US Data Center Map / North Carolina

Data Centers in North Carolina: 2026 Map and Project Tracker

Every large data center project in North Carolina, 100 MW and up, from Charlotte to the Triad and the Sandhills. Each figure is checked against its source and the tracker is updated monthly.

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North Carolina is home to some of the oldest hyperscale data centers in the Southeast, and a new wave of much larger projects is now arriving. Our tracker counts 6 active data center projects of 100 MW or more in North Carolina, adding up to 2,225 MW of planned capacity, plus 4 large proposals that have been withdrawn or rejected.

Below you’ll find a map of every project, a table with the operator, location, capacity, status, investment and announced jobs for each one, and the developers and counties with the most capacity. Click any circle on the map for project details.

How many data centers are in North Carolina?

North Carolina has about 100 data centers, which use up to 3% of the state’s electricity, and that share is expected to more than double by 2030. The governor’s Energy Policy Task Force noted in 2026 that there is no reliable public data on the exact number.

Most of today’s large North Carolina data centers were built in the 2000s and 2010s, when Google, Apple and Meta chose the western Piedmont and foothills. Google has run its Lenoir campus since 2008, Apple has invested about $4 billion at Maiden, and Meta has operated in Forest City since 2012. The new projects on this page are much bigger: a single 900 MW proposal would use about 30 times the power Meta’s Forest City data center used in 2024.

Where data centers are being built in North Carolina

• Charlotte and the western Piedmont. Digital Realty’s Moores Chapel Road campus and PowerHouse’s Charlotte campus are under construction. Microsoft owns land for data centers in Catawba County, and Apple and Google continue to expand at Maiden and Lenoir.
• The Triad and northern Piedmont. WhiteFiber has brought its first North Carolina site online in Madison, in Rockingham County, and agreed to buy two more sites in Yadkin County. Microsoft is starting permitting for a 1,385-acre campus in Person County.
• The Sandhills. Amazon broke ground in October 2025 on a $10 billion campus in Richmond County, with up to 20 buildings and 500 permanent jobs. Amazon has not published a capacity figure, so the campus is not in the MW totals above.
• The Triangle and eastern North Carolina. Raleigh-Durham has drawn proposals, but local governments have pushed back hard (see below). Natelli Holdings has filed a site plan for a 900 MW campus in Vance County, the largest active North Carolina project on our tracker.

Meta, Apple, Google, Microsoft and Amazon data centers in North Carolina

North Carolina was one of the first states to attract hyperscale data centers, and the same companies are now back with bigger plans.

Meta data center in Forest City

Meta’s Forest City data center in Rutherford County went live in April 2012. Meta says it has invested more than $750 million in North Carolina, supports more than 275 operational jobs, and has added 410 MW of new renewable energy from six projects in the state (Meta).

Apple data center in Maiden

Apple announced its Maiden data center in Catawba County in 2009 as a $1 billion project. The campus is now about 1 million square feet with roughly $4 billion invested, and in 2025 Apple added a $175 million expansion. It runs on renewable power, including on-site solar and fuel cells.

Google data center in Lenoir

Google’s Lenoir data center in Caldwell County opened in 2008, and Google says it has invested more than $4 billion in the region and state (Google). In March 2026 it announced another $1 billion over two years, focused on Lenoir.

Microsoft data centers in North Carolina

• Catawba County. Microsoft committed at least $1 billion to four data center sites in Hickory, Conover, Maiden and Newton in 2022. Construction slowed in 2025 and resumed in early 2026.
• Person County. Microsoft bought the Person County Mega Park on the Virginia border in 2024 and is starting permitting for a data center campus there.

Amazon (AWS) data center in Richmond County

Amazon’s $10 billion AWS campus near Hamlet is the largest active data center investment announced in North Carolina, with at least 500 jobs. It broke ground in October 2025, is planned at up to 20 buildings next to a Duke Energy power plant, and received local but not state incentives.

Digital Realty in Charlotte

Digital Realty bought a 156-acre site on Moores Chapel Road in Charlotte for $160 million and filed plans for up to 400 MW. Charlotte’s 150-day moratorium on new data center rezonings and permits, which runs to November 5, 2026, does not affect the project because work had already started.

