US hyperscale investment has shifted inland, with Texas and Midwestern states the biggest beneficiaries, according to new research from Synergy Research Group.

Texas and the Midwest accounted for 33 percent of operational US hyperscale data center capacity in 2025, and Synergy projects inland states will account for 53 percent of new capacity over the next few years.

This sentiment is reflected by analysts across the industry. JLL, for example, recently said Texas would become the world’s biggest data center market by 2030.

Synergy said the shift was largely due to massive AI investment seeking areas where power is more readily available, with Texas the most prominent state in the pipeline. Wisconsin, Indiana, Michigan, and Missouri are also growing, with major projects coming from Amazon, Google, Meta, Microsoft, OpenAI, and Coreweave.

“As infrastructure constraints intensify and market dynamics continue to shift, hyperscale providers are increasingly reallocating capital toward central US regions, with Texas emerging as the primary focal point,” said John Dinsdale, chief analyst at Synergy Research Group.

“A new wave of gigawatt-scale campuses is taking shape in non-traditional locations such as Abilene, Mount Pleasant, South Bend, El Paso, Boone County, and Kansas City. While established hubs will remain strategically important, the center of gravity for new hyperscale investment is clearly moving elsewhere.”

However, this shift isn’t just limited to hyperscale investment. Last month, in its own research, CBRE revealed that the total amount of new capacity under construction in primary US data center markets had declined, with secondary markets picking up significant rises in under-construction totals.

Power is one of the largest operational expenses for data center operators, and rising costs – driven by a range of factors – are becoming a considerable challenge. This, combined with longer grid-connection wait times, means the current primary markets, such as Virginia and the Pacific Northwest, are struggling to meet surging demand.

DCD’s upcoming enterprise priorities survey found that, when it comes to data center operation, energy costs were the top-ranked concern for enterprises, data center managers, and developers.

Texas, specifically, has become a more attractive destination for data centers in recent years as power and land availability in more traditional markets become an issue. Texas’ electricity market, managed by the Electric Reliability Council of Texas, is largely deregulated, allowing the state to offer competitive electricity costs, generally lower than the national average.