Building a 1GW AI Data Center in the US Could Cost 30.7 Billion Dollars

AI power demands keep growing, and the cost of building data centers is drawing wide attention. Bloomberg Intelligence recently released a cost report on AI data centers. Using data from Cushman & Wakefield plus its own analysis, it estimated the cost of building a 1GW data center in Abilene, Texas, the US.

The total cost could reach 30.7 billion dollars. Chips and server hardware take up more than half at 17.1 billion dollars. Power supply infrastructure needs 3 billion dollars, cooling systems 1.66 billion dollars, and network cabling 1.07 billion dollars.

Other costs include 180 million dollars for land, 361 million dollars for design, 2.4 billion dollars for construction, 2.79 billion dollars for contingency, 175 million dollars for commissioning, and 382 million dollars in misc fees. Hardware remains the biggest cost item.