North Dakota Data Center Market Analysis
Demand for data center capacity continues to outpace supply across the United States. Artificial intelligence training and inference workloads are pushing developers toward larger campuses, higher power densities, and markets where energy is both available and affordable. LandGate's national data center database tracks roughly 6,300 facilities as of October 2026: more than 3,100 are operational and roughly 2,800 more are in the development pipeline as planned, proposed, site control, or expansion projects. As established hubs such as Northern Virginia and Dallas contend with constrained interconnection queues, developers are looking to markets that offer power headroom and room to build.
North Dakota has emerged as one of the clearest examples of that shift. The state's operating footprint is modest, but its development pipeline is among the fastest growing in the Upper Midwest and Northern Plains. Low wholesale power prices, substations with substantial available offtake capacity, proximity to existing baseload generation, a cold climate that reduces cooling loads, and a sales tax exemption for data center equipment have drawn hyperscale and AI-focused operators to sites from the Red River Valley to the Bakken.
LandGate's data center profiling evaluates development trends, power pricing, grid capacity, and parcel-level site characteristics across every state. The analysis that follows draws on LandGate's facility-level data center records, substation offtake capacity models, and power pricing data to explain where North Dakota stands today and where its market is heading.
How Many Data Centers are in North Dakota?
According to LandGate's data, North Dakota hosts 32 data center facilities: 15 operational, 15 planned, 1 planned for expansion, and 1 proposed. The operational base is a mix of regional colocation and enterprise facilities and a newer generation of high-density campuses. Dakota Carrier Network operates colocation facilities in Bismarck and Fargo, Midco serves Fargo and Grand Forks, Fidium operates in Fargo, and the University of North Dakota runs an enterprise facility in Grand Forks. Larger loads include Applied Digital's 180 MW ELN01 facility in Ellendale, its 106 MW Jamestown campus, and the first 100 MW building at Polaris Forge 1, along with Core Scientific's 100 MW facility in Grand Forks County and Rainbow Energy's existing data center load at Coal Creek Station.
