Answer extracted from the Real Estate Intelligence Daily — PropTech, Finance & Commercial Market Insights podcast — listen to the full episode below.
What is the projected scale of global data center capacity expansion and what are the average shell and core construction costs?
JLL forecasts nearly 100 gigawatts of global data center capacity additions between 2026 and 2030, driven by surging demand for AI infrastructure and cloud services. Shell and core construction costs are projected to average $11.3 million per megawatt in 2026, with annual modular and micro data center system sales potentially reaching $48 billion by 2030.
This expansion reflects a structural shift in real estate demand. As discussed in the episode, data centers have become mission-critical infrastructure, competing directly with traditional office and industrial properties for capital and development capacity. The scale of this buildout—100 gigawatts over five years—is not incremental; it represents a fundamental reallocation of construction resources and lending appetite toward technology infrastructure.
Construction costs matter because they determine project economics and feasibility. At $11.3 million per megawatt for shell and core, a 50-megawatt facility requires roughly $565 million in construction alone, before power systems, cooling infrastructure, and security. These capital requirements filter through lenders' underwriting standards, tightening approval criteria and raising the bar for operator credit quality and lease certainty—themes explored in depth across the broader commercial real estate market pressures covered in this podcast.
The emergence of modular and micro data center systems—forecast to generate $48 billion in annual sales by 2030—signals a diversification within the sector itself. Rather than building one monolithic facility, operators are increasingly deploying smaller, distributed nodes closer to compute demand. This reduces latency for AI workloads and spreads risk, but it also fragments the real estate footprint, requiring builders and developers to rethink site selection, zoning, and supply chain logistics.
Why these numbers matter right now
The timing is critical. Commercial real estate lending is thawing—the Mortgage Bankers Association forecasts $796 billion in commercial and multifamily lending in 2026, up 14.8% from 2025. Yet the 10-year Treasury remains above 4%, meaning capital is flowing but at a higher cost than it was five years ago. Lenders are demanding tighter documentation, verified assumptions, and defensible exit strategies. Data center developers, backed by tech companies and hyperscalers with strong credit ratings and long-term contracts, are winning a disproportionate share of that capital because their revenue models are more resilient and their tenants' needs are non-discretionary.
Explore how this capital reallocation reshapes property insurance, underwriting standards, and construction technology by listening to the full episode, which connects data center expansion to five parallel pressure points reshaping commercial real estate in 2026.
See also
What labor and cycle time improvements do construction robotics demonstrate on specific scopes?
Reported case studies show labor savings often ranging from 30 to 50 percent on affected scopes and cycle improvements around 15 to 25 percent, addressing a critical bottleneck in the large-scale data center buildout.
What shift has occurred in construction robotics deployment from pilot phase to production-level adoption?
The shift is from pilots to repeatable production, with venture firms reporting recurring deployments in layout, solar piling, rebar tying, and reality capture across construction sites.
How much US property data does Atom Intelligence cover and what architectural principles determine its trustworthiness?
Atom spans 160 million US properties and reaches 99% of the population, essentially creating a digital twin of the entire American-built environment that informs land availability and site selection for new infrastructure projects.
Key takeaways
- JLL projects nearly 100 gigawatts of global data center capacity additions between 2026 and 2030, driven by AI and cloud computing demand.
- Shell and core construction costs average $11.3 million per megawatt in 2026, making project financing a critical lever for feasibility.
- Modular and micro data center systems are expected to reach $48 billion in annual sales by 2030, fragmenting the traditional single-facility model.
- Data center operators are winning a disproportionate share of commercial real estate capital because their long-term, contracted revenue streams align with lenders' tightened underwriting standards in a higher-interest-rate environment.