6:02 PM ET · Oct 14

A 1-gigawatt AI data center in Abilene could cost roughly $30 billion to build, Bloomberg estimates

Bloomberg, drawing on exclusive Cushman & Wakefield construction data and Bloomberg Intelligence hardware estimates, put the all-in cost of a theoretical 1-gigawatt AI data center in Abilene, Texas at about $30 billion. Chips and servers account for roughly $17 billion, power infrastructure about $3 billion, and construction about $2.4 billion, with nearly $3 billion held as contingency. Land prices in the area are up 51% year over year.

Source: Bloomberg

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This is a good read by @Bloomberg, breaking down all the components that go into building a theoretical 1-gigawatt AI data centre. We've all seen the headline numbers before, but the required gigadollars are still hard to digest. $30 BILLION is equivalent to X2 new USS John
— Robert Friedland (@robert_ivanhoe) Oct 13, 2026

Bloomberg puts a theoretical 1GW AI data center in Abilene at ~$30bn. Its ten cost categories actually sum $17.1bn for chips and servers, and ~$13bn for everything else. My read is that the hardware assumption is likely closer to Hopper-era economics vs. the latest generation.
— Shanu Mathew (@ShanuMathew93) Oct 13, 2026

Current 1 Gigawatt Datacenter Costs can go past $30 billion USD and can take 2.5 years to 10 years to complete. Inflation in all ingredients of datacenter will balloon this cost further. The breakdown shared by Bloomberg Tech: • Land: $30M–$180M • Design & engineering: more
— Sarbjeet Johal (@sarbjeetjohal) Oct 12, 2026

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A 1-gigawatt AI data center in Abilene could cost roughly $30 billion to build, Bloomberg estimates

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