Power and Duke Energy

Duke Energy serves most of North Carolina’s large data centers, and its forecast for them keeps rising. In 2026 Duke raised its 2035 forecast for large-customer demand to 8 GW in the Carolinas, up 2 GW from a year earlier. It has proposed special rules for customers of 50 MW or more, with 10 to 15 year contracts and a minimum bill of 75% of maximum load. The proposal still needs approval from the North Carolina Utilities Commission.

The state is watching closely. The governor’s Energy Policy Task Force found that data centers are 30% of the economic development projects in Duke’s pipeline but 80% of the projected new energy demand, with demand from those projects growing from 1,800 GWh in 2026 to between 29,000 and 33,000 GWh by 2030.

North Carolina data center tax incentives

North Carolina has scaled back its data center incentives. The 2026 state budget repealed the sales tax exemption on electricity used by qualifying data centers, so their power is now taxed at 7% for billing periods starting on or after August 6, 2026. The sales tax exemptions for data center equipment and support infrastructure remain in place.

Lawmakers are also debating how data centers should pay for grid upgrades. The House passed the Ratepayer Protection Act (SB 730) in June 2026, but it had not become law as of our last update.

Moratoriums and local pushback

North Carolina towns and counties have passed a wave of local data center moratoriums. As of September 2026, WRAL counted pauses in Apex, Cary, Wendell, Durham, Durham County, Chatham, Orange, Edgecombe, Harnett and Cumberland counties, with Raleigh drafting a six-month moratorium. Several large proposals have been withdrawn or rejected, including campuses in Apex, Tarboro and Edgecombe County. Those are listed under “Paused or cancelled projects” above.

Data center jobs in North Carolina

North Carolina data center construction needs electrical and mechanical engineers, project managers, commissioning agents, controls specialists and electricians, and the operations side needs critical facilities engineers, data center technicians and network engineers. Many of the new sites are in rural counties, so employers recruit from Charlotte, the Triangle and the Triad.

See the 12 most in-demand data center roles, the power and cooling skills AI data centers need and our data center workforce shortage statistics.

How we track North Carolina data centers

• What’s included: North Carolina data center campuses with a publicly announced capacity of 100 MW or more, from announcement through construction to opening. Smaller enterprise and colocation sites are not on the list.
• Where the figures come from: company press releases, SEC and utility filings, state and county economic development releases, and established news outlets. Every row links to its source and the date of that source. We do not use other trackers or maps as sources.
• No estimates: when a source does not state an investment or jobs figure, the cell shows a dash.
• Updates: the table, map and totals on this page come from the same data as our US data center map, which we re-check every month.

Spotted a North Carolina project we’re missing, or a figure that has changed? Let us know and we’ll check it for the next update.

North Carolina data centers FAQ

How many data centers are being built in North Carolina?

Our tracker counts 6 active North Carolina projects of 100 MW or more, plus Amazon’s $10 billion Richmond County campus, which has not published a capacity figure. Smaller projects are not included.

What is the largest data center in North Carolina?

Among projects with an announced capacity, the largest active one on our tracker is listed first in the project table above. By investment, Amazon’s $10 billion Richmond County campus is the largest announced project in the state.

Where are the AI data centers in North Carolina?

New AI and high-performance computing capacity is going up in Charlotte, the Triad (WhiteFiber in Rockingham and Yadkin counties) and Richmond County. Google, Apple, Meta and Microsoft also run or are building large data centers in the western Piedmont.

Does North Carolina still give tax breaks to data centers?

Partly. Since August 2026, electricity used by data centers is subject to the 7% sales tax, but data center equipment and support infrastructure are still exempt.

Why are North Carolina towns pausing data centers?

Local officials cite power demand and electric bills, water use, noise and the speed of new proposals. Most moratoriums give towns and counties time to write data center zoning rules, rather than banning data centers outright.

Which tech companies have data centers in North Carolina?

Apple (Maiden), Google (Lenoir) and Meta (Forest City) have operated data centers in North Carolina since the late 2000s and early 2010s. Microsoft is building in Catawba County and planning a campus in Person County, and Amazon is building a $10 billion campus in Richmond County.

For the national picture, see our US data center map, data center statistics and top US data center markets by city. Other state trackers: Texas and Georgia.