Report released August 11, explains more about the current construction market than any backlog survey.
North America absorbed 25 gigawatts in the first half of 2026, double the year-ago pace and five times the level of two years prior. Vacancy held at 1 percent for a third consecutive year. A tenant signing a lease today is contracting for a 2028 delivery.
Where the data center construction is concentrated
Texas leads with 26 gigawatts existing and under construction. Virginia is second at 13, with Northern Virginia still the world’s largest single market at nearly 7 gigawatts of inventory and vacancy under 1 percent. What’s changed is the geography of new work: frontier markets now account for 77 percent of all capacity under development, meaning West Texas, Ohio, Louisiana and the Carolinas.
The metro detail is where contractors should look. Dallas-Fort Worth delivered more than 2 gigawatts and absorbed more than it delivered. Columbus compressed to 0.1 percent vacancy. Atlanta hit record absorption of 918 megawatts in six months. Austin and San Antonio completed 1.7 gigawatts and absorbed 796. Phoenix absorbed 442 megawatts with 1.7 gigawatts under construction.
“We’re witnessing demand levels that continue to exceed even industry insiders’ expectations,” said Andy Cvengros, executive managing director and co-lead of U.S. data center markets at JLL. “But the real story is how community acceptance, or lack thereof, has emerged as the defining challenge for this next phase of growth.”
The capital stack behind it
JLL expects construction activity to drive more than $700 billion in permanent debt originations over the next 30 months. AI-related bond issuance hit $250 billion in the first half, split between $218 billion investment grade and $32 billion high yield. Combined CMBS and ABS data center volume reached $17 billion, up 29 percent year over year.
Hyperscalers account for 59 percent of 2026 tenant demand, with 28 gigawatts of owner-occupied capacity under construction. Neoclouds are 11 percent, pure-play AI companies 7. Enterprise requirements still run 500 kilowatts to 3 megawatts, which is a different business entirely. Rents are up nearly 70 percent since 2020 and JLL expects roughly 9 percent annual growth through 2030.
The number JLL itself is worried about
The report flags a 65-point gap in public sentiment: 79 percent of Americans support U.S. leadership in AI, but only 14 percent support data center development in their own community. JLL doesn’t cite the source for that pair, so treat it as the report’s figure rather than JLL’s own survey.
“Even with 66 gigawatts under construction, we’re likely to see vacancy remain near zero through 2028,” said Andrew Batson, JLL’s global head of data center market intelligence. “The structural growth story is supported by rapid AI adoption and limited overall penetration, suggesting this infrastructure build is still in its early innings.”
The acceptance gap is the constraint JLL’s own analysts now name, and it’s showing up as municipal moratoriums in real time. For everyone else in construction, 66 gigawatts at 95 percent pre-committed means two things: long-lead switchgear, transformers and chillers are locked out through 2028, and mechanical and electrical labor is committed at prices set by owners with a different cost of capital. Institutional owners feel it directly. The Virginia Museum of Fine Arts $261 million expansion is bidding into the same subcontractor market, without a hyperscaler’s balance sheet behind it.