Visualized: U.S. Data Center Investment (2014–2025)

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January 22, 2026

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Ryan Bellefontaine

Graphics & Design

Athul Alexander

The following content is sponsored by BHP

Visualized: U.S. Data Center Investment (2014–2025)

Data centers have quietly become some of the most important infrastructure in the U.S. economy. As artificial intelligence (AI) workloads explode and cloud services proliferate, builders are racing to add capacity at record speed.

This graphic, in partnership with BHP, shows U.S. data center construction spending from 2014 to 2025 using data from the U.S. Census Bureau.

AI-Era Data Center Construction Boom

Here is a table showing monthly U.S. data center construction since 2014, seasonally adjusted at an annual rate.

Month	Billions of Current U.S. Dollars (Seasonally Adjusted Annual Rate)
Jul-25	41.19
Jun-25	41.10
May-25	40.07
Apr-25	39.60
Mar-25	36.88
Feb-25	37.13
Jan-25	35.77
Dec-24	34.98
Nov-24	35.62
Oct-24	35.86
Sep-24	32.96
Aug-24	32.94
Jul-24	31.74
Jun-24	31.24
May-24	29.98
Apr-24	28.34
Mar-24	27.78
Feb-24	26.29
Jan-24	24.93
Dec-23	24.45
Nov-23	23.72
Oct-23	23.84
Sep-23	21.13
Aug-23	20.25
Jul-23	19.55
Jun-23	18.62
May-23	18.11
Apr-23	18.16
Mar-23	18.10
Feb-23	17.87
Jan-23	15.85
Dec-22	14.35
Nov-22	13.77
Oct-22	12.88
Sep-22	14.47
Aug-22	13.02
Jul-22	12.71
Jun-22	12.15
May-22	12.08
Apr-22	12.26
Mar-22	11.36
Feb-22	10.53
Jan-22	11.08
Dec-21	11.39
Nov-21	10.51
Oct-21	9.74
Sep-21	10.77
Aug-21	10.43
Jul-21	9.73
Jun-21	9.30
May-21	9.31
Apr-21	9.44
Mar-21	10.32
Feb-21	9.04
Jan-21	9.31
Dec-20	9.23
Nov-20	9.18
Oct-20	9.34
Sep-20	10.05
Aug-20	9.07
Jul-20	8.73
Jun-20	8.97
May-20	8.70
Apr-20	8.95
Mar-20	9.49
Feb-20	9.68
Jan-20	9.46
Dec-19	7.94
Nov-19	9.57
Oct-19	9.16
Sep-19	8.08
Aug-19	8.82
Jul-19	8.82
Jun-19	8.88
May-19	8.74
Apr-19	7.86
Mar-19	7.67
Feb-19	8.03
Jan-19	8.12
Dec-18	8.05
Nov-18	7.10
Oct-18	7.86
Sep-18	6.29
Aug-18	7.00
Jul-18	7.45
Jun-18	7.06
May-18	6.99
Apr-18	6.56
Mar-18	6.47
Feb-18	6.24
Jan-18	6.08
Dec-17	5.74
Nov-17	5.46
Oct-17	4.96
Sep-17	4.69
Aug-17	4.39
Jul-17	4.67
Jun-17	4.58
May-17	5.03
Apr-17	4.23
Mar-17	3.99
Feb-17	4.22
Jan-17	3.99
Dec-16	4.46
Nov-16	3.96
Oct-16	3.70
Sep-16	4.22
Aug-16	4.58
Jul-16	4.25
Jun-16	4.56
May-16	4.15
Apr-16	4.42
Mar-16	4.12
Feb-16	3.80
Jan-16	3.16
Dec-15	3.09
Nov-15	2.98
Oct-15	2.75
Sep-15	2.80
Aug-15	2.84
Jul-15	2.68
Jun-15	3.93
May-15	3.34
Apr-15	2.31
Mar-15	2.14
Feb-15	1.93
Jan-15	1.92
Dec-14	1.66
Nov-14	1.95
Oct-14	1.83
Sep-14	1.92
Aug-14	1.96
Jul-14	1.79
Jun-14	1.75
May-14	1.81
Apr-14	1.80
Mar-14	1.68
Feb-14	1.74
Jan-14	1.64

In early 2014, U.S. data center construction ran at an annualized rate of roughly $1.6 billion. By July 2025, that number reached about $41.0 billion, more than 25 times the 2014 level.

Consequently, data centers now compete directly with offices, warehouses, and industrial facilities for land, power, and transmission capacity.

Why the Data Center Boom Matters for Copper

A typical data center uses roughly 27 metric tons of copper per megawatt of capacity for power, cabling, and cooling. Because each new megawatt adds more copper-intensive equipment, incremental AI capacity has a disproportionate impact on metal demand.As operators add AI servers and dense racks, each data center concentrates more copper in cables, transformers, and cooling infrastructure.

BHP projects that the amount of copper used in data centers globally will increase by around 6x from 2025 to 2050, rising from about 0.5 million tonnes a year to around 3 million tonnes.

That uplift is roughly equivalent to the combined annual output of the world’s four largest copper mines today. As this layer of “digital” demand stacks on top of the broader energy transition, data centers could become one of the fastest-growing sources of structural copper demand.

What Comes Next for Infrastructure and Power

Looking ahead, the U.S. grid will neeed to keep pace with this construction surge as data centers use more electricity.

Data centers’ share of global electricity demand could rise from about 2% today to roughly 9% by 2050, with some markets already seeing data centers account for around one-fifth of national power use.

Overall, surging U.S. data center investment signals rapid AI infrastructure growth. It also demonstrates the central roles of copper and electricity in enabling the next era of digital services.

Read more insights from a World-Leading Copper Producer

Related Topics: #bhp #data centers #ai #commodities #investment #copper

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Visualized: U.S. Data Center Investment (2014–2025)