Data center pipeline capacity exceeds 92 GW by end of 2024, says Wood Mackenzie

The pipeline capacity for US data centers with development activity since 2023 exceeded 92 gigawatts (GW) at the end of 2024, according to a recent report from Wood Mackenzie.

The adoption of artificial intelligence is fueling massive capacity expansion for data centers and competition for power. According to the report “US data center pipeline” from Wood Mackenzie, monthly pipeline additions reached 7 GW in the fourth quarter of 2024.

Cost and size expand as well

Mega projects are driving capex, with 13 projects coming in at more than US$4 billion. More broadly, 73% of the US$195 billion in capex attributable to tracked projects belongs to the 22% of projects over US$1 billion.

Along with the price tags, the actual bricks and mortar is expanding as well. The median data center building square footage increasing 9.5% from 2023 to 2024 and the average campus square footage increased more than 23% over that period.

“The growing project size is evidence of the transition to AI workloads,” says Hertz-Shargel, “but creates even greater challenges for developers as well as utilities.”  

“Coming into 2023, we saw only 5 GW of pipeline capacity,” said Ben Hertz-Shargel, Global Head of Grid Edge for Wood Mackenzie. “Monthly growth has been linear—not exponential as is sometimes assumed—but has exceeded 7 GW and continues to climb at a rate of 227 megawatts (MW) per month. With projects getting larger and existing markets becoming saturated, developers have looked to new markets and struck deals with new counties and new utilities.”

Growth beyond legacy markets

According to the report, Virginia and Texas remain the dominant data center markets and have experienced the most overall growth. However, the share of capacity outside of the top 15 growth states began increasing rapidly in Q4 of 2023 and has continued to expand. New markets such as Louisiana, Mississippi, Wisconsin and West Virginia have been targeted for major campuses.

“Developers are looking for opportunities in emerging states, where they can get favorable incentives,” said Hertz-Shargel. “These are some of the largest projects that have ever been built.”

There are at least 93 projects under construction in the US and 84 in the permitting process, according to Wood Mackenzie’s Lens Power. However, those in permitting represent 66% more capacity, underscoring the drive to larger projects.