# The U.S. AI data center pipeline: 285 GW across 294 projects

By Spezia. Published November 10, 2026. Updated November 10, 2026. Data as of November 9, 2026.
Canonical page: https://spezia.ai/blog/us-ai-data-center-pipeline

## The short answer

As of November 9, 2026, Spezia tracks 294 U.S. data center projects that are not yet operating and report a size. Together they plan 285 GW. 116 are under construction (88.6 GW), 42 are approved and 96 are only announced. Capacity is concentrated: the 87 projects of 1 GW or more, 30% of all projects, hold 80% of it.

- 294 projects plan 285 GW, after records of the same project are merged.
- 31% of the capacity is under construction. 46% is only announced.
- The typical project plans 400 MW, but the average is 969 MW because of the largest projects.
- The 87 projects of 1 GW or more hold 80% of the capacity. The ten largest hold 32%.
- Power is the main limit on 53% of the capacity, more than permits, money and opposition combined.

## How big is the U.S. AI data center pipeline?

As of November 9, 2026, Spezia tracks **294 U.S. data center projects** that are not yet operating and report a size. Together they plan **285 GW** of capacity. One gigawatt (GW) is 1,000 megawatts (MW).

- **285 GW**: planned across the whole pipeline
- **294**: projects, with duplicate records merged
- **116**: under construction, planning 88.6 GW
- **87**: projects of 1 GW or more, holding 80% of the capacity

The tracker held 1,052 project records in the research run of November 9, 2026. This count leaves out projects that already operate and projects that report no size. It also merges records of the same project, which the tracker sees under several names. A project counts once if two records share a state, have capacities within 5% of each other and do not name different cities.

Capacity here is the **planned full build-out**. A campus that plans 1 GW may switch on in phases over several years, so this is a measure of intent and size, not of power drawn today.

The U.S. Census Bureau's preliminary data put private data center construction at a record seasonally adjusted annual rate of about $96.5 billion in September 2026, up about 90% from a year earlier by [FourWeekMBA's calculation](https://fourweekmba.com/ai-us-data-center-construction-hit-a-record-96-5b-rate/). A tally of Amazon, Alphabet, Meta, Microsoft and SpaceX puts their 2026 capital spending at $803 billion to $828 billion, covering all capital spending, not only AI, according to [Hargreaves Lansdown](https://www.hl.co.uk/news/ai-hyperscalers-are-expected-to-finish-the-year-spending-a-whopping-828-billion-on-capex), republishing Business Insider. The pipeline below is where that money lands.

## How much of the pipeline is being built?

Less than a third of the capacity. 116 projects are under construction and plan 88.6 GW, which is 31% of the total. Another 42 projects (44.8 GW) have the approvals they need. The largest group by capacity is the one with the least behind it: 96 projects, 132.0 GW, announced and nothing more.

| Stage | Projects | Planned capacity | Share of capacity |
| --- | ---: | ---: | ---: |
| Under construction | 116 | 88.6 GW | 31% |
| Approved | 42 | 44.8 GW | 16% |
| Announced | 96 | 132.0 GW | 46% |
| Blocked or paused | 11 | 8.5 GW | 3% |
| Stage not clear from the sources | 29 | 11.1 GW | 4% |

The later the stage, the smaller the plan. Projects under construction average 764 MW. Approved projects average 1,067 MW. Announced projects average 1,375 MW.

**Average planned size, by stage**

| | Value | Note |
| --- | ---: | --- |
| Under construction | 764 MW | 116 projects |
| Approved | 1,067 MW | 42 projects |
| Announced | 1,375 MW | 96 projects |

*Planned capacity divided by projects in each stage. Source: Spezia tracker.*

There are two ways to read this. Large plans may be harder to build, so fewer of them reach construction. Or announcements may be sized larger than what is finally built. The data cannot separate the two. Both lead to the same rule: weigh a plan by its stage, not by its headline size.

## Why do the largest projects hold most of the capacity?

Because the sizes are very uneven. The typical project plans 400 MW. The average is 969 MW. The gap is the giants.

| Size | Projects | Share of projects | Planned capacity | Share of capacity |
| --- | ---: | ---: | ---: | ---: |
| Under 500 MW | 174 | 59% | 34.6 GW | 12% |
| 500 MW to 1 GW | 33 | 11% | 21.2 GW | 7% |
| 1 GW and up | 87 | 30% | 229.2 GW | 80% |

The ten largest projects alone plan 90.4 GW, or 32% of the pipeline. 37 projects plan 2 GW or more, and 13 plan 5 GW or more.

This matters for anyone who quotes the national total. A change in the fortunes of a few large projects moves the 285 GW figure more than hundreds of small ones. The project count is the steadier number. The gigawatt count is the more fragile one.

## What is holding the pipeline back?

Power. Spezia's model reads each project's sources and names the one thing most likely to hold it back. Power is that thing for 96 projects and 53% of the capacity. Permits come second. Only 15% of the capacity is on track with nothing in the way.

