Data Center Locations

Amazon and Meta have said they are building gas plants to power their data centers because it's the fastest path to power. But this week, Google proved you can do it even faster with co-located renewables. And I found documents showing their strategy. On Wednesday, Google announced a new data center in Texas that will be powered by renewables built by AES Clean Energy. The press release was light on details, so I used Cleanview's platform to try to learn more about the project. In December AES filed a document showing that it plans to connect an 850 MW data center (Google’s) to its massive solar and wind project in West Texas. The project would use 600 MW of solar and 945 MW of wind power. Using both solar and wind enables near round-the-clock clean energy. And by connecting to the grid, Google gets the reliability it needs when solar and wind output drop. But the creative part is how this deal enables Google to skip Texas’ large load queue and get online in 18 months instead of 5+ years. Like the rest of the country, Texas has a massive backlog of data centers trying to connect to its power grid. At the end of 2025, the backlog was 225 GW—equivalent to 20 New York City’s of power demand. For data center developers like Google that backlog means waiting years to connect to the grid. These delays have led some companies like Meta to start building their own gas power plants as I wrote in our latest report. But Google found an alternative path—one that relies on a huge amount of onsite renewable energy. Thanks to a recent rule change, a data center in Texas can piggyback off a power project’s interconnection agreement if its co-located. And that’s what Google appears to be doing here with AES. The documents we found suggest Google is using AES’ grid connection, which took years to secure to get around the ERCOT large load queue. The wind phase of the project is expected to come online in August 2027. If Google had gone the traditional route, there’s no way they could have achieved that timeline. If they had tried to connect this data center in Virginia, they would have had to wait until the early 2030s. It’s worth noting that this timeline is similar to the one Amazon and Meta are achieving by using natural gas. They’ve argued that they have to use gas because waiting for renewables delivered through the grid would take too long. But with this project, Google is proving that it’s possible to build a 850 MW data center in 18 months powered almost entirely by co-located renewables. Developers and policymakers should take note. We wrote more about this project in a brief for Cleanview research subscribers. That brief includes a detailed project timeline, the equipment being used, and the broader policy and market context. Send me a note or visit our website if you’re interested in becoming a subscriber.

Silicon Beach: The Rise of a Second Bengaluru is happening in Mangaluru Mangaluru greets you differently. It doesn’t scream for attention; it commands it through a quiet, coastal confidence. While Bengaluru is the frantic heart of India’s silicon dreams, Mangaluru is becoming a city while scripting a decentralized tech story by leveraging its red soil, deep-sea cables, and a legacy of banking that spans a century. As of today, Mangaluru has officially moved from a feeder city for Bengaluru to a primary destination for GCCs and deep-tech innovation. ✅ Financial Surge: Silicon Beach in Numbers Performance (2022–2026) 1. Tech Investments: ₹2,000 Crore in acquisitions & GCC setups. 2. Export Target: ₹40,000 Crore by 2034. 3. Job Creation: 8,000+ new tech jobs in the last 24 months alone. 4. Infrastructure: 1 Million sq. ft. of Grade-A office space under construction. 5. GDP Contribution: Currently accounts for 5.4% of Karnataka’s GDP. ✅ Business Strategy: Beyond Cheap Labor Mangaluru is winning because it offers Operational Resilience. 1. The GCC Magnet: The city currently houses 10+ Global Capability Centers. Companies like HCLTech, HexaWare & IBM are leveraging the region’s high talent retention rate; employees here stay 3x longer than their Bengaluru counterparts, drastically reducing recruitment costs. 2. Nano-GCC Model: Mangaluru is the pioneer of the Nano-GCC, focusing on high-value, niche research and development rather than massive call centers. 3. The BFSI Advantage: With a legacy of being a birthplace of Canara Bank, Karnataka Bank, etc., the city is a natural hub for FinTech and RegTech startups. ✅ Let me share the #Rajspectives While most tech cities are landlocked, Mangaluru has a geographical unfair advantage that is just now being tapped: - Data Center Hub: Being a coastal city, it offers direct access to international submarine cable routes. Karnataka government recently announced Mangaluru as the state’s next Data Center Hub, with a plan to capture 20% of India’s data capacity by 2030. - Silicon Beach Grant: In January 2026, the state government released a record ₹1.92 crore grant to Vertex Managed Workspace to scale up to 6,000 seats. - Human Capital: The secret sauce of Mangaluru isn't just the sea; it's the 20+ world-class engineering colleges & universities within a 50km radius. - AI Integration: As of today, local institutions like St. Aloysius & NITTE have integrated AI and Machine Learning into non-engineering courses like Commerce, creating a workforce that understands both balance sheets and Big Data. - Elevate Culture: 40+ local startups were recently funded under the state’s Elevate program, focusing on Agri-Tech and Marine Bio-Tech, using AI to solve coastal problems. Mangaluru is proving that decentralization doesn't mean building mini-Bengalurus. In the race to be India’s next tech frontier, Mangaluru is winning because it isn't racing at all; it is simply arriving. #bangalore #india #technology #jobs #economy

