No American city is adding data centers faster than Richmond, Virginia, and the gap is only growing.
Richmond’s data center inventory surged more than sevenfold in the first half of the year, adding more capacity than any other U.S. market, according to Avison Young.
The region jumped from just over 100 megawatts to more than 800 MW in less than six months, transforming the capital city from a digital backwater into one of the nation’s most important infrastructure hubs.
But Richmond’s meteoric rise may be nearing its first real test.
The same factors that ignited its boom — cheap land, grid access and political will — are starting to generate friction. Power is tightening. Labor is limited. And after a blitz of megaprojects, residents and local officials are beginning to push back, reshaping the region’s once-permissive development environment.
That comes as a wave of new data centers is slated for the Richmond area and as growth accelerates amid mounting power constraints in Northern Virginia, the world’s largest data center market.
Click here to read the rest of the article written by Dan Rabb over at Bisnow
