Data center development is driving a growing share of U.S. industrial leasing activity, particularly near facilities where construction and infrastructure suppliers are located, as per a report by CoStar Group, a global provider of commercial and residential real estate information, analytics, and online marketplaces.
In a press release, CoStar said that the development boom is also affecting nearby logistics properties as companies tied to the data center industry accounted for more than 6 percent of leasing activity at logistics properties within five miles of data center facilities in 2026, compared with less than 3 percent in 2020.
According to the report, the activity spans several types of businesses, including construction companies, power and cooling equipment suppliers, data center operators and IT infrastructure providers. This is significant as the U.S. has 69 GW of existing data center capacity, with another 43 GW under construction.
“The data center industry remains one of the fastest-growing segments of commercial real estate, Vacancy remains near historic lows as demand from hyperscale cloud providers and AI-related users continues to outpace new supply. Hyperscale facilities now account for 64 percent of existing capacity, underscoring the scale at which major technology companies are expanding their infrastructure footprints,” said Juan Arias, national director of industrial analytics, CoStar Group.
“Many of these markets coincide with established or emerging data center hubs where abundant land, infrastructure investments, and relatively favorable power economics have attracted large-scale development. Operators are increasingly prioritizing locations with access to new electrical generation, substations, and transmission infrastructure as they seek to bring capacity online. As a result, demand is extending beyond data center buildings themselves and into the broader supply chain required to construct and operate them.”
Dallas-Fort Worth has seen the largest increase among major U.S. markets, with 10 million square feet of occupied logistics space leased by data center-related industries since 2025. Houston, Atlanta and Phoenix follow.