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2023 marked a turning point for data-center construction. Cloud expansion continued, but the industry’s limiting factors increasingly shifted to electricity, powered land, equipment, labor, permitting, water, and community acceptance. Generative AI accelerated that change by pushing developers to design for higher rack densities, more demanding cooling systems, and larger power requirements.
This ranking covers the ten most consequential U.S.-focused data-center construction stories that emerged, advanced, opened, or materially changed during calendar year 2023. “Top” is an editorial judgment based on construction scale, industry significance, a 2023 milestone, infrastructure implications, AI readiness, geographic impact, public significance, and verifiability. Announced investment is not treated as completed construction, and each project’s status is stated as of December 31, 2023.
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2023 in one sentence: data-center construction became an infrastructure race
The demand case was strong. Hyperscalers continued building cloud capacity, while the rapid adoption of generative AI created a new requirement for accelerated computing. But demand alone did not determine which facilities could be delivered.
Developers also had to secure utility interconnections, substations, transformers, generators, switchgear, construction labor, suitable land, financing, permits, and community support. High interest rates and construction-cost inflation raised the cost of capital and materials. Longer equipment lead times complicated schedules. Water use, emissions, climate resilience, and backup generation became increasingly important in planning and public debate.
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Construction Dive’s year-end review reported that the five most expensive U.S. data-center projects breaking ground in 2023 carried multibillion-dollar price tags, while power availability and supply-chain issues were beginning to weigh on the sector.
Quick reference
| Rank | Story | Location | 2023 status | Why it mattered |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | AI-driven construction demand | U.S. and global | Industry-wide shift | Changed facility design, density, cooling, and power planning |
| 2 | Microsoft Southern Campus | Mount Pleasant, Wisconsin | Site preparation and foundation work | Illustrated the scale and duration of a hyperscale build |
| 3 | Meta Temple Data Center | Temple, Texas | Under construction | Connected a new facility design directly to next-generation AI systems |
| 4 | Prime Data Center Campus | Elk Grove Village, Illinois | Construction start | Showed the importance of private developers and wholesale capacity |
| 5 | Meta Stanton Springs Phase 1 | Social Circle, Georgia | Construction start | Demonstrated continued expansion outside traditional major clusters |
| 6 | Meta Sarpy Building 3 | Springfield, Nebraska | Construction start | Highlighted phased, multi-building campus development |
| 7 | Amazon Data Farm buildings | Hilliard, Ohio | Construction began January 2023 | Illustrated Midwest hyperscale expansion |
| 8 | QTS Phoenix campus | Phoenix, Arizona | Planned five-building campus | Showed how phased expansion preserves future capacity |
| 9 | QTS York County investment | York County, South Carolina | Announced investment | Represented continued geographic expansion |
| 10 | Virginia and Maryland permitting battles | Prince William County, Virginia; Maryland | Approved, proposed, or constrained | Proved that land-use approval can be as important as engineering |
1. The AI-driven data-center construction surge
Verdict: AI was the most important construction story of 2023, even though it was not a single project.
Generative AI changed the assumptions behind new facilities. Traditional cloud workloads already required large campuses, but AI clusters introduced much higher concentrations of computing equipment. That affects rack power, electrical distribution, floor loading, network design, cooling architecture, backup capacity, and commissioning.
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AI also intensified competition for powered land and utility capacity. A site that appeared attractive based on acreage alone could be unsuitable if transmission upgrades or interconnection work could not be delivered on the required schedule. The result was a shift from a straightforward expansion model toward a race to secure complete infrastructure.
For builders, the lesson was practical: AI readiness is not a label that can be added after construction. It must be addressed through early coordination among the owner, utility, electrical engineer, mechanical engineer, equipment suppliers, commissioning team, and general contractor.
2. Microsoft’s Southern Campus in Mount Pleasant, Wisconsin
2023 status: site preparation and foundation work; broader development projected through fall 2026.
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Microsoft’s Mount Pleasant project was among the largest U.S. data-center construction starts highlighted by Construction Dive, with an estimated value of approximately $1 billion. Microsoft reported that site preparation began in July 2023 and foundation work began in November.
The project illustrates why a data-center build should be understood as a multi-year infrastructure program rather than a single building contract. Microsoft’s published schedule contemplated building development from fall 2023 through fall 2026, alongside related power and site work.
At this scale, construction management extends beyond concrete and steel. Traffic, noise, heavy equipment, utility coordination, testing, and neighborhood communication all become part of project delivery. A successful site must support not only the building shell but also substations, electrical distribution, cooling systems, security infrastructure, fuel systems, roads, drainage, and commissioning activities.
Microsoft’s project updates are available through its Mount Pleasant data-center project page. The reported schedule was a projection at the time, not proof of later completion.
3. Meta’s Temple, Texas data center
2023 status: under construction.
Meta said its Temple facility represented an investment of more than $800 million. The company also described the project as one of its first data centers using a new design for next-generation AI systems.
That combination made Temple more significant than a conventional hyperscale expansion. It showed that AI was beginning to influence the physical design of data centers before the current AI infrastructure buildout had fully matured.
Meta anticipated more than 1,200 construction workers at peak construction and approximately 100 permanent operational jobs after completion. Those figures also demonstrate the need to distinguish temporary construction employment from long-term facility employment.
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The project’s construction implications included higher-density electrical and cooling requirements, more complex equipment testing, and the need to validate the facility against workloads that could evolve during the build. Meta’s announcement is the primary source for the project’s investment, workforce, and AI-design claims: Meta’s Temple construction update.
4. Prime Data Center Campus in Elk Grove Village, Illinois
2023 status: construction began in January; approximately $1 billion listed in Construction Dive’s sample.
The Prime Data Center Campus was the largest listed 2023 U.S. start in Construction Dive’s review, at approximately $1 billion. Its importance was partly architectural and partly commercial: it broadened the construction story beyond facilities built directly for hyperscalers.
Private developers, wholesale colocation providers, build-to-suit specialists, tenants, and eventual owners can occupy different roles in a project. Those roles matter when interpreting investment figures, capacity claims, and construction milestones. A developer’s campus investment is not automatically equivalent to one tenant’s completed building or to 2023 construction spending.
The Elk Grove Village project also reflects the value of established data-center markets. Existing connectivity, contractor familiarity, customer demand, and regional infrastructure can support development, while land availability, power capacity, permitting, and local impacts still shape the schedule.
5. Meta Stanton Springs Data Center Phase 1
2023 status: construction start.
Construction Dive listed Facebook Stanton Springs Data Center Phase 1 in Social Circle, Georgia, at approximately $642 million. The project showed that the largest construction activity was not limited to Northern Virginia or Silicon Valley.
Its significance was geographic as well as financial. Large campuses can bring new contracting opportunities and investment to secondary markets, but they also require extensive coordination with utilities, roads, local authorities, and surrounding communities.
The “Phase 1” designation is important. It indicates that the reported figure should not automatically be compared with a full campus investment elsewhere. Data-center projects may be described by building, phase, campus, tenant, or construction package, and those scopes must be kept separate.
6. Meta Sarpy Data Center Building 3
2023 status: construction start.
Construction Dive listed Meta Sarpy Data Center Building 3 in Springfield, Nebraska, at approximately $600 million. Unlike a one-off facility, Building 3 represented continued development of a multi-building campus.
Campus construction can provide efficiencies because roads, security, electrical infrastructure, cooling support, and other site systems may be planned across multiple buildings. It can also create more complicated phasing requirements: active facilities must remain protected while new buildings, feeders, pipelines, and construction traffic are introduced.
The Sarpy project therefore represented a broader 2023 trend toward repeatable, phased delivery. Standardization can accelerate construction, but it does not eliminate site-specific constraints such as utility capacity, weather, labor availability, permitting, or equipment lead times.
7. Amazon’s Hilliard, Ohio data-center buildings
2023 status: construction began in January.
Construction Dive listed Amazon Data Farm buildings in Hilliard, Ohio, at approximately $515 million. The project was part of the continuing shift toward Midwest hyperscale construction.
Midwest markets can offer large parcels and access to regional infrastructure, but a project’s viability still depends on the details of utility service, interconnection timing, transmission capacity, tax and land-use conditions, water, workforce, and community expectations. Those factors should be evaluated project by project rather than generalized across the entire state.
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8. QTS’s Phoenix campus expansion
2023 status: campus planned to grow to five data centers; development continued in phases.
QTS reported that its Phoenix development had grown from one facility into a planned campus of five data centers. That made the project a useful example of how operators can phase capacity rather than deliver an entire ultimate campus at once.
Phasing can allow a developer to align construction with customer demand, utility delivery, financing, and equipment procurement. It also creates a long-term planning obligation: the roads, substations, cooling strategy, stormwater systems, and site logistics must accommodate future buildings without disrupting operating facilities.
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QTS described the milestone in its 2023 construction recap.
9. QTS’s $1 billion York County, South Carolina investment
2023 status: announced investment; not treated as verified 2023 construction spending.
In September 2023, QTS announced a $1 billion investment in York County, South Carolina. The project represented the continued geographic expansion of large-scale data-center development into new markets.
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The wording matters. An announced investment is generally a long-term project commitment or ceiling, not a receipt showing that the full amount was spent in the announcement year. Projects can be phased, delayed, redesigned, sold, or reduced.
York County belongs in a 2023 retrospective because the announcement showed how competition for data-center activity was spreading geographically. It also highlighted the importance of site selection: power, fiber, land, workforce, permitting, tax treatment, water, and local political support must align before construction can proceed at scale.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.10. The PW Digital Gateway and the Quantum Loophole dispute
2023 status: major land-use approval in Virginia; a separate Maryland project was constrained by permitting and environmental requirements.
Not every consequential construction story is a groundbreaking. In Prince William County, Virginia, officials voted in favor of rezoning for the PW Digital Gateway, a proposed development covering approximately 2,133 acres. QTS and Compass planned millions of square feet of data-center space, according to Data Center Dynamics’ year-end analysis.
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The same year, Data Center Dynamics reported that Aligned withdrew from the Quantum Loophole project in Maryland after the state limited the number of diesel generators it could deploy. That dispute provided a necessary counterweight to optimistic announcements: environmental rules and backup-power requirements can materially change a project’s design or economics.
Together, the two cases showed that the construction pipeline is governed by public decisions as well as private capital.
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What these projects revealed about data-center construction
Power became the primary schedule risk
A data center is not merely a building connected to an existing electrical service. Developers must plan for utility interconnection, substations, transmission, distribution, backup generation, fuel supply, renewable procurement, and testing. The relevant capacity may refer to critical IT load, utility service, mechanical and electrical capacity, or ultimate campus capacity; those figures are not interchangeable.
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1Fix the driver behind crashes, sound loss and screen glitches2Clear out junk files and repair common Windows errors3Scan for outdated or missing drivers - takes under a minuteIn 2023, a site with available land but no credible path to power could be less valuable than a smaller site with a deliverable interconnection schedule. This shifted site selection toward infrastructure certainty.
AI changed the building, not just the customer list
AI workloads affect rack density, cooling, electrical distribution, floor loading, network topology, redundancy, and commissioning. Some facilities may be designed for high-density computing from the start; others may require retrofits that are constrained by existing structural, electrical, and mechanical systems.
Meta’s Temple project was especially notable because the operator explicitly linked its design to next-generation AI systems. That is stronger evidence than simply labeling any new hyperscale building an “AI data center.”
Campuses became the dominant delivery model
Microsoft Mount Pleasant, Meta Sarpy, QTS Phoenix, and other projects show the appeal of multi-building campuses. Shared infrastructure and repeatable designs can improve delivery efficiency, but campuses also magnify demands for power, water, roads, construction labor, security, and community engagement.
Construction status needed precise language
These terms describe different milestones:
- Announced: the developer or operator disclosed an intention or investment.
- Approved: a public authority granted a relevant land-use or planning approval.
- Permitted: specified work received required permits.
- Site-prepared: grading, excavation, utilities, or related enabling work began.
- Under construction: building work was actively progressing.
- Completed or delivered: the facility reached a defined construction milestone.
- Commissioned: systems were tested and accepted for operation.
- Operational: the facility was serving its intended workload or customers.
In particular, ceremonial groundbreaking, site preparation, foundation work, substantial completion, commissioning, and commercial operations should not be treated as synonyms.
Water, emissions, and resilience became construction issues
Cooling design must be evaluated alongside local climate, water availability, energy use, backup generation, emissions, and resilience. Phoenix demonstrates why a favorable site cannot be judged on land cost alone. Environmental and community concerns can also reshape a project, as the Quantum Loophole dispute illustrated.
Labor and supply chains affected delivery
Data-center construction requires specialized electrical, mechanical, controls, commissioning, and technology expertise. In 2023, labor retention and shortages were among the barriers identified in broader industry coverage. Transformers, generators, switchgear, and other critical equipment also faced supply constraints, making early procurement and design coordination increasingly important.
How to interpret 2023 investment figures
Reported dollar values are useful indicators of scale, but they should not be read as directly comparable without understanding scope. A $1 billion campus, a $1 billion multi-building investment, a single building valued at $600 million, and an announced long-term program may describe very different commitments.
For every project, ask:
- Does the figure cover one building, one phase, or the entire campus?
- Is it an announced investment, estimated project value, or verified construction spending?
- Does it include land, utility infrastructure, tenant fit-out, and future phases?
- Is capacity measured in facility megawatts, critical IT load, or ultimate campus capacity?
- Was the milestone a public announcement, a permit, site work, foundation work, opening, or commissioning?
This discipline prevents announced capacity from being mistaken for delivered capacity and avoids double-counting the same campus across multiple announcements.
What 2023 revealed about the next phase of data-center construction
The most important projects of 2023 were not necessarily those with the largest announced price tags. They were the projects that demonstrated how difficult it had become to align demand with deliverable infrastructure.
AI increased the urgency. Hyperscalers and colocation developers expanded into new regions. Campus construction and repeatable designs offered a path to scale. But power availability, equipment, labor, water, permitting, financing, and community support increasingly determined which proposals could move from announcement to construction and from construction to operation.
For developers, contractors, utilities, and investors, the central lesson was clear: the winning data-center project was the one that could secure the entire delivery chain—not merely a large parcel and a compelling demand forecast.
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