Executive summary
The U.S. AI data-center buildout continues to be defined by one binding constraint: power. As of Sep 29, 2026, we track 1,547 data-center facilities mapped from OpenStreetMap across 46 states, 436.5 GW of total U.S. grid demand across 7 ISO/RTO markets (~69% of U.S. load; data centers are a growing share, not the whole), and 589 data-center–related legislative items across 45 states plus 52 federal. On the frontier, Epoch AI tracks 93 leading-edge data centers totaling roughly 13.5 GW of power.
Geographic concentration remains extreme: Virginia leads with 342 mapped facilities, and the top five states account for the bulk of activity. The leading generation source on the grid right now is Natural Gas at 44%. Policy is the emerging variable — moratoriums, zoning, and ratepayer-impact bills are rising across states as communities weigh the load growth.
Facilities & geography
Top states by mapped data-center facilities (OpenStreetMap, ODbL):
| State | Facilities | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Virginia | 342 | 22.1% |
| Texas | 140 | 9.0% |
| Oregon | 133 | 8.6% |
| California | 111 | 7.2% |
| Ohio | 90 | 5.8% |
| Washington | 65 | 4.2% |
| Arizona | 61 | 3.9% |
| Iowa | 59 | 3.8% |
| Illinois | 51 | 3.3% |
| New Jersey | 48 | 3.1% |
Power & grid demand
Live electricity demand by ISO/RTO (EIA), totaling 436.5 GW across 7 markets. The California ISO daily peak is roughly 34 GW.
| ISO / RTO | Demand (GW) |
|---|---|
| PJM | 87.7 |
| MISO | 71.9 |
| ERCOT | 57.9 |
| SPP | 31.8 |
| CAISO | 22.9 |
| NYISO | 15.7 |
| ISO-NE | 12.8 |
U.S. generation mix (share of output):
| Source | Share |
|---|---|
| Natural Gas | 44% |
| Nuclear | 18.4% |
| Coal | 16.6% |
| Solar | 7.5% |
| Wind | 6.6% |
| Hydro | 4.7% |
| Other | 2.3% |
Policy landscape
589 tracked data-center bills across 45 states and 52 federal items (LegiScan, CC BY). States with the most activity:
| State | Tracked bills |
|---|---|
| Michigan | 49 |
| Pennsylvania | 46 |
| New Jersey | 44 |
| Virginia | 43 |
| Minnesota | 31 |
| New York | 23 |
| Illinois | 22 |
| Tennessee | 19 |
Capital & companies
Recent tracked deals, financings, and PPAs:
| Company | Event | Date |
|---|---|---|
| Nvidia / KKR | Samsung to inject $1 billion into Nvidia- and KKR-backed AI infrastructure firm | 2026-09-29 |
| Amazon | Amazon to acquire two data centers in Hong Kong | 2026-09-29 |
| — | Samsung Invests $1 Billion in US AI Infrastructure Firm Helix | 2026-09-29 |
| Lambda | Lambda plans data center in Oklahoma | 2026-09-29 |
| Broadcom | Hybrid Photonic Integrated Circuit Market Size, Share, Growth, and Forecast, … | 2026-09-29 |
| — | Samsung Group to invest US$1 billion in AI infrastructure company Helix | 2026-09-29 |
| Alphabet | Crusoe Developing Data Center Campus in Armstrong County, Texas | 2026-09-28 |
| Meta / Vantage | Can Meta’s C$13 Billion Alberta Bet Strengthen its AI Infrastructure Advantage? | 2026-09-28 |
Recent SEC filings referencing data centers (EDGAR):
| Company | Form | Date |
|---|---|---|
| Hut 8 Corp. HUT | 8-K | 2026-09-28 |
| Hyperscale Data, Inc. | 8-K | 2026-09-18 |
| CoreWeave, Inc. CRWV | 8-K | 2026-09-17 |
| AIB Data Centers Inc. AIB | 8-K | 2026-09-11 |
| AIB Data Centers Inc. AIB | 8-K | 2026-09-10 |
| Vertiv Holdings Co VRT | 8-K | 2026-09-02 |
Frontier compute
The largest known frontier data centers by reported power capacity (Epoch AI, CC BY 4.0); Epoch also tracks 3,624 notable AI models:
| Facility | Operator | MW | Country |
|---|---|---|---|
| Colossus 2 | xAI | 946 | United States |
| Anthropic-Amazon New Carlisle | Amazon | 910 | United States |
| Microsoft Fairwater Atlanta | Microsoft | 636 | United States |
| Meta Prometheus | Meta | 496 | United States |
| OpenAI Stargate Abilene | Oracle | 421 | United States |
| Microsoft Fairwater Wisconsin | Microsoft | 369 | United States |
| Google Pryor (North) | 368 | United States | |
| Colossus 1 | xAI | 340 | United States |
| Google New Albany | 333 | United States | |
| DayOne Kempas | — | 322 | Malaysia |
Methodology & sources
This report is generated from the same data behind the live dashboards, aggregated from available public sources and proprietary data feeds: facility locations from OpenStreetMap (ODbL); electricity demand and generation mix from the U.S. EIA; legislation from LegiScan (CC BY); deals, equities, and SEC filings via market-data and EDGAR feeds; and frontier-compute figures from Epoch AI (CC BY 4.0). Figures reflect the data as of Sep 29, 2026 and update as the underlying sources refresh. See the full methodology. This report is informational only and not investment advice — see our disclaimer.