North America data center absorption hits 25GW record

North America absorbed 25 gigawatts of data center capacity in the first half of 2026, an all-time high, according to JLL's Midyear 2026 North America Data Center Report, as covered by IREI. The total is double the year-earlier figure and five times the level of two years prior.

Vacancy has held at 1 percent for a third consecutive year despite what JLL calls unprecedented construction activity. The report counts 66 gigawatts of capacity under construction. At the current absorption pace, that book would be absorbed in roughly 16 months.

The sustained 1 percent vacancy, even with that construction volume, suggests new space is being absorbed almost as quickly as it is delivered. Annualized, the first-half absorption pace is 50 gigawatts a year.

Andy Cvengros, JLL's co-lead of U.S. data center markets, put it plainly: demand "continues to exceed even industry insiders' expectations." He attributes the pressure to hyperscalers, neoclouds and pure-play AI companies competing for scarce capacity, and calls community acceptance, or its absence, the defining challenge for the next phase.

The report measures the acceptance problem. 79 percent of Americans support U.S. leadership in artificial intelligence; 14 percent support data center development in their own community. The 65-point gap is where electricity, water and noise concerns turn into siting delays.

JLL argues that responsible growth depends on transparency and early community engagement around those impacts. For investors, that is the underwriting shift: absorption numbers now matter less than permission. The record demand is real, but the question the market faces is how much of it can actually be built.