Data center construction spending hits record $85 billion annual pace
- ID
- 32299
- Status
- summarized
- Published
- 06 Oct 2026, 8:00 PM
- Fetched
- 06 Oct 2026, 9:34 PM
- Provider
- Tom's Hardware
- Category
- technology
- Original URL
- https://www.tomshardware.com/tech-industry/data-centers/spending-on-u-s-data-center-buildings-hits-record-usd85-billion-annual-pace-up-73-percent-in-a-year-and-census-doesnt-count-the-servers-and-racks-inside
- Source URL
- https://www.tomshardware.com/feeds/all
Summary
- Score
- 4.0
- Created
- 06 Oct 2026, 9:35 PM
- Tags
- Audience
- developerssaas_foundersai_ml_learners
What happened
US Census construction-spending data shows spending on data center buildings running at a record $85 billion annual pace, up 73% year over year. The article notes the Census figure covers only the buildings themselves and excludes the servers and racks inside them, so total data center investment is larger than the headline number.
Why it matters
The $85B figure is buildings-only, so it understates real data center capex — but it also gives no Malaysia or SEA numbers, and nothing here tells a builder what to change this week. The one usable read: if US building spend is up 73% in a year while the compute inside is excluded from the count, capacity is still being added, so don't plan around a near-term collapse in cloud or GPU rental pricing. Treat this as background context for budgeting, not a decision input on its own.
Discussion angle
The Census number counts buildings but not servers or racks — if the visible spend is $85B/year and rising 73%, what does the uncounted half mean for cloud and GPU rental pricing that Malaysian teams actually pay?