Hypothetical U.S. site · 1 GW of IT capacity · May 2026 model
Share of an estimated $37.9 billion initial investment. GB200 NVL72 hardware, not an actual project’s bill.
Initial purchases and construction only, not annual operating costs. Hardware and construction inputs include 2025 estimates.
The computers cost more than everything else put together. In Epoch AI’s hypothetical U.S. AI data center, servers account for about $21.2 billion of the $37.9 billion initial investment. The facility, cooling, other IT equipment, land and utility works make up the rest.
This explains why a data center’s headline construction budget may describe only part of the investment. A building and its cooling systems are not the same purchase as a fully equipped AI computing site.
This is a model, not an average of real projects or a current price quote. It uses NVIDIA GB200 NVL72 systems and one gigawatt of rated IT capacity. That describes the computing equipment’s power rating, not the site’s electricity use over a year.
More Detail, Sources and Data
What the Budget Includes
“Facility & Cooling” is Epoch’s facility category, including its liquid-cooling cost adjustment. “Networking & Other IT” is the source’s network-infrastructure category: a proxy for the cluster’s non-server investment, including networking, storage, service, software and installation. Land and utility works are separate inputs. A small budget share does not establish that land or a grid connection is easy to obtain.
| Component | USD Millions | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Servers | 21,188 | 55.9% |
| Facility & Cooling | 11,433 | 30.2% |
| Networking & Other IT | 4,925 | 13.0% |
| Land | 172 | 0.5% |
| Utility Works | 164 | 0.4% |
| Reported Total | 37,883 | 100% |
How We Calculated the Shares
Vastkind divided each component in Epoch’s upfront-investment CSV by its reported total of $37,883 million, then multiplied by 100. Bars start at zero and use unrounded shares; labels show one decimal place. The title rounds the server share, 55.93%, to 56%.
The individually rounded components add to $37,882 million, $1 million below the rounded total. The underlying model workbook totals approximately $37,882.5 million. This rounding difference does not change the displayed shares.
A Model of Purchases, Not Annual Spending
Epoch published the analysis on May 14, 2026; its upfront chart data were updated May 19. Hardware and construction assumptions include 2025 estimates. The model uses GB200 NVL72 systems and a hypothetical U.S. hyperscale site with 1 GW of rated IT capacity, powered entirely from the grid. It is not a November 2026 supplier quote, a measured industry average or a forecast for every future AI facility.
These are initial capital costs. Electricity bills and other operating expenses belong to a different comparison. Epoch’s separate annualized-cost analysis accounts for recurring costs and different asset lifetimes; its percentages must not be mixed with these upfront shares.
For the separate question of what a large chip count can enable, see our explanation of Colossus 2’s expansion plans. This chart does not estimate that project’s budget.
Data and model: Amelia Michael and Ben Cottier, Epoch AI, AI Data Center Cost Breakdown, reused with attribution under CC BY 4.0. Vastkind calculated the shares, clarified category labels and created this chart; no source graphic was copied.