Artificial intelligence is accelerating a buildout that is changing the economics of data centers in Tampa and across the country.
Electricity, cooling capacity and financing now sit at the center of the business as private equity firms, infrastructure funds and lenders pour capital into a sector racing to support cloud computing and AI workloads.
That capital is reaching regional markets such as Tampa Bay, where operators are working in an industry increasingly shaped by power constraints, larger financing structures and consolidation.
John Hill Jr., managing partner and co-founder of Tampa-based investment bank Hyde Park Capital, said the market has entered a rapid expansion phase.
“There’s almost a gold rush going on,” Hill said. “There are estimates that there could be around 1,000 data centers in development across the United States.”
Hill said the buildout now underway is drawing capital from private equity firms, private credit platforms and large infrastructure lenders. He said the financing for a data center project often begins with a long-term contract from a hyperscaler, a large technology company that operates cloud and artificial intelligence platforms.
“The most valuable part of the project is the contract with the hyperscaler,” Hill said. “That’s what drives the financing.”
From there, developers face the next challenge: power.
The race for electricity
Electricity capacity has become one of the central factors determining where data centers can be built and how quickly projects move forward.
Hill said many large facilities now require independent power strategies because local utilities cannot always deliver electricity at the scale developers want.
“There’s a big issue with the data centers being powered off the grid,” Hill said.
Even a smaller modern data center may require roughly 450 megawatts of electricity, he said. Building the power infrastructure alone can cost $500 million to $800 million.
Most projects now rely on natural gas generation in the near term, Hill said, because it can support large loads and operate independently from local grids. He said developers are already thinking beyond that, but the immediate issue is securing enough power to bring online to support new facilities.
Joe Vita Jr., CEO of Ace Host, said the pressure shows up inside the building as much as it does on a balance sheet. A traditional rack in a regional data center may operate between five and ten kilowatts, he said. AI systems can require significantly more electricity and far more cooling capacity.
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“These AI machines are very expensive. They use a lot of power,” Vita said. “And they put out a lot of heat because they’re using graphics cards.”
Vita said traditional servers may run at a fraction of that level. AI boxes, packed with graphics cards, run hotter, harder and for longer periods. That changes the power load in a rack and puts strain on cooling systems that older facilities were never designed to support.
New AI facilities are being planned around that demand. Vita said many of the newest projects want 50 to 100 megawatts of power or more and need to sit close to a substation capable of delivering it.
“You really need to have a substation pretty much right next to where you’re building,” Vita said. “The power has got to be close to the facility.”
Hill said the boom has also run into equipment constraints. Developers trying to secure power infrastructure are dealing with shortages, including long waits for gas turbines needed to support large projects. That has turned electricity into a gating issue for growth.
The capital required for these projects has drawn major institutional investors into the sector, including private equity firms and infrastructure funds such as BlackRock, Blackstone and Carlyle.
Hill said those firms are building digital infrastructure platforms through acquisitions and new construction across the country.
Consolidation reaches regional markets
The surge of institutional capital is reshaping ownership across the data center industry.
Large investors have been acquiring operators and assembling regional portfolios as they expand platforms tied to cloud computing and artificial intelligence.
Earlier this year, H5 Data Centers acquired a Tampa facility from 365 Data Centers as part of a portfolio transaction backed by private equity firm Novacap. The deal also included facilities in Buffalo and Nashville.
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Another transaction arrived in 2024 when Tampa-based hosting provider Hivelocity was acquired by Colohouse, a digital infrastructure company backed by private equity firm Valterra Partners.
Those deals reflect a broader consolidation trend as investors pursue scale and long-term infrastructure assets connected to cloud services and AI demand.
Hill said financing terms can also vary depending on the customer behind a project. The hyperscaler’s credit profile can determine whether banks or private credit funds take the lead, another sign that the market is being driven as much by capital markets as by real estate or technology.
Pressure on smaller operators
That capital wave is also reshaping the competitive environment for smaller regional providers.
Russell Bruno, founder of Ace Host, operates a data center in downtown Tampa that serves hundreds of customers. The facility sits at 412 E. Madison St., part of one of the city’s historic network corridors.
Bruno said operating costs have increased as computing demands rise and infrastructure requires constant upgrades.
“In the last week, an AC unit went out,” Bruno said. “That’s ten grand. That’s $10,000 of profit gone right out the window.”
Bruno said the industry’s value has shifted toward infrastructure that already has power in place.
“The rabbit hole is why data centers are so valuable now,” Bruno said. “It’s really a power play.”
That pressure is changing which customers regional providers can serve and which ones the largest operators want.
Bruno said some smaller customers still choose regional providers because they want control over their own equipment, closer access to their infrastructure or faster support than they get from national platforms.
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Vita said many clients still value being able to call someone who knows their systems.
“People like knowing who they’re dealing with,” Vita said. “They want to know the techs. They want to be able to pick up the phone and talk to someone.”
At the same time, Bruno said larger infrastructure players often have little interest in smaller accounts.
“I get a lot of the business that they don’t want,” Bruno said. “If someone’s spending $500 a month or $1,000 a month, they don’t want that customer. They’ll raise the price and force them out.”
Ace Host’s typical customer generates between $500 and $5,000 a month, Bruno said. Those customers still need secure hosting, colocation services and disaster recovery systems. They also operate in a market where older facilities can run out of power or cooling capacity before they run out of floor space.
That is one reason the market is dividing more clearly. Vita said hyperscale campuses built for AI and cloud workloads operate under a different set of economic principles than smaller, high-touch regional facilities.
“There’s definitely a split happening between the hyperscale development and the high-touch regional infrastructure providers,” Vita said.
Where Florida fits
Florida has not yet emerged as one of the country’s primary hubs for hyperscale data center development.
Hill said developers evaluate several factors when selecting locations, including electricity availability, land costs and environmental considerations. Most of the projects now moving through development are new builds rather than retrofits because hyperscale campuses require large sites and substantial new infrastructure.
Large facilities also require extensive cooling capacity and can draw heavily on local water resources. Hill said those demands, combined with land costs, can push projects away from dense urban counties and toward outer-ring markets with cheaper land and fewer resource conflicts.
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Russell said Florida has long carried another question mark for developers: hurricanes. Even so, he said the state still presents opportunities, particularly as new projects are designed with hardened infrastructure and redundant power systems in mind.
Hill said current large-scale development activity has been especially strong in Texas and Georgia, where developers are finding the land, power and financing needed to build at scale. Tampa remains a smaller market by comparison.
The long-term outlook
Demand for computing power continues to expand as artificial intelligence, cloud platforms and digital services spread across the economy.
Hill said many projects remain in development as investors and developers work through financing, infrastructure and permitting requirements. He also said the industry is still early in the current build cycle, which is why he does not yet see a bubble in the market.
The real test, he said, will come later, after more facilities come online and investors can measure how much capacity the market can absorb.
“There’s some potential that you’re going to run into a challenge for financing these projects as time goes by because of too much exposure to the sector,” Hill said.
For now, the direction is clear. Private equity, private credit and infrastructure lenders are helping finance a new generation of data centers built around AI demand, large power loads and long-term customer contracts. In Tampa, that shift is raising the stakes for regional operators and redefining what makes a facility valuable.
Access to power now shapes where projects get built, how they get financed and which operators can keep up.
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