**Share of planned capacity, by main constraint**

| | Value | Note |
| --- | ---: | --- |
| Power | 53% | 96 projects, 152.2 GW |
| Permits | 20% | 54 projects, 57.7 GW |
| On track | 15% | 115 projects, 42.5 GW |
| Financing, opposition, equipment and labor | 11% | 29 projects, 32.6 GW |

*Groups under 25 projects (financing, opposition, equipment, labor) are combined, because a model's judgment is not published for groups that small. Source: Spezia tracker.*

The constraint is not spread evenly. It gets worse with size, and the gigawatt campuses are the ones most often waiting on the grid. That is the subject of [the gigawatt power wall](https://spezia.ai/blog/gigawatt-data-center-power-wall). For where the capacity sits on the map, see [the state-by-state breakdown](https://spezia.ai/blog/data-center-capacity-by-state).

## How should you use a pipeline number?

Four habits keep a pipeline figure honest.

1. **Split it by stage.** A gigawatt that is under construction and a gigawatt that is announced are different things. Ask for both.
2. **Check the top ten.** If a few projects carry the total, the total is only as firm as they are.
3. **Ask for the power date.** A signed interconnection date says more than a groundbreaking. [Power plants near these projects](https://spezia.ai/blog/power-plants-near-data-centers) shows where new supply is being planned.
4. **Look at the date on the data.** This pipeline changes every week. A figure with no date is a guess about the past.

If you sell into the build-out, finance it or regulate it, [this checklist for vetting a project](https://spezia.ai/blog/how-to-vet-a-data-center-project) turns the same ideas into questions to ask.

Filter these 294 projects by state, stage and size, and open the sources behind each one. [Open the data center tracker](https://spezia.ai/tools/buildout)

## What does the tracker show today?

The block below is read live from the tracker's latest research run, which can be newer than the November 9 run behind the analysis above. Its counts are raw records, not merged projects, so they are larger. The note in the block explains the difference.

**The tracker right now** (data read Nov 9, 2026)

Raw project records in Spezia's latest research run, which can be newer than the run behind the analysis above. The counts include projects that already operate, projects with no reported size and several records of one project, so they are larger than the merged counts in the analysis.

- **1,047**: project records tracked
- **408**: approved or under construction
- **204.6 GW**: capacity in those projects
- **41**: states with active projects

*By stage*

| Stage | Projects |
| --- | --- |
| Announced | 343 |
| Approved | 118 |
| Under construction | 290 |
| Operational | 91 |
| Blocked or paused | 27 |
| Stage not yet known | 178 |

*Most approved or under-construction projects*

| State | Projects |
| --- | --- |
| TX | 84 |
| VA | 25 |
| IN | 20 |
| MS | 15 |
| CO | 14 |

## How this was made

Spezia's project tracker reads public filings, permits and reporting, and keeps every fact with the sentence it was read from. This analysis covers U.S. data center projects that are not yet operating and report a capacity, with records of the same project merged (same state, capacity within 5%, no conflicting city). Capacity is the planned full build-out. A project's main constraint is Spezia's model reading its sources, and it is shown only for groups of 25 projects or more.

## Frequently asked questions

### How many AI data centers are being built in the U.S.?

As of November 9, 2026, Spezia tracks 116 U.S. data center projects under construction that report a size, planning 88.6 GW. Another 42 are approved and 96 are announced. These are projects, not buildings, and many are campuses with several halls.

### How much power will the planned data centers need?

The 294 projects plan 285 GW at full build-out. That is the size developers have filed or announced, built in phases over several years. It is not the power they draw today, and not all of it will be built.

### Why does Spezia count 294 projects when it tracks 1,052 records?

The records include projects that already operate, projects with no reported size, and several records of the same project under different names. Spezia merges records of one project and counts only projects not yet operating that report a size.

### What does announced mean?

Announced means a developer or owner has said it plans the project, with no approval or construction found in the sources yet. It is the earliest stage and the cheapest to claim, which is why this analysis separates it from approved and under-construction projects.

### How often is this data updated?

The tracker is researched again every week, and build-out news is read twice a day. This post shows the day its data was read and is updated when the numbers move.

## Sources

1. [Spezia U.S. data center project tracker, research run of November 9, 2026](https://spezia.ai/tools/buildout), Spezia
2. [US Data Center Construction Hit a Record $96.5B Rate](https://fourweekmba.com/ai-us-data-center-construction-hit-a-record-96-5b-rate/), FourWeekMBA, citing U.S. Census Bureau (secondary)
3. [AI hyperscalers are expected to finish the year spending $828 billion on capex](https://www.hl.co.uk/news/ai-hyperscalers-are-expected-to-finish-the-year-spending-a-whopping-828-billion-on-capex), Business Insider, via Hargreaves Lansdown

## Cite this

Spezia. "The U.S. AI data center pipeline: 285 GW across 294 projects" Spezia, November 10, 2026. https://spezia.ai/blog/us-ai-data-center-pipeline