The AI data center buildout, tracked from the source.

Data center projects, grid demand, power, policy, and capital flows across the U.S. AI infrastructure boom — aggregated from available public sources and proprietary data feeds, with every figure traceable to its source.

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1,547 U.S. data centers mapped · OpenStreetMap
1,547 U.S. data centers
FrontierLive · Featured
Colossus 2
United States · ~$35.8B capital cost
DeveloperxAI
Capacity946 MW
StatusFrontier
Utility—
SourceEpoch AI
ConfidenceHigh
Announced—
View source →

Live infrastructure dashboard

U.S. Grid Demand

Hourly live
522 GW · U.S. now · 07:00
PJM99.3 GW
MISO84 GW
ERCOT66 GW
SPP41 GW
CAISO28.3 GW
NYISO17.3 GW
ISO-NE13.3 GW
7 ISO markets ≈ 67% of U.S. loadPower

Grid Load Hotspots

Demand by ISO live
High Elevated Moderate Low
7 ISO markets · live demandPower

CAISO Grid Load

Intraday curve · 2026-08-14 live
28.3 GW · now · 07:00
08h12h16h20h00h04h

Top States by Data Centers

Facilities mapped
Virginia342
Texas140
Oregon133
California111
Ohio90
View full map

Power Source Breakdown

U.S. generation mix live
635 GW
US now
Natural Gas 44.7% Coal 16.9% Nuclear 15.3% Wind 9.1% Solar 7.1% Hydro 4.6% Other 2.2%
Full energy mix
PROJECTS
1,547as of Jun 17, 2026
What changed
Virginia leads with 342 mapped facilities.
Why it matters
Pipeline growth remains strong across key markets.
View map & projects
POWER
522 GWlive
What changed
Total U.S. grid demand of 522 GW (07:00) across 7 ISO markets (67% of national load) — the base data centers are a growing share of, not a data-center-only figure.
Why it matters
AI workloads are driving historic power demand.
View power dashboard
POLICY
538live
Latest bill
CA AB1577: Data centers: reporting.
Why it matters
Policy risk is rising in multiple key states.
View policy tracker
CAPITAL
$473.9Bas of Aug 14, 2026
What changed
82 frontier data centers tracked — Colossus 2 leads at 946 MW.
Why it matters
Capital is fueling rapid infrastructure expansion.
View markets
COMPANIES
11as of Aug 14, 2026
What changed
Frontier AI labs tracked — Anthropic valued at $965B.
Why it matters
Competition is intensifying across the ecosystem.
View markets
TECHNOLOGY
23as of Aug 14, 2026
What changed
Google, Microsoft and Nvidia back 800V DC standard for AI data centers.
Why it matters
New tech is enabling higher density & efficiency.
View briefing

AI Infrastructure Brief

Recent data-center headlines · curated, as of Aug 14, 2026.

About this data — the U.S. AI data-center buildout

datacenters.builtfor.ai is a source-aware intelligence platform tracking the buildout of artificial-intelligence data-center infrastructure across the United States. We currently map 1,547 data-center facilities across 46 states and follow the power, policy, and capital shaping where and how AI infrastructure gets built — aggregated from available public sources and proprietary data feeds, and refreshed on a schedule, not hardcoded.

Power & the grid

Electricity is the binding constraint on AI data centers. As of Aug 14, 2026, U.S. grid demand was about 522 GW, which we track across 7 ISO/RTO markets covering roughly 67% of national load, using U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) and CAISO data. The leading generation sources at that time were Natural Gas (44.7%), Coal (16.9%), Nuclear (15.3%). For the live figure, see the power & grid dashboards.

Where data centers are built

The geographic footprint is concentrated: the leading states by mapped facilities are Virginia (342), Texas (140), Oregon (133), California (111), Ohio (90). See the full interactive U.S. data-center map and project list.

Policy & regulation

Data-center siting, power access, water use, and tax incentives are increasingly contested. We track 538 relevant state and federal bills via LegiScan in our policy tracker, refreshed hourly.

Companies & capital

The buildout is capital-intensive. We track 82 frontier data centers representing about 12.5 GW and $473.9B in capital expenditure (Epoch AI), and follow 6 public AI-infrastructure equities plus deals, financings, and SEC filings in markets — recently, Nvidia: Nvidia’s $500B AI Infrastructure Bet Raises Power Stakes.

Frequently asked questions

How many data centers are in the United States?

datacenters.builtfor.ai maps 1,547 U.S. data-center facilities across 46 states, sourced from OpenStreetMap. Virginia currently has the most mapped facilities.

How much electricity do U.S. data centers and the grid use?

As of Aug 14, 2026, U.S. electricity demand was about 522 GW, tracked across 7 ISO/RTO markets that cover roughly 67% of national load, using U.S. EIA and CAISO data; the live figure is on the power dashboard. The leading generation sources are Natural Gas (44.7%), Coal (16.9%), Nuclear (15.3%).

