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Investing.com -- Virginia, Texas, Arizona, Illinois, and Georgia are seen as the top five U.S. states best positioned to benefit from the accelerating boom in data center construction, according to a new report from UBS.
In its latest Data Center Roadmap note, UBS analysts aggregated data on both existing and under-construction data centers across the United States, revealing where the most megawatt (MW) growth is occurring.
"We think the data is generally consistent with investors’ views on the areas of growth, although the size of the growth opportunity in Arizona and Ohio may be surprising," UBS wrote.
Arizona now ranks third nationally in MW growth, while Ohio comes in sixth.
At the utility level, Dominion Energy (NYSE:D) continues to dominate the market, according to the bank.
UBS found that Dominion has a 19% market share in operating data centers and a 34% share of those under construction.
They add that other utilities with substantial exposure include Southern Company (NYSE:SO), Exelon (NASDAQ:EXC), American Electric Power (NASDAQ:AEP), and Sempra.
Technology giants are also helping shape the geographic data center footprint. "Amazon (NASDAQ:AMZN) is the leader when aggregating both traditional and hyperscaler [facilities], followed by Meta (NASDAQ:META), Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT), and Google (NASDAQ:GOOGL)," UBS said.
The bank also noted regional shifts in activity. “North Carolina moved to #9 from #21, Wyoming moved up to #13 from #23, and AZ moved up to #3 from #5,” the analysts wrote.
Looking ahead, UBS expects more updates on data center-related contracts and backlogs during second-quarter earnings calls.
“The messaging year-to-date... has consistently been that the demand remains exceedingly robust from large load customers,” UBS said.