Data Center Expansion Redraws U.S. Rural and Urban Landscapes

The United States is experiencing a significant increase in the construction of hyperscale data centers, driven by the need for large-scale computing power for artificial intelligence applications. Cleanview, a market-intelligence firm, reports that about 100 such facilities are already operating, each consuming at least 100 megawatts of electricity—enough for roughly 80,000 homes. An additional 120 centers are under construction and 460 more are planned.

Approximately 40 percent of existing hyperscale sites were built on previously developed land, while the remainder occupy farmland, shrubland and forest. According to David Adams, an associate professor at California State University, Fullerton who studies public infrastructure, current centers tend to be located in affluent metropolitan areas because they require reliable power and high-speed internet. However, newer AI-focused facilities need substantially more electricity, prompting developers to locate them in rural regions where land is cheaper but still near fiber-optic connections.

The growing power demand is straining local electric grids, leading some operators to add on-site generation capacity to mitigate concerns about higher consumer electricity costs. SpaceX’s Colossus 2 data center near Memphis, built adjacent to an existing gas power plant, uses large battery arrays to stabilize supply during peak periods. The site is temporarily powered by gas turbines, which have drawn criticism from nearby residents over emissions; SpaceX did not comment.

Meta is planning a large campus, named Hyperion, on a rural Louisiana site that would be larger than the company’s earlier Colossus facility and comparable in size to Manhattan’s Central Park. The company did not respond to inquiries. If all projects tracked by Cleanview proceed as scheduled, Hyperion would rank fifth in the United States by square footage by 2030.