Dallas-Fort Worth was ranked the No. 1 primary data center market in the world in 2026. Here’s the metro-level picture: the submarkets driving growth, the operators building there, the power dynamics reshaping development, and what the build-out means for the equipment that eventually retires.
TL;DR
Dallas-Fort Worth is the mature anchor of the Texas data center market and, as of 2026, the top-ranked primary data center market in the world per Cushman & Wakefield. (For the statewide picture, see our Texas Data Center Market 2026 Guide.)
The metro-level essentials:
- DFW was ranked the No. 1 primary data center market globally in Cushman & Wakefield’s 2026 ranking, ahead of Atlanta, Northern Virginia, and Columbus.
- The market is on track to roughly double off the back of projects under construction, with CBRE reporting hundreds of megawatts of under-construction colocation space running high prelease rates.
- Growth is spreading to newer submarkets. Beyond the established North Dallas and Richardson cores, activity has surged in Lancaster, Red Oak, Midlothian, Grand Prairie, Plano, and Garland.
- Power is the binding constraint. Oncor (the regional utility) faces unprecedented land and power inquiries, and behind-the-meter power studies are now common as the grid queue congests.
- Major operators include Google, STACK Infrastructure, Skybox, DataBank, Aligned, Provident/PowerHouse, and Crow Holdings, alongside the hyperscalers driving demand.
The metro-specific angle that matters for infrastructure operators: DFW’s maturity means it’s not only building the most, it’s also among the first Texas markets to generate meaningful retirement volume as its earlier-generation facilities refresh for AI. The anchor market for deployment is becoming an anchor market for retirement.
Why DFW Became the Texas Anchor Market
Dallas-Fort Worth didn’t become the world’s top data center market overnight. It built the position over decades, and the foundations explain why it remains the anchor even as newer Texas corridors grow faster in percentage terms.
Interconnection Density
DFW’s data center roots run through the Infomart on Stemmons Freeway and the Telecom Corridor in Richardson, two of the most established interconnection points in the central United States. Decades of telecom and carrier investment created a dense network fabric that newer markets can’t replicate quickly. For workloads that need low-latency access to many networks, DFW’s carrier density is a structural advantage.
Central Geography
Dallas sits near the geographic center of the continental U.S., which makes it efficient for serving customers nationwide and for distributing cloud and network traffic. The central position has long made DFW a natural hub for national network architecture.
Land and Power Corridors
Unlike land-constrained coastal markets, the DFW metroplex has room to grow, and specific power corridors (notably in south Dallas around Lancaster and Red Oak, and west toward Fort Worth) where scalable land and committed power converge. This is why the newest large campuses are landing in those submarkets rather than the saturated urban core.
Business Environment
The same Texas-wide advantages (no state income tax, the Chapter 403 and sales tax incentives, business-friendly permitting) apply in DFW, layered on top of the metro’s existing infrastructure depth. The causal mechanics behind those statewide advantages are covered in Why Texas Became a Data Center Hub.
The DFW Submarkets
Dallas-Fort Worth isn’t a single market. It’s a set of submarkets with distinct profiles, and the center of gravity has been shifting outward as the urban core saturates and power-rich land opens up on the periphery.
| Submarket | Profile |
|---|---|
| North Dallas / Richardson | The established core. Telecom Corridor heritage, dense interconnection, mature colocation. Where DFW’s data center history lives. |
| Plano / Garland | Rising submarkets with active development, drawing operators seeking space adjacent to the established core |
| Lancaster / Red Oak (South Dallas) | A premier emerging power corridor. Large campuses landing here for scalable land and committed power. STACK’s DFW02 campus in Lancaster spans nearly 200 acres. |
| Midlothian | Hyperscale anchor zone. Google operates a major complex here, and large campuses (including a 2 GW Grand Prairie development adjacent to Google’s Midlothian site) cluster nearby. |
| Grand Prairie | Site of one of the metro’s largest new developments, a 768-acre, 2 GW campus by Provident and PowerHouse |
| Fort Worth | Increasingly in play, with large proposed developments in west Fort Worth signaling the market’s western expansion |
| Central Dallas (Stemmons Corridor) | Crow Holdings announced a 245 MW campus here, signaling continued urban-core investment alongside the peripheral growth |
The pattern is clear: the established core (North Dallas, Richardson) anchors the market’s interconnection value, while the newest and largest capacity lands in the power corridors south and west, where land and committed power are available at scale.
