An analysis said that a boom in building artificial intelligence (AI) data centers in the United States is pushing up warehouse rents. As U.S. big tech (large technology corporations) such as Google, Microsoft (MS), Meta, and Amazon pour massive funds into expanding AI infrastructure, more corporations are seeking space to store construction materials and power and telecom equipment needed to build large-scale data centers. In particular, in regions where data center construction is concentrated, related companies are actively moving to secure nearby warehouses.
According to Reuters on the 20th (local time), global real estate services corporation Jones Lang LaSalle (JLL) said in its third-quarter U.S. industrial real estate market report this year that the expansion of AI data center construction is boosting demand for warehouses and is also affecting rent increases.
Representative regions include Dallas–Fort Worth, Texas, and the area near Washington, D.C. In both areas, as large data centers are built, corporations supplying construction materials and power and telecom facilities are seeking nearby warehouses. JLL said, “Data center expansion is increasing demand for industrial real estate in key logistics hubs such as Dallas–Fort Worth,” adding, “Parts suppliers and infrastructure-related corporations are clustering near hyperscale data center campuses.”
This trend is tied to expanded AI investment by big tech corporations. Alphabet, Google’s parent company, along with MS, Meta, and Amazon, are investing billions of dollars in data center construction to secure the data processing capacity needed for AI services.
Data centers are facilities that operate large-scale servers and semiconductors needed for AI computation. Because they require massive power and cooling facilities, when data center construction increases, demand rises not only for servers but also for related equipment such as power supply units and cooling and telecom facilities. As a result, demand for warehouses to store materials and equipment and transport them to construction sites also increases.
Amid this situation, U.S. industrial real estate rents are on the rise. According to JLL, the average asking rent for U.S. industrial real estate in the third quarter this year was $10.55 per square foot (about 0.093㎡), up 3.2% from the same period a year earlier. By year-over-year growth, it was the highest since the second quarter of 2024.
This is the average rent for U.S. industrial real estate overall and is not a figure limited to regions where data center construction is concentrated. Rents were tallied based on “triple net (NNN)” leases, in which tenants pay property taxes, insurance, and common area maintenance costs in addition to base rent.
JLL analyzed that the expansion of data center construction is also changing the tenant mix in the industrial real estate market. Not only traditional logistics and distribution firms, but also corporations in construction, telecommunications, and power and other utilities are increasing their warehouse demand, shifting regional demand distributions. If investment in AI infrastructure, including data centers, continues, changes to the logistics- and distribution-centered demand structure in the industrial real estate market are expected to follow.