The Rise of Rural Digital Infrastructure

In 2025, the data center industry is no longer confined to the dense, high-cost footprints of major metropolitan areas. As demand accelerates for AI training, cloud services, content delivery, and real-time applications, operators are pursuing new frontiers: rural regions with scalable, cost-effective, and energy-efficient potential.

These areas—once considered edge outposts—are now central to long-term infrastructure strategies. With abundant land, access to renewable power, pro-growth tax incentives, and expanding fiber networks, rural America is evolving into a core engine for digital infrastructure. This report explores six rural hotspots that are leading the charge and attracting billions in investment this year.

1. Rural Virginia

Expanding Beyond Ashburn

Ashburn remains the data center capital of the United States, but neighboring rural counties are emerging as high-potential alternatives. Regions such as Prince Edward, Mecklenburg, Pittsylvania, and Halifax now offer operators access to the same Northern Virginia fiber ecosystem at a fraction of the cost.

What Makes It Attractive:

• Direct proximity to Ashburn's robust fiber backbone
• Significantly lower land acquisition and utility costs
• Aggressive state and county-level tax incentives
• Access to solar and biomass energy developments

Key Developments:

• Microsoft’s Boydton campus, now exceeding $1 billion in investment
• Pre-zoned data center parks designed to accelerate construction
• Power capacity upgrades through Dominion Energy partnerships

2. The Dakotas

The Frontier of Renewable Edge Computing

North and South Dakota are fast becoming renewable energy powerhouses for the digital economy. These states combine minimal natural disaster risk with some of the lowest power rates in the country—driven by massive wind generation capacity and underutilized grid infrastructure.

What Makes It Attractive:

• Among the lowest commercial electricity costs in the U.S.
• National leaders in wind energy generation and land availability
• Naturally cool climates that reduce mechanical cooling costs
• Supportive rural broadband initiatives and fiber expansion

Key Developments:

• Applied Digital's advanced data center in Ellendale, powered by renewables
• Emerging fiber partnerships between state governments and private ISPs
• Growing interest in modular and edge deployments from AI firms

3. Rural Texas

From Oil Fields to Fiber Fields

While Dallas, Houston, and Austin are well-established tech hubs, rural Texas is powering a new wave of digital infrastructure. West, East, and Central Texas counties are leveraging their energy independence, business-friendly policies, and massive tracts of land to welcome hyperscale and AI-focused deployments.

What Makes It Attractive:

• Independent ERCOT grid enables customized power agreements
• Texas leads the U.S. in installed wind and solar capacity
• Strategic central location between coastal data corridors
• Favorable permitting environment and low development overhead

Key Developments:

• Lancium’s renewable-powered data campus in East Texas
• Meta’s land and power procurement in West Texas
• Statewide expansion of modular edge and AI compute clusters

4. Northern Nevada

Silicon Valley’s Scalable Neighbor

Just across the border from California, Northern Nevada offers a compelling mix of proximity to the Bay Area, lower costs, and renewable energy options. With no corporate or personal income tax, it has become a prime destination for cloud providers and enterprise operators seeking scale without the overhead of California regulation.

What Makes It Attractive:

• Favorable tax environment and low cost of doing business
• Strong availability of geothermal and solar energy sources
• Close to major tech markets including Silicon Valley and Sacramento
• Significant investment in data center-ready industrial parks

Key Developments:

• Apple’s $4 billion Reno facility expansion
• Google and Tesla activity at the Tahoe-Reno Industrial Center
• Switch’s SUPERNAP Las Vegas mega campus continuing to grow

5. Rural Georgia

The Southeast’s Infrastructure Engine

Georgia has made strategic investments in rural broadband, clean energy, and workforce development, positioning it as a fast-rising player in the Southeast data center landscape. Counties outside Atlanta—such as LaGrange, Dublin, and Douglas—are now welcoming major projects.

What Makes It Attractive:

• High-capacity fiber routes extending through southern Georgia
• Solar farm expansion supported by state and municipal utilities
• Incentives for clean energy and tech-based rural revitalization
• Technical training programs feeding data center labor needs

Key Developments:

• Meta’s $800 million facility in Stanton Springs
• Electric Cities of Georgia partnerships enabling shared infrastructure
• Regional push for edge data deployments to support local industries

6. Ohio’s Rural Corridor

Heartland Hosting for the Cloud

Ohio is leveraging its central U.S. location, robust power infrastructure, and fiber expansion to turn rural counties into key hubs for cloud and AI workloads. With close proximity to Chicago, New York, and Washington, D.C., latency performance is strong—and costs are low.

What Makes It Attractive:

• Strategic location for east-west and north-south data traffic
• Enhanced broadband connectivity across Appalachian Ohio
• Low-cost power with upgraded reliability and redundancy
• Data center-friendly policy landscape and grant programs

Key Developments:

• Amazon Web Services expansion in New Albany and beyond
• Major fiber corridor build-outs through underserved counties
• Strong collaboration between state agencies and hyperscalers

Honorable Mentions

• Western Pennsylvania: Building on Pittsburgh’s AI, robotics, and university research foundation
• Rural Illinois: Growing interest in edge deployments outside Chicago’s metro
• Southern Oregon: Access to hydroelectric power and a cool climate supports clean colocation growth

Rural is the New Scalable

The rural data center boom is not a passing trend—it is a structural evolution of the global digital infrastructure landscape. These emerging hotspots offer operators and investors something urban markets increasingly cannot: space, power, flexibility, and long-term viability. In 2025, the heartland is becoming the heartbeat of the cloud.

Whether you're a hyperscaler seeking AI-ready land and power, or a colocation provider looking to serve edge workloads with low overhead, these rural regions provide a compelling foundation for expansion. As technology decentralizes and data needs explode, the next great opportunity lies far from the skyline—in the soil, sun, and silicon of rural America.