Which states have the most data centers?

By mapped facilities, the leading states are Virginia (342), Texas (140), Oregon (133), California (111), Ohio (90).

How is data-center policy changing?

We track 538 state and federal bills relevant to data-center siting, power, water, taxation, and transparency via LegiScan, refreshed hourly.

What companies and capital are driving the AI data-center buildout?

We follow 6 public AI-infrastructure equities alongside the latest deals and SEC filings — for example, Nvidia: Nvidia’s $500B AI Infrastructure Bet Raises Power Stakes.

Learn how we source and score every figure on our methodology page. This overview is generated from current data and updates as the underlying figures refresh.

DEAL TICKER
Nvidia Nvidia’s $500B AI Infrastructure Bet Raises Power Stakes 2026-08-13Nebius / Vantage Nebius to lease data center capacity from Vantage in Newport, Wales 2026-08-13— Form Energy raises $750m to expand West Virginia iron-air battery plant to me… 2026-08-13xAI Elon Musk says xAI will increase data center capacity 7x by 2027 — targeting … 2026-08-13— Former LBNL supercomputing facility in Oakland, California, targeted for 20MW… 2026-08-12— Landmark Dividend acquires data center in Jacksonville, Florida, for $8.1m 2026-08-12— 3.8 GW Load Drop Prompts Potential PJM Data Center Rules 2026-08-12— Bank of America is deploying $250 billion to finance U.S. data centers and en… 2026-08-12— PJM eyes data center, crypto reliability requirements after 3.8 GW of load tr… 2026-08-12— Siemens Energy to supply B&W with 1GW of steam turbine-generators for data ce… 2026-08-12Digital Realty Digital Core REIT to sell stakes in three US data centers back to Digital Rea… 2026-08-12— Data center operators sneak in pair of projects hours before moratorium enact… 2026-08-12Dominion Dominion ordered to directly assign some transmission costs to data centers 2026-08-12NVIDIA Nvidia Just Recruited Wall Street to Help Fund $500 Billion in AI Infrastruct… 2026-08-11Anthropic Riot Platforms strikes deal with Anthropic as bitcoin miners shift focus to A… 2026-08-11— EXCLUSIVE: Alpha Compute to buy Pennsylvania land, gas rights for $55 million… 2026-08-11Nvidia Stocks opened slightly higher Tuesday as Nvidia rallied on a $500 billion AI … 2026-08-11Macquarie / Anthropic GIC and Macquarie form Theseus Infrastructure to serve Anthropic's data cente… 2026-08-11Nvidia Nvidia and Wall Street team up on $500 billion bet on AI infrastructure | CNN… 2026-08-11Nvidia Nvidia teams up with financial giants to create $500 billion AI infrastructur… 2026-08-11Fluidstack Fluidstack shares details of planned data center in Sullivan County, Indiana 2026-08-11— US SEC exempts certain data center bonds from key securitization rules 2026-08-10— US tech leaders stage data center charm offensive 2026-08-10Nvidia Nvidia partners with lenders to finance AI infrastructure 2026-08-10Nvidia Nvidia Stock Falls. A $3 Billion AI Infrastructure Bet Could Be Next 2026-08-10Nvidia Nvidia teams up with Wall Street asset managers on $500 billion AI infrastruc… 2026-08-10— Hyundai Heavy Industries signs 1GW natural gas engine supply deal with unname… 2026-08-10— Energy Vault signs 1.25GW power supply deal with Texas data center developer 2026-08-10Nvidia Firebird.ai launches 300MW Nvidia-powered AI data center in Armenia 2026-08-10Meta Data centers are unpopular. Meta thinks it can solve that with a $1 billion f… 2026-08-10Amazon New Amazon Data Center Stokes Worry It Would Be the Most Polluting Power Plan… 2026-08-10Blackstone PPL-Blackstone joint venture secures 5 GW of gas turbines for data centers in… 2026-08-10— Pennsylvania utility PPL sees advanced-stage data center pipeline grow to 31.8GW 2026-08-10Amazon Amazon acquires 8,000-acre site in Pecos, Texas, for natural gas powered behi… 2026-08-10— Data center opens on tribal lands in California to support fiber network 2026-08-10— More Data Center Operators Commit to Abbott's Texas Standards as Power Compan… 2026-08-10Amazon Amazon’s new 7.65GW Texas AI data center power plant could become the largest… 2026-08-09Amazon Amazon is building a new AI data center in Texas that could become the countr… 2026-08-09— Runware Squeezes A 1MW AI Data Center Into A 20-Foot Shipping Container 2026-08-08Amazon An Amazon data center could have the worst polluting power plant in the country 2026-08-08
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