The Era of 100MW+ Deals Has Arrived
A new milestone has been crossed in 2025: hyperscalers are signing wholesale colocation deals exceeding 100 megawatts (MW) in a single transaction. Once unthinkable, these massive pre-lease agreements are now commonplace as AI workloads, global cloud regions, and data sovereignty demands drive unprecedented capacity needs. For data center developers, these deals represent the largest and most transformative projects in the industry’s history, reshaping how campuses are financed, designed, and delivered.
Why 100MW+? What’s Driving the Scale?
Explosive AI Compute Demand
Generative AI training workloads are now consuming thousands of GPUs per model, requiring dense, energy-hungry compute clusters. Hyperscalers need to deploy:
- Tens of thousands of NVIDIA H100 and AMD MI300 GPUs.
- AI training platforms that draw over 50 MW per hall.
- Liquid and immersion-cooled data halls supporting rack densities above 80 kW.
These workloads can’t be accommodated in piecemeal expansions—they require entire campuses built around AI-first architectures.
Cloud Region Expansion
Hyperscalers are rapidly launching new cloud regions to meet:
- Data sovereignty requirements in emerging markets.
- Latency-sensitive applications in Tier 2 cities.
- Redundancy and disaster recovery zones for global customers.
Each new region may require 100 MW+ on day one, with expansion options built in for future growth.
Capacity Insurance
With supply chain constraints, grid congestion, and long lead times, hyperscalers are locking in massive capacity early, ensuring:
- Guaranteed power allocations in power-constrained markets.
- Predictable costs and deployment timelines.
- Flexibility to scale workloads as AI and cloud growth continues.
How These Deals Are Structured
Multi-Phase Campus Pre-Leases
Rather than a single building, 100MW+ deals typically cover an entire campus, phased as:
- Phase 1: 20-40 MW for immediate deployment.
- Phase 2: Another 40-60 MW within 12-18 months.
- Phase 3+: Expansion capacity up to 200 MW, contingent on demand.
Long-Term Commitments
These are not short-term leases. Hyperscalers are signing:
- 10- to 20-year contracts.
- Power and space options for 5+ years beyond initial build.
- Renewable energy and carbon neutrality clauses.
Build-to-Suit Customization
Deals increasingly involve:
- AI-optimized cooling designs (liquid and immersion).
- Proprietary network fabrics integrated at the facility level.
- Custom security, compliance, and sustainability features.
Key Markets Seeing 100MW+ Deals
Northern Virginia (Ashburn)
Despite grid constraints, Northern Virginia remains the world’s largest data center market. Developers are now securing 150 MW+ sites years in advance to support:
- AI training workloads.
- New East Coast cloud regions.
- Financial services and government compliance zones.
Dallas-Fort Worth
Texas offers affordable power and scalable land. In 2025:
- Three hyperscalers signed deals totaling over 400 MW.
- Renewable energy PPAs make the region attractive for carbon-neutral builds.
Frankfurt and the FLAP-D Markets
Europe’s largest markets are seeing:
- Multi-campus pre-leases to meet EU data sovereignty needs.
- AI workload growth spilling over from constrained Tier 1 cities.
Singapore & Johor
Southeast Asia’s demand for compute is forcing:
- Hyperscalers to secure 100 MW+ sites in Johor, Malaysia, and Batam, Indonesia.
- Singapore developers to build vertically in power-constrained industrial zones.
Who’s Signing These Mega-Deals?
- Amazon Web Services (AWS): Expanding AI cloud services in the U.S. and Europe.
- Microsoft Azure: Building sovereign cloud regions and AI training hubs.
- Google Cloud: Scaling AI workloads globally.
- Oracle Cloud Infrastructure (OCI): Doubling down on financial services and regulated workloads.
- Meta, TikTok, and X (formerly Twitter): Hosting massive content and AI personalization workloads.
How Developers Are Meeting Demand
Power-First Site Development
Developers are securing sites with:
- 100 MW+ of grid-committed power.
- On-site substations and transmission-level interconnects.
- Renewable PPAs guaranteeing green energy from day one.
AI-Optimized Design
Modern hyperscale campuses feature:
- Liquid and immersion-cooled pods.
- 80-120 kW rack densities.
- Purpose-built AI networking fabrics reducing latency.
Pre-Funded Construction
Rather than wait for leases to fund builds, developers are:
- Using debt and equity to speculatively fund multi-phase campuses.
- Partnering with infrastructure funds and REITs to derisk large projects.
Impact on Wholesale Colocation Market
Pricing and Scarcity
100MW+ deals reduce market vacancy and drive pricing pressure:
- Enterprises face longer wait times for smaller deployments.
- Tier 2 and 3 markets see rising demand as spillover regions.
- Wholesale lease rates rose 20%-30% YoY in top markets.
Supply Chain Strain
Massive builds stretch:
- Electrical and mechanical equipment lead times.
- Skilled labor availability.
- Grid interconnect timelines.
The Future: Will 200MW+ Deals Become Commonplace?
Industry insiders expect:
- By 2027, 200 MW+ campus pre-leases will be the new norm in the U.S. and Europe.
- AI workload scaling, quantum computing, and immersive virtual worlds will drive even larger deployments.
- Emerging markets like India, Brazil, and South Africa will see their first 100MW+ deals.
100MW+ Is the New Standard
The hyperscaler colocation market has entered a transformative phase, where 100MW+ deals have become the industry norm rather than an exception. These mega-deals are no longer limited to isolated markets or rare one-off projects—they are driving the global blueprint for data center development. Hyperscalers are not merely leasing space; they are reshaping the data center industry’s financial models, construction timelines, and energy strategies at an unprecedented scale.
For data center developers, the message is clear: the ability to deliver entire campuses at hyperscale is now a competitive differentiator. The market is rewarding providers who can master large-scale power procurement, sustainable campus design, and accelerated build cycles. Those who fail to scale up risk being left behind in a market increasingly dominated by hyperscalers’ AI-driven capacity demands.
The rise of 100MW+ deals also has broader implications for supply chains, labor markets, and power grids. It accelerates innovation in liquid and immersion cooling, forces collaboration between utilities and cloud providers, and draws billions in capital from infrastructure funds hungry for stable, long-term returns.
As AI adoption accelerates and workloads scale beyond what traditional builds can accommodate, the only question left is not whether the market will continue to grow, but how fast. Industry insiders now expect 200MW+ pre-leases in the coming years, reflecting the insatiable hunger for compute power across every industry.
The age of incremental data center builds is over. Hyperscalers are setting a new pace, and developers who meet that challenge are defining the next decade of digital infrastructure. The race is on—and in the world of hyperscale colocation, bigger is just the beginning.