Capacity and Growth
DFW’s growth trajectory is steep, though the exact figures vary by source and by what’s being measured (colocation-only versus total IT capacity, operational versus under-construction).
The consistent themes across market research:
- The market is on pace to roughly double off the back of recently completed and under-construction projects, per CBRE.
- Under-construction colocation space runs high preleasing rates, indicating demand is locked in ahead of delivery rather than speculative.
- Hyperscaler and AI-provider demand remains strong, with land inquiries and power requests to the local utility continuing at what CBRE described as an unprecedented rate.
- Multi-year IT capacity growth has run at strong double-digit compound rates, reflecting sustained rather than spiky expansion.
One nuance worth noting: while DFW grew in absolute terms, some analyses note its relative national market share faced pressure as Atlanta, Phoenix, and Chicago expanded rapidly. The Cushman & Wakefield 2026 ranking placing Dallas No. 1 reflects a comprehensive scoring across many variables (power, land, fundamentals, pipeline), not solely operational megawatts. DFW’s strength is the combination of mature infrastructure and large forward pipeline, not any single metric.
Who’s Building in DFW
The operator mix spans hyperscalers, specialist developers, and colocation providers:
| Category | Operators Active in DFW |
|---|---|
| Hyperscalers | Google (major Midlothian complex plus regional solar investment), and the broader hyperscale set driving colocation demand |
| Specialist developers | STACK Infrastructure (North Dallas and Lancaster campuses), Skybox (large hyperscale PowerCampus sites), Aligned (flagship DFW campus), Provident/PowerHouse (Grand Prairie 2 GW), Crow Holdings (central Dallas) |
| Colocation / wholesale | DataBank and others, with wholesale and build-to-suit accounting for a majority of market share |
The demand mix has shifted toward AI and high-density workloads, which is reshaping facility design (liquid cooling, higher rack power density) and concentrating the largest new campuses in the power-rich peripheral submarkets.
The Power Constraint in DFW
As across Texas, power has become the gating factor for DFW data center growth, with metro-specific dynamics.
Oncor and Transmission Planning
Oncor, the regional transmission and distribution utility, is managing land inquiries and power requests at an unprecedented rate, and is implementing recommendations from regional transmission planning studies to expand capacity. The challenge is matching transmission build-out to the pace of data center demand concentrated in specific corridors.
The Shift to Power Corridors
The reason the newest large campuses cluster in Lancaster, Red Oak, Midlothian, and Grand Prairie rather than the urban core is power availability. These corridors offer committed power and scalable land together, which is increasingly the binding requirement for large AI campuses.
Behind-the-Meter Studies
As the grid interconnection queue congests, DFW operators are pursuing behind-the-meter power studies, exploring onsite generation to energize campuses without waiting on grid connection. This mirrors the statewide Texas pattern, applied to the specific transmission realities of the North Texas grid.
What the DFW Build-Out Means for Infrastructure Retirement
Here’s the metro-specific version of the retirement story, and DFW’s maturity gives it a particular edge.
DFW isn’t just building the most data center capacity in Texas. As the oldest and most established Texas market, it also has the largest installed base of earlier-generation infrastructure, which means it’s among the first Texas metros to generate meaningful retirement volume as facilities refresh for AI.
