DALLAS – North Texas has beaten some of the world’s biggest data center hubs to claim the No.1 spot in a new global ranking, as Texas becomes an increasingly powerful player in the industry.Dallas ranked No.
1 in the 2026 Global Data Center Market Comparison by Cushman & Wakefield, a global commercial real estate services firm.The Lone Star State made a strong showing across the board, with Austin-San Antonio and West Texas also ranking first in their respective categories.The rankings underscore how quickly Texas has become a major destination for data center development as companies search for the land and electricity needed to support artificial intelligence and other computing.
Cushman & Wakefield said the state is growing at a pace that could eventually match, or surpass, Virginia, the world’s largest data center market by operating capacity.ONE OF AMERICA'S OLDEST MANUFACTURERS SAYS AI IS CREATING JOBS — NOT REPLACING THEMThe AI boom is accelerating demand for data centers across Texas as companies seek more space, power and infrastructure to support increasingly intensive computing needs.(Brandon Bell/Getty Images)Dallas isn't the world's largest data center market.
Despite Dallas’ No.1 ranking, Virginia remains the world’s largest data center market based on the amount of capacity already in operation.Cushman & Wakefield’s ranking, however, looks beyond sheer size to where the industry is positioned to grow.
The commercial real estate services firm compared 107 markets on factors including access to power and land, projects under construction, existing infrastructure and the regulatory environment.Dallas has one of the largest pipelines of planned data center development, trailing only Virginia and Atlanta, according to the report.And that development is spreading across Texas.Cushman & Wakefield said activity has pushed outward from the long-established Dallas-Fort Worth market as companies search for vast amounts of land ...