As constricted western coastal areas of the United States become more difficult to develop large scale campuses, Phoenix continues its growth path. It will surpass the market size of one gigawatt this year. This is just the beginning of planned capacity coming to the city, as the metro area has so far avoided the deep power concerns and other related moratoriums that have struck other global primary locations.
California’s power challenges, including high costs and limited availability, further fuel demand for data center deployments in the West. Phoenix emerges as a natural choice, benefiting from both substantial power availability and comparatively reasonable rates, making it an attractive alternative for hyperscale and enterprise workloads. In addition, the region has a low natural disaster risk and the desert atmosphere limits flooding that could occur in more coastal locations. Phoenix is also far from areas with seismic activity, with tornadoes also exceedingly rare. Arizona has officially welcomed data center business since 2013, when the state passed a comprehensive package of incentives, with exemptions on transactional privilege and use taxes for investments as low as $50 million in urban areas.
Phoenix offers dozens of short- and long-haul fiber routes, directly linking the city regionally and nationally to other core markets and providing optionality for high-density AI training workloads, inference, or more standard lower-density platform needs. While Greater Phoenix arguably doesn’t have a primary carrier hotel, clusters in Tempe, Mesa, Goodyear, and Chandler have formed rich network points for locating workloads for maximum efficiency and distribution. This allows for low latency to key cities across the country’s western half and sub-two millisecond speeds to other data centers in the area.
EdgeConneX operates a data center in Phoenix (PHX01), which boasts robust connectivity options with major networks, cloud onramps such as Microsoft Azure ExpressRoute and AWS Direct Connect, and innovative solutions supporting cutting-edge technologies like autonomous vehicles.
To match the growth of Phoenix, EdgeConneX is growing too, with a new campus soon to arrive in Mesa. This development will offer 168 MVA, phased in through 2027 and available for discussions with interested parties.
Good Neighbors
Recently, our team was honored to help launch the 2025 Mesa, Arizona Hydration Donation Campaign sponsored by the Mesa Chamber of Commerce, the City of Mesa, and the United Food Bank. The Hydration Challenge focuses on assisting children, seniors, families, and individuals who are at risk due to the extreme temperatures in Mesa and the greater Phoenix, Arizona region. The campaign aims to collect 500,000 bottles of water and raise $40,000 in cash donations to help those in need during the hot summer months. The event was attended by local data centers and community leaders, including the Mayor of Mesa, city council members, and the President of the Mesa Chamber of Commerce. To learn more and to donate, please visit: Mesa Chamber of Commerce Hydration Challenge
Arrive or expand in greater Phoenix and benefit from locating your core workloads in the desert! Learn more about why Mesa, Arizona, is an optimal site for your next high-density custom build: