Demand for new data centers has outstripped the stock available because developers are having difficulty finding adequate supplies of vital inputs like power and other key components. Vacancy has been pushed down to just 3% and over 80% of centers coming online in major markets have been pre-leased, driving up lease rates, according to a new Cushman & Wakefield report.

"Interest in large-scale power availabilities, plentiful land and less strict latency requirements for AI, has driven hyperscalers and operators to expand in a host of historically peripheral markets such as rural Georgia, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Texas, Minnesota and the Dakotas, among many other outlying areas just beyond the 'major' established data center markets," commented executive managing director Bo Bond.

Some operators are working with power companies to deliver substations and transmission lines or to source microgrid power. Many agreements are now being signed directly with third-party energy generation developers, including alternative energy companies involved in wind, battery storage, solar, natural gas and geothermal production. The report predicts an influx of operators seeking large-acreage, high-power capacity sites even in rural markets, as well as efforts to secure power along longer timelines.