Goldman Sachs bucks the trend by raising its US data center construction forecast: spending expected to reach $125 billion in 2028.

November 7 — Despite market panic over stricter data center regulations after the U.S. Democratic Party won control of Congress, Goldman Sachs still raised its U.S. data center construction spending forecast, increasing its 2026 estimate from $67 billion to $80 billion, its 2027 estimate from $87 billion to $100 billion, and for the first time projected that it will reach $125 billion in 2028.

Goldman Sachs noted that about 86GW of data center projects are currently under construction in the United States, with another approximately $900 billion in high-confidence pending projects, and the overall construction cycle remains resilient. Demand and backlog orders from hyperscale cloud service providers such as Microsoft, Amazon, and Google have not yet shown obvious cooling, with H100 compute leasing prices up 26% year over year and GB200 leasing prices up 50% year to date.

In response to Texas governor-elect Gina Hinojosa's proposed data center moratorium, Goldman Sachs believes its impact is more about delaying project delivery rather than directly canceling construction plans, but it may lead to higher financing costs, reduced tax incentives, and some customers canceling contracts.

Goldman Sachs also warned that the industry's overall growth prospects need to be distinguished from the viability of individual developers. Highly leveraged data center developers may face severe financial pressure due to project delays and rising financing costs, and some companies may even be unable to survive until projects begin operation.