Metro Atlanta saw a record level of data center construction in 2025, though recent trends indicate that growth is starting to slow. According to real estate services firm CBRE, the region had nearly 3,968 megawatts of data center capacity under construction last year, marking a 15 percent increase from 2024. This keeps Atlanta second only to Northern Virginia in terms of U.S. market size for data centers and represents a significant jump from its sixth-place ranking three years ago.
However, CBRE’s data show that the pace of new construction has begun to taper off. While there was a surge in late 2024, activity declined during the first half of 2025 before recovering somewhat later in the year. Even with this rebound, the final six months of 2025 were about 4 percent lower than the same period a year earlier. Nationwide, server farm construction also experienced a slight slowdown—the first annual decline since the disruptions caused by the pandemic in 2020.
Despite these shifts, Atlanta remains unique among major markets: it currently has more data center space under construction than is operational. Analysts attribute this continued demand to the region’s adaptable digital infrastructure, which supports both large-scale hyperscale centers and smaller carrier hubs. Demand remains strong from artificial intelligence as well as cloud computing operators. Vacancy rates for data centers are at just 2 percent—significantly lower than those seen in office or industrial properties—even after an additional 460 megawatts came online during the latter half of 2025.
Georgia Power, the state’s largest utility provider, recently reduced its electricity forecast for committed data center customers by 900 megawatts through late-2028 due to industry bottlenecks. Nonetheless, Georgia Power is moving forward with a previously approved expansion that will add 10,000 megawatts of generation capacity—most of it intended for use by data centers.
Mike Lash, senior vice president of CBRE Data Center Solutions, told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution that “physical constraints in the process of building data centers are a separate issue from demand for them.” Pat Lynch, CBRE’s executive managing director, added that “power and supply chain shortages are enforcing a power-first site selection strategy.”
— Eric Weilbacher
