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Data Centers and North Carolina's Competitive Future

As communities consider new projects, the central question is how North Carolina can continue attracting this investment while maintaining reliable, affordable infrastructure and community vitality. Like transportation, water, electricity, and broadband, digital infrastructure is essential to a competitive economy.

North Carolina's Digital Infrastructure Advantage

North Carolina is already one of the nation’s leading destinations for digital infrastructure. Companies including Apple, Google, Microsoft, Meta, AT&T, Disney, T5 Data Centers, and Ensono have invested billions across the state.

These facilities support cloud computing, communications networks, and the data-intensive industries driving the next generation of growth, while strengthening the competitiveness of employers far beyond the data center industry itself.

Managing Growth Responsibly

Like any major infrastructure investment, data center development requires clear expectations and disciplined planning. Impacts vary by location, project design, cooling technology, and infrastructure needs.

National Security

America has long understood the importance of producing our own food, generating our own energy, and manufacturing critical defense technologies. Increasingly, we should think about digital infrastructure the same way.

Data centers support military operations, cybersecurity, emergency response, financial systems, government services, and the technologies that will shape the future economy.

The question isn’t whether this infrastructure will be built. It’s whether America chooses to build it here. North Carolina has an opportunity to help secure the digital backbone of the nation’s economy—and its national security.

Energy

North Carolina’s diverse energy generation portfolio has been a historic competitive advantage for the state in attracting and retaining industries and jobs. As we look ahead, how we continue to plan and manage for the future will be critical to maintaining reliable, affordable power for households and businesses.

North Carolina already has tools—including minimum demand provisions, upfront capital contributions, and customer-specific infrastructure requirements—to align infrastructure costs with large customers’ needs while protecting existing residential and small-business ratepayers.

Recent research found no evidence that data centers have historically shifted costs to other customers under existing rate structures. Regulators and utilities are also continuing to refine planning and safeguards as demand evolves.

Water

Water use is an important local consideration, but actual impacts vary depending on cooling technology, climate, and facility design. Advances in water reuse, closed-loop cooling systems, and efficiency measures continue reducing demand while helping communities manage long-term resources.

Economic and Community Value

Data centers generate long-term value through private investment, property taxes, construction activity, supply-chain spending, and high-skilled careers. As major, long-term contributors to local tax bases, they privide revenue that supports schools, public safety, infrastructure, and other community priorities.

The scale and mix of benefits vary by project, but communities across North Carolina, and the state, are already seeing tangible results. Data centers contributed $18.45 billion to the state’s GDP in 2024 and $1.39 billion in state and local tax revenue the same year, enough to fund nearly half of North Carolina’s education services.

Jobs and Workforce

Nationally, 5.5 million jobs are supported by the data center industry. While permanent staffing varies by facility, data center careers span electrical systems, HVAC, networking, cybersecurity, engineering, facility operations, and skilled trades. The average annual U.S. salary for a Data Center Technician/Engineer is $85,612, and the average technician salary in North Carolina is $103,289.

At the national level, each direct job in the data center industry supports more than 4.5 jobs elsewhere in the U.S. economy.

Operators in our state are partnering with community colleges and workforce organizations to create pathways into these careers and build the technical talent needed to support the state’s digital economy.

Dig Deeper: Research and Resources

In the News: What are they saying?

Economic Impact: What role do data centers play in the economy?

Energy and Electricity: How do data centers affect the electric grid and customer rates?

Water: How much water do data centers actually use?

National Security: Why are data centers becoming a national security issue?

Community Impact: What do data centers mean for North Carolina communities?

Workforce and Careers: What career opportunities do data centers create?

The Path Forward

Data centers are foundational to the industries that will drive the next era of economic growth, including artificial intelligence, advanced manufacturing, health care, financial services, research, and national security. With clear expectations and thoughtful infrastructure planning, North Carolina can realize the economic and community benefits of this investment while managing growth responsibly.