Arizona has 182 data centers: 107 operating, 16 under construction and 53 planned. The operating facilities together use about 1.8 gigawatts, while planned sites are projected to add roughly 9 gigawatts. Combined, the current and proposed facilities could push data-center demand in Arizona past 12 gigawatts—roughly comparable to the state’s overall electricity use today, according to the reported estimates.

The largest existing concentrations are on the outskirts of the Valley. Meta, NTT, Apple and EdgeConneX have neighboring campuses in the far East Valley, while facilities in south Chandler are largely owned by CyrusOne. Microsoft and Stream operate sites near Goodyear Airpark in the West Valley. The two Buckeye projects would be the largest data centers yet to come to the state.

The expansion is part of a national surge. The figures cited from US Data Center Map put the U.S. total at 5,098 facilities, with Virginia and Texas accounting for about 12% each. Data centers nationwide currently draw about 49 gigawatts. Another 1,600 facilities are planned or under construction, and their projected power needs total 346 gigawatts—more than 20 times Arizona’s current power output.

The industry has also brought economic benefits. The Greater Phoenix Economic Council estimates data centers generated 108,000 jobs over the past decade, added $11 billion to Arizona’s economic output and drove half of the state’s economic growth.

Those gains come with a major infrastructure challenge: meeting rapidly rising electricity demand. The projects’ growth and power estimates are projections, but their scale makes decisions about grid capacity and future energy supply increasingly important for Arizona communities.