AI Infrastructure Pushes Data Center Capex Forecast Above $3 Trillion

Global data center capital spending is projected to exceed $3 trillion by 2030, with AI infrastructure driving the majority of this investment through hyperscalers, sovereign AI programs, and specialized cloud providers. AI accelerators are expected to account for about one-third of this spending, but the full cost of AI infrastructure also includes servers, specialized networking, and storage systems. Power availability is becoming the biggest constraint on expansion, with modern data centers requiring hundreds of megawatts and some campuses being designed at gigawatt scale, making grid connection timelines and electricity sourcing critical factors in project planning. The four largest US cloud providers are expected to account for about half of global data center capex, and their purchasing power and use of custom chips could advantage large cloud providers over enterprises considering their own infrastructure.