No single cost-per-MW figure is right for every project. Published numbers run from under $9 million to over $23 million per MW. The gap is mostly scope, not error.
Before you use any figure in a model or a pitch, find out what it includes.
What do the published figures say?
- A 2026 development cost guide for the US and Canada gives all-in greenfield costs of $8.9 million to $23.3 million per MW. It says costs rose about 21% per MW from late 2024. The range excludes the chips and GPUs needed for AI workloads. News coverage of the guide reports that power infrastructure is the largest share of a greenfield build (21%), with site acquisition about 7%.
- The 2026–27 construction cost index (published September 2026) measures cost per watt, not per MW. It covers 62 markets and more than 500 projects. It reports that cost per watt rose about 6% on average worldwide over the past year, and about 13% in North America and Europe. Its baseline is a typical air-cooled, build-to-suit hyperscale facility of about 60 MW of IT load. For US projects it reports an average 7% to 10% premium for liquid-cooled over air-cooled facilities of similar IT load. It puts Mumbai at US$6.83 per watt, 61st of 62 markets, against US$18.28 for Tokyo. The index excludes land, utility works, site works, active IT equipment and professional fees, and it converts local currencies at an average rate for 1 October 2025 to 1 October 2026.
I could not read the full cost guide, which is behind a paywall. Its figures come from trade coverage. The cost index figures come from the publisher's own report pages, read on 23 October 2026. A newer edition will change them, so check the date before you quote.
Why can two honest numbers differ by more than two times?
One MW is not one product. Six things move the number.
- What counts as "MW". Critical IT load, utility load and nameplate capacity are different. A figure per MW of IT load is higher than one per MW of utility load.
- What is inside the box. Land, power infrastructure, core and shell, mechanical and electrical, fit-out, design fees, contingency, financing and IT equipment may each be in or out.
- Cooling and density. Air-cooled halls and high-density liquid-cooled halls need different plant, pipework and floor loading.
- Redundancy. An N+1 design and a 2N design carry different amounts of generators, UPS and switchgear.
- Size and phasing. A 30 MW phase and a 300 MW campus do not share the same per-MW cost.
- Place and date. Labour, equipment, utility charges and the year of the estimate all shift the figure. Costs moved 21% in under two years in one guide.
Eight questions before you trust a cost-per-MW figure
- Is it per MW of IT load, critical load or utility load?
- Is land in or out?
- Is utility connection and substation work in or out?
- Does it cover shell only, shell and fit-out, or turnkey?
- Are IT equipment and chips excluded?
- What cooling and density does it assume?
- What redundancy does it assume?
- What year and city is it for, and what is the stated margin of error?
If a source cannot answer these, treat the number as a headline and not as an input.
How should a developer use the range?
- Show a range, not a point. A single figure hides the scope choices behind it.
- Write the scope next to the number in every model and slide.
- Separate the three big buckets: power infrastructure, building and site, and fit-out and IT. They move for different reasons.
- Re-date the estimate. An estimate from before late 2024 may sit well below a 2026 one.
- Check the power first. A cost model that assumes a power date the utility has not given is a guess. See our article on how long grid power takes.
What this does not tell you
- It is not a price for your project. Local quotes beat any published range.
- The figures are for the US and Canada unless stated. India costs differ in labour, equipment, land and power, and no single published India figure is used here.
- Sources disagree. The spread is part of the finding.
Sources
- Cushman & Wakefield 2026 data center development cost guide, via trade coverage: IREI, CRE Daily. Original guide not read in full.
- Turner & Townsend, Data Center Construction Cost Index 2026–27: cost trends (62 markets, 6% and 13% change, Mumbai and Tokyo figures) and methodology (60 MW baseline, 7% to 10% US liquid-cooling premium, exclusions, exchange-rate period). The publisher's report page limits quoting, so this article gives the figures with attribution and does not copy its text.
- Other estimates: TrueLook. Checked 21 October 2026.
Keystone AEC (keystoneaec.com) is an AI platform for land feasibility and master planning in India and the USA. If you are comparing sites, the useful first step is to put each one's scope and power date next to its cost.