Hyperscale data center

A hyperscale data center is an extremely large facility built by or for major cloud and internet platforms — AWS, Microsoft, Google, Meta, Alibaba, and peers — designed to scale to tens or hundreds of megawatts of IT load across standardized, software-managed infrastructure. Typical hyperscale buildings start around 20-50 MW, and modern AI-era campuses are announced at 100 MW to multi-gigawatt scale. Hyperscalers either self-build or lease wholesale capacity from developers; their commitments absorbed roughly three-quarters of North America's 5,200+ MW development pipeline as of 2025. Design hallmarks include uniform hardware fleets, minimal redundancy at the component level (resilience achieved in software across regions), and aggressive PUE targets near 1.1. Hyperscale demand is the dominant force in global data center construction and power procurement.