Virginia Data Centers
Ashburn and Data Center Alley, Prince William, Richmond and Hampton Roads: Where the Capacity Is and How to Get In
Virginia holds more data center capacity than any place on earth, and almost none of it is empty. We find the Virginia space that exists for your requirement, in Ashburn or beyond, and negotiate the terms, at no cost to you.
Price My Virginia RequirementSearches for data centers in Virginia usually mean one of five places. Ashburn and the rest of Loudoun County, with about 200 data centers, is the core: the densest concentration of networks, cloud on-ramps and colocation anywhere. Prince William County, around Manassas, Gainesville and Bristow, is where the newest large campuses are. Fairfax County, from Reston to Chantilly, holds older carrier-dense sites close to Washington. Richmond and Henrico County have become the state's second market, and Hampton Roads, around Virginia Beach, is where the transatlantic subsea cables land. This page covers all five, what each is good for, and how to get space. Pricing and placement detail for the Northern Virginia market is on Washington DC and Northern Virginia colocation.
Sources: CBRE North America Data Center Trends H1 2026; Loudoun County Department of Economic Development; Dominion Energy figures as reported by Brightlio. Figures as of October 2026.
At a fraction of one percent vacancy, most Virginia capacity is pre-leased before it opens. We find which halls have space and power for your date, including space that is not advertised.
Carrier density in Ashburn, or room and better rates in Prince William, Richmond or Culpeper. The requirement decides, and we match it before you commit.
A building ready for service and a utility feed energized are different dates in Virginia. We confirm the power, not just the space.
The operator you choose pays us from its channel budget. Your rate is not marked up, and you'll hear back within 24 hours.
MCA calculation from straight-line distance and the speed of light in optical fiber, about 1 ms round trip per 100 km. These are floors; real fiber routes are longer, so test on your own network. Free to cite with a link to this page.
Data Centers in Virginia: The Five Regions
| Region | What is there | Best for |
|---|---|---|
| Ashburn and Loudoun CountyData Center Alley | About 200 data centers: Equinix's DC campus, Digital Realty, Vantage, QTS, CloudHQ, STACK, Sabey and the hyperscalers | Interconnection, cloud on-ramps, latency to everything on the East Coast |
| Prince William CountyManassas, Gainesville, Bristow | The newest large campuses, including Iron Mountain, QTS, CloudHQ and STACK in Manassas, and the Digital Gateway plan | Wholesale and large deployments with room to grow |
| Fairfax CountyReston, Chantilly, Vienna | Older carrier-dense sites such as CoreSite's Reston campus and Digital Realty in Chantilly and Vienna | Enterprise colocation close to Washington |
| Richmond and HenricoSandston, Chesterfield | QTS and Iron Mountain in Sandston, hyperscale campuses, about 28 facilities | Lower-cost capacity 1.7 ms from Ashburn, and recovery |
| Hampton RoadsVirginia Beach | Transatlantic subsea cable landings and a small number of facilities | Cable access to Europe and South America |
Facility counts and operators from ElectricChoice's Virginia data center directory, October 2026.
Send your power, cabinet or megawatt count, connectivity needs and date before you contact an operator. You'll hear back within 24 hours with the Virginia halls that fit.
Ashburn Data Centers: Data Center Alley
Ashburn data centers grew up around the networks. Loudoun County's technology corridor became the meeting point for the internet's backbone carriers, then for the cloud providers, and today Equinix's Ashburn campus and Digital Realty's Loudoun platform anchor the most interconnected square miles in the world. Digital Realty's Ashburn platform alone supports about 632 MW of IT load, and Equinix bought another 34.5 acres in Loudoun in July 2026 for future expansion. Vantage, QTS, CloudHQ, STACK, Sabey, Aligned and the hyperscalers fill out the county.
Ashburn colocation: getting space in a 0.2 percent market
Ashburn colocation is scarce because most new capacity is leased by hyperscalers before it opens, and because power, not land or buildings, sets the pace. For a retail or mid-sized requirement, space in the carrier-dense Equinix and Digital Realty buildings still turns over, but it is priced accordingly and rarely advertised. How the market prices, who has space and how to get in is covered on Washington DC and Northern Virginia colocation.
Power: Why Dominion Energy Sets the Timeline
Dominion Energy serves roughly 450 data centers in Virginia, and its connection queue holds about 25 GW of data center projects with committed energization dates. Dominion forecasts that peak load in its part of the PJM grid will more than double between 2025 and 2045, faster than any other zone. New transmission lines are under construction, large-load customers face new rate terms, and operators are adding on-site generation and battery storage to bridge the gaps.
Two dates, not one
A building can be ready for service months before its utility feed is energized. Ask for the energization date in writing, not the ready-for-service date.
Why growth moved south
Land prices rose about 45 percent in Loudoun and 38 percent in Prince William in a year, and power is contested, so developers moved down I-95 to Stafford, Fredericksburg, Culpeper and Richmond.
