The Data Center Boom: Internet Landlords & A $3 Trillion Real Estate Bubble

The AI revolution requires an unprecedented build-out of data centers. At least, that’s how the narrative goes. A quick peek at the data reveals a funny detail—most aren’t being built. An energy shortage? Nah, most don’t even apply for a connection to the power grid. This is about a little tax code change that sparked a stampede to become landlords of the internet. A multi-trillion dollar speculative bubble, complete with flippers. Seriously. The Scramble To Build Data Centers A scramble to build data centers is a bit of an understatement. In Canada, over 200 data centers have been announced or are in development. That includes 159 hyperscale facilities—those with at least 50 megawatts (MW) of capacity. Out of those, 116 are planning for over 100 MW of capacity. That’s a big jump from the 5 hyperscale facilities in Canada today. The US is seeing a much bigger boom. Vancouver-based Aterio tracks 8,434 data centers, from announcement to operations. Their data shows 2,145 in operation, 888 under construction, and 4,442 announced. “The remaining 959 are delayed, land banked, not approved or cancelled, which we keep tracking because they often come back,” notes the predictive analytics ...