JLL's January 2026 outlook pegs the global data center sector on a path to roughly $3 trillion in cumulative infrastructure investment by 2030, with about 97 GW of new capacity coming online between 2025 and 2030 and effectively doubling the installed base to ~200 GW [S1]. Of that envelope, JLL attributes about $1.2 trillion to real estate asset value and a further $1–2 trillion to tenant IT fit-out spend [S1].
For 2026 specifically, Currence is tracking 16 GW of announced capacity across roughly 140 projects, yet only about 5 GW is visibly under construction while ~11 GW sits in the announced stage with no ground broken [S4]. Build timelines normally run 12–18 months, and 26% of expected 2025 capacity already slipped, with another 10% pushed back without notice, so a 30–50% slip rate on 2026 deliveries is the working assumption [S4].
Capacity Build-Out by Region: Americas Lead at 17% CAGR
The Americas represent about 50% of global data center capacity and will grow fastest at a projected 17% supply CAGR through 2030, with the U.S. accounting for roughly 90% of regional capacity [S1]. APAC capacity expands from 32 GW to 57 GW by 2030 (12% CAGR), EMEA adds about 13 GW at a 10% CAGR, and on-prem APAC capacity is projected to decline 6% as enterprises continue cloud migration [S1]. Cushman & Wakefield's 107-market comparison, published May 2026, ranks Virginia, Atlanta, Dallas, Columbus and Phoenix as the top five primary global markets, with London and Frankfurt the only European entries in the top ten [S2].
Per-MW Construction Cost: $7.7M to $10.7M, 7% CAGR
Between 2020 and 2025, the average global data center construction cost climbed from $7.7 million to $10.7 million per MW, a 7% CAGR that reflects AI-density requirements rather than pure inflation [S1]. Cushman & Wakefield's 2026 edition adds grid stability as a new evaluation variable, with Singapore leading at just 0.2% transmission-and-distribution losses and Nairobi/Lagos worst at 24.2%; regional averages are 3.7% (Americas), 7.5% (EMEA) and 8.2% (APAC) [S2].
Hyperscalers are not waiting for that grid. Google's 2025 acquisition of Intersect Power's 10.8 GW pipeline and Amazon's direct solar-plus-storage investments mark a shift from PPAs to project- or portfolio-level power ownership, a move designed to accelerate deployment at gigascale sites like New Era Energy & Digital's 7 GW New Mexico campus [S4]. On-site and hybrid powering models still account for less than 10% of project count but represent nearly half of announced gigascale capacity, and nearly half of projects have not disclosed any power strategy at all [S4].
Power Bottleneck: 4-Year Grid Wait, Behind-the-Meter Response
Average wait time for a grid connection in primary data center markets now exceeds four years, which is driving operators toward behind-the-meter arrangements and colocated battery energy storage [S1]. JLL projects natural gas will play a major role in alleviating grid constraints, and the firm expects on-site power plus storage to become standard practice for AI training campuses where training alone consumed a quarter of all data center workloads in 2025 [S1].
The shift in workload mix matters for specifiers. JLL expects inference to overtake training as the dominant AI requirement in 2027, with AI reaching half of all data center workloads by 2030; inference needs geographic distribution to control latency, which is pulling deployment toward regional and edge sites rather than a small number of hyperscale training hubs [S1].
Execution Risk: 75 US Projects Worth $130B Blocked in Q1 2026
Allianz reported that local opposition in the US alone delayed or blocked at least 75 projects worth almost $130 billion during the first quarter of 2026, a claims-trend signal that social-licence risk is now a material line item in pipeline schedules [S3]. Currence's database of 777 large data centers and AI factories (>50 MW) announced since 2024, totaling 190 GW, shows the gap between announcement and execution is widening: only about 5 GW of the 16 GW slated for 2026 is actually under construction, with ~11 GW still in the announced stage [S4].
The U.S. tracker tallies more than 3,525 operational data centers consuming 192 TWh annually (4.7% of US electricity), with 1,080 more under construction, a stock figure that contextualizes the 16 GW of 2026 additions as roughly 8% growth on the existing U.S. fleet [S7]. For data loggers and DC power supply commissioning racks, the practical takeaway is that the 16 GW headline substantially overstates deliverable capacity inside calendar 2026, and procurement lead times should be planned against the ~5 GW under active construction rather than the announced total.
Standards and Sustainability Context
UNEP's Global Status Report for Buildings and Construction 2025–2026, subtitled "Building fast. The same edition tracks energy-efficiency investment, building energy codes, and green-building certification as policy levers, but does not single out data centers as a compliance category; procurement teams specifying new capacity should expect ESG reporting requirements to tighten as the 2050 Buildings Breakthrough target year approaches [S5].
What to Track in the Next Two Quarters
Two signals will determine whether 2026 finishes closer to the 5 GW under-construction floor or the 16 GW announced ceiling: the Q1 2027 slippage update from Currence's quarterly Outlook series, and any change in U.S. interconnection-queue positions, since the 4-year average grid wait is the single biggest gate on the announced pipeline [S1][S4]. The Cushman & Wakefield 2026 edition's new grid-stability variable will be re-ranked in May 2027, which is the next comparable reference point for cross-market site selection [S2].