US data center capacity additions are accelerating to levels that dwarf recent years, according to Bloom Energy's 2026 Data Center Power Report. Year over year additions are projected to reach 13.6 gigawatts in 2026 and 36.3 gigawatts in 2027, a sharp step up from 6.4 gigawatts realized in 2024 and 8.5 gigawatts in 2025.

The pace within 2026 is front loaded toward the back half of the year. About 2.2 gigawatts of new capacity came online in the first quarter, with roughly 11.5 gigawatts more projected across the final three quarters. Total US data center power demand is expected to rise from about 31 gigawatts in 2025 to 41 gigawatts in 2026, lifting the sector's share of peak summer power demand from 4.1 percent to 5.3 percent.

Power availability has become the binding constraint on growth. The report frames electricity access, rather than land or capital, as the factor that increasingly determines where and how fast operators can build. That reality has pushed developers toward on-site generation, long term utility contracts, and markets with spare grid capacity.

The strain is uneven across regions. Areas where planned generation additions lag incoming data center load face the highest reliability risk, and the resulting competition for power is influencing site selection nationwide. With more than 700 facilities under construction across 38 states, the buildout is reshaping utility planning and capital allocation. The data describes an industry where securing megawatts has become as strategic as securing the computing hardware that consumes them.

Source: Bloom Energy - https://www.bloomenergy.com/wp-content/uploads/2026-power-report.pdf