What it means for tenants
Requirements that can flex on location within Virginia, or on date, place far more easily than those fixed on Ashburn this quarter.
Sources: Dominion Energy figures via Brightlio; JLL land price figures via Motion CRE. As of October 2026.
Prince William County and the I-95 Corridor
Prince William County, around Manassas, Gainesville and Bristow, is Northern Virginia's second concentration, with about 74 facilities and large campuses from Iron Mountain, QTS, CloudHQ and STACK. The Prince William Digital Gateway, a 2,100-acre, 23 million square foot plan near Gainesville approved in late 2023, has faced resident opposition and litigation. Farther south, Culpeper County's pipeline has grown toward a gigawatt, and campuses are planned in Stafford, Caroline and Louisa counties.
Richmond, Henrico and Hampton Roads
Richmond and Henrico
Virginia's second market, about 28 facilities and roughly 470 MW, with QTS and Iron Mountain in Sandston and hyperscale campuses nearby. About 1.7 ms from Ashburn, with lower land and power costs: a natural recovery site for Northern Virginia and a primary site for Richmond's banks and insurers.
Hampton Roads and Virginia Beach
The MAREA, BRUSA and Dunant subsea cables land in Virginia Beach, giving Virginia direct routes to Europe and South America. Only a few data centers sit there, but the cables feed the whole state's connectivity, including Henrico about 100 miles away.
Virginia Data Center Providers
| Provider | Virginia presence | Best for |
|---|---|---|
| Equinix | The Ashburn DC campus | Interconnection, cloud on-ramps, networks |
| Digital Realty | Ashburn, Chantilly, Vienna and Manassas | Carrier-dense colocation and wholesale |
| Vantage | Ashburn, Sterling, Stafford | Wholesale campuses |
| QTS | Ashburn, Sterling, Manassas, Richmond | Wholesale and hyperscale, plus Richmond |
| CoreSite | Reston campus | Enterprise colocation with cloud connectivity |
| Iron Mountain | Manassas and Richmond | Wholesale and compliance-heavy deployments |
| CloudHQ, STACK, Aligned, Sabey, CyrusOne | Loudoun and Prince William campuses | Large and wholesale requirements |
Compare providers across markets on the provider comparison; more on Equinix, Digital Realty and CoreSite.
What Virginia Data Center Space Costs
Northern Virginia is the scarcest primary market, and its wholesale rates reflect that: CBRE put the primary-market average at about $196 per kW per month for 250 to 500 kW at the end of 2025, with Northern Virginia at or above it and rising. Retail cabinets in the Ashburn carrier hotels price at the top of the national range. Richmond, Culpeper and the I-95 corridor are generally cheaper, and that gap is why large deployments keep moving south. Current figures and negotiating points are on the colocation pricing guide and Northern Virginia colocation.
AI and GPU Capacity in Virginia
Virginia has more AI-ready capacity under construction than anywhere else, and almost all of it is pre-leased to hyperscalers. For a tenant with GPU racks, air-cooled 15 to 40 kW cabinets fit at several Northern Virginia facilities; rack-scale liquid-cooled systems at 120 kW and up, such as the GB200 and GB300 NVL72, need a hall with a commissioned liquid loop, and those are scarce and dated by power. See AI and GPU colocation and direct to chip cooling for what to verify.
Send your power per rack, total load, cooling and date. You'll hear back within 24 hours with what Virginia can support on your timeline, and the alternatives if Ashburn cannot.
Virginia's Tax Exemption, and the Pushback
The incentive
Virginia exempts qualifying data center equipment from sales and use tax, one of the largest state incentives of its kind, and Loudoun County collects a large share of its budget from data center property taxes.
The opposition
Residents in Prince William and Loudoun have pushed back on noise, land use and power bills, and some projects face litigation. Approvals in the traditional core are slower than they were.
What it means for you
New capacity is arriving farther from Ashburn and later than planned. A requirement that can land in Richmond, Culpeper or Stafford has more options and better pricing.
Who Virginia Data Centers Suit
Federal contractors and agencies
Close to Washington, with facilities built for FedRAMP, CMMC and cleared workloads. See compliance.
Networks, cloud and SaaS
Ashburn's interconnection and cloud on-ramps are the reason the market exists.
Enterprises on the East Coast
Ashburn reaches New York in about 3.5 ms and Atlanta in about 8.5 ms, a central site for a national footprint.
Richmond and Hampton Roads companies
Banks, insurers, health systems and the military community, with Richmond's own capacity and cable access at Virginia Beach.
Virginia and Other Markets
Virginia pairs with Philadelphia, 2.2 ms away, and the NYC metro for a Northeast footprint, and with Atlanta, Chicago and Dallas for national reach and recovery. Companies leaving their own data centers should see data center relocation.
How We Find Space in Virginia
You send the requirement
Power, cabinet or megawatt count, connectivity, compliance needs and your date. You'll hear back within 24 hours.
