Data center demand doubled in the first half of 2026. Twenty-five gigawatts of net absorption.

That's more electricity than Germany consumes in a year. And 77% of the 66 gigawatt North American construction pipeline is shifting to frontier markets: Texas, Ohio, Louisiana, the Carolinas. Why? Power. Grid interconnection queues in traditional hubs like Northern Virginia stretch 4-6 years. Hyperscalers can't wait. So they're moving to markets where they can generate power themselves. Behind-the-meter gas turbines, solar arrays, small modular reactors. Texas alone is building toward 26 GW of capacity. West Texas especially becomes the center of the AI economy. 95% of the North American pipeline is already pre-leased before delivery. Hyperscalers are locking down capacity for 2028 and 2029 because supply is non-existent. Vacancy is one percent. And they're doing it because capex spending hit $660 billion in 2026, triple what it was a few years ago. The spike is AI. These companies need compute immediately.

Europe is reordering away from Frankfurt and Amsterdam. Latin America is explosive. Querétaro, Mexico up 450% in a single year. Asia shifting toward Malaysia, Thailand, Indonesia. Middle East building 13.8 GW in planned pipeline. The risk: 40% of projects face delays from power approval or permitting issues. You can have the tenant and the site but you're waiting years for grid interconnection or transformer availability. But demand keeps accelerating. Data center power consumption goes from 415 terawatt-hours now to 945 by 2030. Data centers alone could represent 14% of total U.S. power demand by 2030. The investment thesis is simple: frontier markets with power. Land with generation potential in West Texas, Ohio, the Carolinas. That's the real estate goldmine this decade. Power-first site selection wins.