"How to Evaluate a Building for Data Center Conversion" Earlier this week I shared how Chicago developers turned a $12 million office building into a $40 million data center in 15 months. Today, let's talk about what to look for. The Five Critical Factors: 1. Power Infrastructure This is the dealbreaker. Can you increase capacity to 30-50 megawatts? Existing transformers? Proximity to substations? The Chicago building had substantial electrical infrastructure from its trading floor days. Without power capacity, you don't have a deal. 2. Building Structure You need: Wide, column-free floors High ceilings for cooling Floor load capacity for server weight Cavernous layouts The Cboe building was designed for trading floors—which converts perfectly to data centers. 3. Existing Connectivity "This building is very heavily wired from its time as a trading platform," said buyer Daniel English. Look for heavy wiring, fiber proximity, and urban locations near connectivity hubs. 4. Cooling Potential CRE Daily reports liquid cooling is becoming standard as power densities jump from 120 kW per rack today to 600 kW by 2027. Can the building support liquid cooling systems and upgraded HVAC? 5. Urban Location Advantage English explained why urban conversions command premiums: "Just like Amazon last-mile delivery, data centers take less time to deliver when they're close." Low-latency applications—trading, streaming, gaming—pay premiums for urban proximity. The Best Candidates: Former trading floors, financial services buildings, telecom facilities, heavy industrial with power infrastructure. My Take: The Chicago flip proves it: The biggest returns aren't in greenfield development. They're in buying assets where someone else already solved the hard problems and the market hasn't caught up. What building in your market has these five factors? Because while everyone else sees obsolete real estate, you might be looking at a 233% return in 15 months. What are you seeing that others are missing? Sources: "Flip of former Cboe Global Markets headquarters in Chicago shows soaring data storage values" by Ryan Ori, CoStar News, October 23, 2025; "Data Centers Driving Growth In AI And Real Estate" CRE Daily, PrincipalAM research

Underwater Data Centres - Using The Oceans As A Natural Heat Sink "A two-year follow-up experiment began in 2018. A total of 864 servers, in a 12m by 3m tubular structure, were sunk 35m deep off the Orkney Islands in Scotland. Microsoft is not the only company experimenting with moving data underwater. subsea cloud is another American company doing so. China’s Shenzhen HiCloud Data Center Technology has deployed centres in tropical waters off the coast of Hainan Island. Underwater data centres promise several advantages over their land-locked cousins. The primary benefit is a significant cut in electricity consumption. According to the International Energy Agency, data centres consume around 1 to 1.5 per cent of global electricity use, of which about 40 per cent is used for cooling. Data centres in the ocean can dissipate heat in the surrounding water. Microsoft’s centre uses a small amount of electricity for cooling, while Subsea Cloud’s design has an entirely passive cooling system. The Microsoft experiment also found the underwater centre had a boost in reliability. When it was brought back to shore in 2020, the rate of server failures was less than 20 per cent that of land-based data centres. This was attributed to the stable temperature on the sea floor and the fact oxygen and humidity had been removed from the tube, which likely decreased corrosion of the components. The air inside the tube had also been replaced with nitrogen, making fires impossible. Another reason for the increased reliability may have been the complete absence of humans, which prevents the possibility of human error impacting the equipment." https://lnkd.in/g-bMjpX2

Forget power shortages. The real crisis? Land. Data center expansion isn’t being held back by technology—it’s geography. - Northern Virginia is running out of land. AWS’s $35B investment faces zoning delays. - Microsoft is pivoting to secondary markets like Poland and Sweden. - Google’s Oregon expansion sparked lawsuits over water rights—showing that land, not just energy, is the hidden battle. Power is just one part of the equation. The future of AI, cloud, and hyperscale data centers depends on land access, zoning approvals, and long-term energy policies. Here’s how the industry is evolving: 1. Land – The foundation of all projects, but hidden risks lie in zoning and utilities. Northern Virginia is tapped out. Ohio and Texas are next. 2. Powered Land – Pre-permitted land is the new advantage. Digital Realty secured sites in Frankfurt to fast-track European expansion. 3. Powered Shell – QTS Data Centers’ “Speed to Scale” strategy prioritizes ready-to-fit-out sites to cut deployment timelines. 4. Turnkey – Instant deployment, but at a premium. Equinix offers high-performance turnkey solutions in 70+ markets. 5. Build-to-Suit – The long game. Meta’s 900-acre AI-focused campus in Kansas City is setting the standard. 6. Hyperscale – AI workloads demand long-term PPAs and strategic site selection. Google, Amazon Web Services (AWS), and Microsoft lead with 600+ hyperscale facilities. 7. Edge – AI, IoT, and 5G drive low-latency demand, but profitability remains a question mark. AWS Local Zones and Cloudflare’s edge network are leading expansion. 8. Modular – Google and Microsoft bet on prefabricated solutions for faster global scaling. 9. HPC – AI clusters require extreme power density—100 kW per rack is forcing data centers to rethink cooling strategies. The biggest data center risks in 2025 aren’t external—they’re being decided today. Where do you see the biggest land constraints—or opportunities? #datacenters #AI

The Future of Data Centers Might Be Underwater Traditional data centers consume massive amounts of power and freshwater just for cooling. With the rapid rise of AI workloads, thermal management is becoming one of the biggest engineering challenges in digital infrastructure. To address this, engineers are exploring subsea data centers, deploying sealed, pressurized server modules deep underwater to leverage the ocean’s natural cooling. ✦ Why this matters: ▪️ Natural cold seawater enables highly efficient heat dissipation ▪️ Reduced reliance on chillers & cooling towers ▪️ Improved Power Usage Effectiveness (PUE) closer to optimal levels ▪️ Controlled, oxygen-limited environments reduce corrosion and failures ▪️ Proximity to coastal cities lowers latency for end users ✦ Engineering Perspective: Subsea systems don’t eliminate cooling infrastructure, but they significantly reduce energy intensity by using the ocean as a heat sink. ✦ As AI and cloud demand continue to grow, integrating passive cooling with natural resources could be a game changer for sustainable data center design. #DataCenters #AI #Sustainability #Engineering #CoolingSystems #DigitalInfrastructure #Innovation

🌊💻 What if the future of cloud computing lived beneath the waves? In a breathtaking experiment, Microsoft launched Project #Natick - submerging a data center with 864 servers in a capsule off the coast of Scotland. Powered entirely by renewable energy from the Orkney Islands, the project showcased a sustainable and efficient approach to data infrastructure. !! Why underwater? ✅ Cooler Environment: Oceans act as natural coolants, reducing the need for energy-hungry air conditioning. ✅ Reliability: The sealed, oxygen-free environment significantly reduces hardware failure. ✅ Sustainability: Paired with renewable energy sources like offshore wind and tidal power, this unlocks a greener future for data storage. ✅ Proximity to People: Nearly half the world’s population lives near the coast — making underwater data centers ideal for reducing latency. What started as a daring question — “Can a data center survive underwater?” turned into an exciting proof-of-concept that challenges how we think about cloud infrastructure. 🌍⚡ Imagine the oceans not just as natural wonders, but as digital frontiers powering the next era of computing 🚀

We keep talking about speeding up permitting. But one of the fastest paths forward isn’t reform—it’s starting where permission already exists. Call it the brownfield (or “pre-permitted land”) strategy. Instead of fighting through years of approvals, leading developers are doing something smarter: They’re building on land that already carries the DNA of infrastructure—industrial use, zoning alignment, and grid access. Why it works: - You inherit prior environmental review and land-use approvals -You’re closer to substations and transmission -You avoid the longest, most uncertain part of development -And importantly: communities already understand—and often expect—this kind of use. This isn’t theoretical. It’s how hyperscalers are scaling right now: • Google in New Albany, Ohio — sited its major data center campus inside the New Albany International Business Park, a pre-zoned industrial hub designed for large-scale infrastructure (The New Albany Company) • Microsoft in Boydton, Virginia — built on legacy industrial/tobacco-region land with existing transmission corridors • Meta Platforms in Altoona, Iowa — developed in an established industrial zone with prior land-use alignment The Google example is the tell. They didn’t wait for permitting reform.They went where permitting had already, effectively, been solved. That New Albany campus—part of a broader multi-billion-dollar Ohio buildout (Construction Dive)—sits in a master-planned industrial park specifically designed to attract large, power-intensive users. That’s not just good siting. That’s strategy. Here’s the deeper shift— We’re moving from: “Find land → fight for approval → build” to: “Find land where approval is already embedded → build immediately” There is a massive, underused inventory of these sites: 1) Retired power plants; 2) Industrial parks; 3) Brownfields and “soft brownfields”; 4) Underutilized commercial zones with grid access; etc. If we start treating interconnection + prior land use as assets, not constraints, timelines don’t just shrink—they collapse. From 5–7 years… to something closer to 1–2. Permitting reform still matters. But the market isn’t waiting. It’s routing around the problem—by starting in the right place. #DataCenters #EnergyTransition #Infrastructure #Grid #EconomicDevelopment #CleanEnergy

In Alberta, we're venting data centre heat in a province that's frozen six months a year. Every megawatt into a GPU comes out as heat. Traditional designs throw that heat into the atmosphere with fans and cooling towers. In Peace River or Edmonton in January, that's not waste management - it's wasted opportunity. Stockholm Data Parks has a goal: 10% of the city's heating from data centre waste heat by 2035. They already heat 30,000 apartments through their Open District Heating program. Helsinki's Microsoft campus will supply 40% of local district heat demand. These aren't pilot projects - they're infrastructure. For Alberta, heat reuse is a social license accelerator: -District heating for adjacent residential -Greenhouses and season extension (food security in northern communities) -Industrial low-temp process heat -Aquaculture Cold climate isn't just a cooling advantage. It's a heat-reuse advantage - if we design for it from the start. Municipal lever: require a heat-reuse feasibility study for any data centre proposal above 50 MW. Not a guarantee it gets used - just proof it was considered. Question: What's the best local use for low-grade waste heat in your municipality - greenhouses or housing? #Alberta #DataCenters #DistrictEnergy