Data center construction in America hits record $75B pace as homes and offices stall

Private data center construction spending topped $75 billion at a seasonally adjusted annual rate in July 2026, according to US Census Bureau figures. That represents a roughly 57% jump from a year earlier. The numbers tell a lopsided story Overall private construction spending in July came in at $2.16 trillion, down 0.5% from the prior month and sitting 3.8% below year-ago levels. Residential and office construction continue to soften. Data centers, meanwhile, are sprinting in the opposite direction. The contrast is stark enough that data centers have accounted for essentially all of the recent growth in nonresidential construction. Strip out the server farms and the nonresidential line would be flat to declining, dragged lower by the continued weakness in traditional office space. Full-year 2025 data center construction starts reached $77.7 billion, nearly tripling the 2024 total with a roughly 190% increase. Hyperscalers are writing the checks Amazon, Google, Microsoft, and Meta have each signaled capital expenditure plans in the hundreds of billions of dollars annually, much of it earmarked for data center expansion to support AI workloads. Pre-leasing rates on new facilities a...