More data center leaders are reducing their reliance on utility grids by investing in onsite power for rapidly scaling data centers, according to the Data Center Power Report from Bloom Energy.
The report also revealed that power availability is driving data center development decisions as the industry moves into a new set of power-friendly regions. Together, these findings suggest a significant structural market shift for "AI factories" and other high-density data centers.
The report's findings indicate that:
Power availability is creating new geographic winners and losers
Texas is poised to capture nearly 30% of U.S. data center market share by 2028 and Georgia's market share is expected to grow by 75% (from 4% of the total data center market to 7%) as developers expand deeper into the Southeast. In contrast, California, Oregon, Iowa, and Nebraska's respective relative market shares are expected to drop by more than 50%.
More data centers are approaching gigawatt scale
Over 50% of new data center campuses are predicted to exceed 500 MW by 2035 and nearly one-third of new data center campuses to exceed 1 GW, with each 1 GW campus consuming roughly as much electricity as the entirety of San Francisco.
The power expectation gap is widening in key hubs
Utilities project delivery timelines are approximately 1.5-2 years longer than hyperscalers and colocation providers expect. Over the past six months, the expectation gap has widened in three critical hubs – Northern Virginia, the Bay Area, and Atlanta.
Data center developers plan to make big bets in off-grid power
Hyperscalers and colocation providers expect that roughly one-third of data centers in 2030 will use 100% onsite power, a 22% increase from the previous report six months ago. Developers surveyed believe that, by 2030, onsite power will be a leading solution to minimizing development timelines and costs.
Higher-voltage and DC electrical architectures are moving from roadmap to reality
As AI campuses scale to gigawatts, operators are redesigning power systems to handle denser loads and faster build schedules. 45% of respondents expect to adopt direct-current (DC) distribution architectures in their new data centers by 2028. These designs are likely to be incorporated into data centers entering development this year.
"Data center and AI factory developers can't afford delays. Our analysis and survey results show that they're moving into power-advantaged regions where capacity can be secured faster—and increasingly designing campuses to operate independently of the grid," said Natalie Sunderland, Bloom Energy's Chief Marketing Officer. "The surge in AI demand creates a clear opportunity for states that can adapt to support large-scale AI deployments at speed."
Methodology: The 2026 Bloom Energy Data Center Power report is based on surveys commissioned via a double-blind process between Bloom Energy and respondents. Surveys were conducted in November 2025 with 152 decision-makers across the data center power ecosystem, reflecting perspectives from hyperscalers, colocation developers, utilities, and GPU service providers. Interviews were also conducted with industry leaders to pressure test findings and assess real-world implications.