We find what exists
Which Virginia halls have space and energized power for your date, in Ashburn or the markets around it, including space that is not advertised.
We negotiate and you sign
Rate, cross-connects, term, power dates and exit terms negotiated before you sign. The operator you choose pays us.
Frequently Asked Questions
How many data centers are in Virginia?
Several hundred. Loudoun County alone has about 200 in and around Ashburn, Prince William County about 74, and Henrico County about 28, with more in Fairfax, Culpeper, Stafford and Hampton Roads. Northern Virginia holds about 4.5 GW of capacity, the most of any market in the world.
Why does Virginia have so many data centers?
Ashburn became the meeting point for the internet's backbone networks in the 1990s, and the cloud providers followed the networks. Virginia added a sales and use tax exemption for data center equipment, a fast local approval process in Loudoun County, and, until recently, ample power from Dominion Energy.
What is Data Center Alley?
The dense cluster of data centers along Loudoun County's technology corridor, centered on Ashburn. It is the most interconnected concentration of data centers anywhere, home to Equinix's Ashburn campus, Digital Realty's Loudoun platform and the major cloud providers.
Where are the data centers in Ashburn?
Along the Loudoun County Parkway and Waxpool Road corridor and the surrounding technology parks, including Equinix's DC campus and Digital Realty's Loudoun campus, with Vantage, QTS, CloudHQ, STACK, Sabey and the hyperscalers nearby.
Is there colocation space available in Ashburn?
Some, but little. Northern Virginia vacancy is about 0.2 percent, and most new capacity is pre-leased before it opens. Retail and mid-sized space still turns over in the carrier-dense buildings, usually unadvertised, which is why an advisor who checks availability first matters here more than anywhere.
How much does colocation cost in Virginia?
Northern Virginia prices at or above the primary-market average of about $196 per kW per month for 250 to 500 kW, with Ashburn's carrier hotels at the top of the retail range. Richmond, Culpeper and the I-95 corridor are generally cheaper. Quotes depend on power, term and connectivity.
What is the power situation for Virginia data centers?
Power is the constraint. Dominion Energy's queue holds about 25 GW of data center projects with committed dates, new transmission is under construction, and large-load customers face new rate terms. For a tenant, confirm the energization date of the hall, not just the building's ready-for-service date.
What is the Prince William Digital Gateway?
A 2,100-acre, 23 million square foot data center plan near Gainesville in Prince William County, approved in late 2023 and planned as one of the largest data center campuses in the world. It has faced resident opposition and litigation.
Are there data centers in Richmond?
Yes. Henrico County has about 28 facilities and roughly 470 MW, including QTS and Iron Mountain in Sandston and hyperscale campuses nearby. Richmond is about 1.7 ms from Ashburn and generally cheaper, so it works as both a primary site and a recovery site for Northern Virginia.
Why do subsea cables land in Virginia Beach?
The MAREA, BRUSA and Dunant cables chose Virginia Beach for a direct landing away from the crowded New York and New Jersey corridor, with routes inland to Richmond and Ashburn. They give Virginia direct connectivity to Europe and South America.
Does Virginia offer tax incentives for data centers?
Yes. Virginia exempts qualifying data center equipment from sales and use tax, one of the largest state incentives of its kind. For colocation tenants the benefit shows up indirectly through the operator rather than as a direct credit.
Can Virginia data centers support AI and GPU racks?
Air-cooled GPU cabinets of 15 to 40 kW fit at several facilities. Rack-scale liquid-cooled systems at 120 kW and up need a hall with a commissioned liquid loop and confirmed power, which is scarce and dated by Dominion's timeline. Flexibility on location within Virginia or on date helps.
Ashburn or Richmond for colocation?
Ashburn for interconnection, cloud on-ramps and the lowest latency to everything on the East Coast. Richmond for lower cost, more available power and recovery. Many companies use both, 1.7 ms apart.
How fast can I get colocation in Virginia?
Retail cabinets in existing space can be ready in weeks once signed. Larger requirements depend on which halls have power on your date, which in Northern Virginia can mean quarters, not weeks. We confirm the power date before you plan around it.
Do you charge for finding Virginia data center space?
No. The operator you choose pays us from its channel budget, and your rate is not marked up. You'll hear back within 24 hours.
Price Your Virginia Requirement
Tell us your power, cabinet or megawatt count, connectivity needs and date. You'll hear back within 24 hours from the person who will run your search. No cost, no obligation, and the operator you choose pays us.
Once you have contacted an operator directly, it usually will not work through an advisor on your deal.
Northern Virginia in depth: Washington DC and Northern Virginia colocation, the colocation pricing guide and wholesale colocation.
Nearby markets: Philadelphia, the NYC metro, Atlanta and Chicago.
Planning: AI and GPU colocation, direct to chip cooling, powered land, disaster recovery, data center cost and how a data center broker works.
