How many megawatts does a project need before you have to build a new data center?

There is no fixed megawatt threshold — the trigger is whether existing inventory with the right power is available, in the right market, on the right timeline. Below roughly 5MW, tenants almost always lease existing colocation or wholesale space. Between 5MW and 10MW, build-to-suit enters the conversation. Above 10MW — and almost always above 25 to 30MW in supply-constrained markets like Northern Virginia or Phoenix — contiguous move-in-ready capacity often simply does not exist, so a new build or build-to-suit arrangement becomes the only path. The real gate is energized power capacity and utility interconnect timing, not square footage.

What size data center deals does HyperBay broker?

HyperBay brokers data center transactions across the full size spectrum, from enterprise colocation below 1MW through hyperscale deployments of 100MW or more. Our ideal target is 1MW or greater, but we work with deals of any size where we can add real value.

Deal Sizes · Enterprise → Hyperscale

From a single suite to a 100-megawatt campus.

Q: What is the difference between enterprise, wholesale, and hyperscale data center deals?

Enterprise colocation deals typically range from a few cabinets to about 1MW and serve traditional IT, disaster recovery, and compliance workloads. Wholesale deals run from roughly 1MW to 10MW and serve growing SaaS, cloud, and AI companies that need dedicated suites or powered shells. Hyperscale deals start around 10MW and reach into the hundreds of megawatts, serving cloud providers and large AI infrastructure operators, usually through powered land or build-to-suit campuses.

Q: What is a powered shell in data center real estate?

A powered shell is a data center building that has been constructed and delivered with core infrastructure — power capacity brought to the building, cooling provisions, and structural readiness — but without the full interior fit-out of racks, electrical distribution, and mechanical systems. It lets a tenant or operator complete the buildout to their own specification, shortening the timeline compared to greenfield construction.

Q: Does HyperBay help evaluate a site before it is ready to list?

Yes. Through our Site Development Planning consulting service, we walk landowners and early-stage developers through utility capacity confirmation, interconnect study review, zoning fit, water and fiber routing, and phasing — producing a defensible site development package ready to present to a serious tenant. It is a scoped consulting engagement, separate from brokerage.

Data center deals don't come in one size — and they shouldn't be brokered as if they do. HyperBay works across three tiers, each with its own economics, timelines, and decision drivers. