U.S. commercial builders are redirecting nearly all new construction capacity toward data centers, with over 85% of new projects in 2025 allocated to tech infrastructure. This pivot reflects surging demand from major cloud providers and AI developers.
- 85% of new commercial construction projects in 2025 were data centers
- AMZN, MSFT, and GOOGL are major drivers of data center expansion
- Construction material demand for data centers up 40% YoY
- Office vacancy rates reached 19.4% in Q4 2025
- Data centers now consume 4% of U.S. electricity output
- 120 new data centers projected to break ground annually through 2027
A structural realignment in the U.S. commercial construction sector is underway, with builders increasingly allocating resources exclusively to data center development. Industry data indicates that 85% of new commercial construction projects initiated in 2025 were data centers, up from just 30% in 2021. This shift is driven by sustained demand from tech giants including Amazon (AMZN), Microsoft (MSFT), and Google (GOOGL), each expanding global infrastructure to support generative AI and cloud workloads. The surge in data center construction has created a ripple effect across related sectors. Demand for specialized steel, cooling systems, and high-capacity electrical infrastructure has increased by 40% year-over-year, according to supply chain reports. Construction firms that once diversified across office, retail, and industrial spaces now report near-total redirection of labor and capital toward data center projects. This has led to a backlog of non-tech construction, with office vacancy rates in major metros rising to 19.4% in Q4 2025, the highest in a decade. Investors are taking notice. The real estate investment trust (REIT) sector focused on data centers, such as Digital Realty and Equinix, have seen their equity values rise by 28% and 34%, respectively, over the past 12 months. Meanwhile, the SPDR Real Estate ETF (XLRE) has underperformed the broader S&P 500, reflecting the sector’s imbalance. The shift also impacts energy markets, with data centers consuming 4% of U.S. electricity—equivalent to the output of 50 nuclear reactors—and driving demand for LNG-based power solutions. The trend is expected to persist through 2027, with analysts projecting that 120 new data centers will break ground annually. This structural reallocation raises concerns about long-term resiliency in commercial real estate outside tech infrastructure and may influence future capital allocation across construction, materials, and energy sectors.