The dynamics:
- Mature facilities refresh first. DFW’s established colocation and enterprise data centers, some operating for years, are prime candidates for the AI-driven refresh and re-tenanting wave. Older compute and networking gets retired as facilities upgrade for higher-density AI workloads.
- The retirement volume is local and logistics-heavy. Decommissioning, asset recovery, and recycling happen where the equipment physically sits, in the DFW submarkets. A facility in Richardson or Lancaster re-tenanting for AI needs the old infrastructure de-racked, sanitized, and remarketed or recycled on-site or nearby.
- AI re-tenanting drives compressed timelines. When a DFW facility clears to make room for next-generation AI deployment, speed matters. The faster the old equipment is removed and the space is ready, the faster the high-value new deployment can begin, which is why rapid-response decommissioning has real value in this market.
- Recovery value concentrates here too. GPU systems, routing, switching, and optical transport retired from DFW data centers carry meaningful secondary-market value. Capturing it favors a partner with DFW-area presence and the speed to remarket before generational value decay erodes the return.
The metro that anchors Texas deployment is becoming an anchor for Texas retirement, and its maturity means that retirement wave is arriving sooner here than in the newer corridors.
Frequently Asked Questions
How big is the Dallas-Fort Worth data center market?
Dallas-Fort Worth is one of the largest data center markets in the world, ranked the No. 1 primary data center market globally in Cushman & Wakefield’s 2026 ranking. The market is on pace to roughly double off the back of projects under construction, per CBRE, with strong hyperscaler and AI-provider demand. Exact capacity figures vary by source and by what’s measured (colocation versus total IT capacity), but DFW’s combination of mature infrastructure and large forward pipeline makes it the anchor of the Texas data center market.
Why is Dallas a major data center hub?
DFW’s strength rests on several foundations: dense interconnection rooted in the Infomart on Stemmons Freeway and the Richardson Telecom Corridor; a central U.S. geography efficient for national network traffic; available land and power corridors in the metro’s periphery; and the Texas-wide advantages of no state income tax, data center tax incentives, and a business-friendly environment. The combination of mature network infrastructure and room to grow distinguishes DFW from both coastal markets and newer Texas corridors.
What are the main data center submarkets in DFW?
The established core is North Dallas and Richardson (the Telecom Corridor heritage). Rising submarkets include Plano and Garland. The newest large campuses are landing in south Dallas power corridors (Lancaster and Red Oak) and the Midlothian-Grand Prairie hyperscale zone, where Google operates a major complex and large multi-gigawatt campuses cluster. Fort Worth is increasingly in play with proposed developments signaling western expansion, and central Dallas continues drawing investment along the Stemmons Corridor.
What companies have data centers in Dallas-Fort Worth?
Hyperscalers including Google (with a major Midlothian complex) anchor demand. Specialist developers active in DFW include STACK Infrastructure, Skybox, Aligned, Provident/PowerHouse (developing a 2 GW Grand Prairie campus), and Crow Holdings. Colocation and wholesale providers including DataBank account for a majority of market share. The demand mix has shifted strongly toward AI and high-density workloads.
Why are new DFW data centers being built outside the urban core?
Power availability. The newest large campuses cluster in south Dallas corridors (Lancaster, Red Oak) and the Midlothian-Grand Prairie zone because those areas offer committed power and scalable land together, which is the binding requirement for large AI campuses. The established urban core (North Dallas, Richardson) retains its interconnection value, but the largest new capacity needs the power and land that the periphery provides.
What is the power situation for Dallas data centers?
Power is the gating constraint for DFW growth. Oncor, the regional utility, is handling land and power inquiries at an unprecedented rate and implementing regional transmission planning recommendations to expand capacity. As the grid interconnection queue congests, DFW operators are pursuing behind-the-meter power studies to energize campuses with onsite generation rather than waiting on grid connection, mirroring the broader Texas pattern.
How does the DFW data center boom affect equipment retirement?
As the oldest and most established Texas data center market, DFW has the largest installed base of earlier-generation infrastructure, making it among the first Texas metros to generate meaningful retirement volume as facilities refresh for AI. Mature DFW facilities re-tenanting for higher-density AI workloads retire older compute and networking gear, and because decommissioning and recovery are physical operations, that retirement concentrates in the DFW submarkets. The metro anchoring Texas deployment is becoming an anchor for Texas retirement, with the wave arriving sooner here than in newer corridors.
Is Dallas the biggest data center market in the world?
Dallas was ranked the No. 1 primary data center market in the world in Cushman & Wakefield’s 2026 Global Data Center Market Comparison, which scores markets across many variables including power infrastructure, land, market fundamentals, and development pipeline. This reflects DFW’s combination of mature infrastructure and large forward pipeline rather than solely operational megawatts. In raw operating capacity, other markets including Northern Virginia remain very large, but DFW’s comprehensive profile earned it the top primary-market ranking.
What is driving data center demand in Dallas-Fort Worth?
AI and high-density computing workloads are the primary current drivers, layered on sustained cloud and enterprise demand. Hyperscalers and AI providers continue strong land inquiries and power requests, with under-construction space running high preleasing rates that indicate locked-in rather than speculative demand. DFW’s central geography, interconnection density, available peripheral land and power, and Texas tax advantages combine to sustain the demand.
The Bottom Line
Dallas-Fort Worth is the mature anchor of the Texas data center market and, as of 2026, the top-ranked primary data center market in the world. Its strength is the combination of decades-deep interconnection infrastructure (the Infomart, the Richardson Telecom Corridor), central geography, available power corridors in the metro’s periphery, and the Texas-wide tax and regulatory advantages. The newest and largest capacity is landing in the south Dallas power corridors and the Midlothian-Grand Prairie hyperscale zone, where land and committed power converge, while power delivery has become the binding constraint metro-wide.
For infrastructure operators, DFW’s maturity carries a specific consequence: it’s not only building the most, it’s among the first Texas markets to generate meaningful retirement volume as its established facilities refresh for AI. The metro anchoring Texas deployment is becoming an anchor for Texas retirement, and that wave is arriving here sooner than in the newer corridors. Operators planning for it (lining up decommissioning and asset recovery ahead of the refresh) will capture more recovery value and keep facilities clearing fast for the next-generation deployment.
How ROC Telecom Helps
ROC Telecom is a Texas-based, R2v3, RIOS, NIST 800-88, and ITAR-compliant ITAD specialist serving the Dallas-Fort Worth metro:
- DFW-area data center decommissioning with 48-hour rapid-response mobilization for facilities clearing fast to re-tenant for next-generation AI deployment
- GPU and AI infrastructure asset recovery for the equipment categories defining the DFW build-out, with speed-to-remarketing that protects value against generational decay
- Specialist asset recovery across routing, switching, and optical transport with direct buyer relationships
- R2v3 Appendix E materials recovery with in-house dismantling and direct-to-refiner processing
- NIST 800-88 data destruction with per-asset serialized Certificates of Destruction and full chain-of-custody documentation
- Mass-balance recovery reporting for the ESG disclosures the metro’s e-waste volumes demand
15+ years of ITAD experience, $25M+ in client capital recovered, 45M+ pounds diverted from landfill.
Explore our Dallas coverage: Dallas data center ITAD, decommissioning, asset recovery, and recycling.
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Related reading:
- The Texas Data Center Market: A 2026 Guide
- Why Texas Became a Data Center Hub (And What It Means for Hardware Lifecycles)
- Why AI Is Shortening Your Hardware Lifecycles (and What to Do About It)
- Hyperscale ITAD vs Enterprise ITAD: What’s Actually Different in 2026
- Data Center Asset Recovery: The 2026 Strategic Guide
- How GPU Decommissioning Differs from Standard Server Retirement
- Top 10 Data Center Decommissioning Companies of 2026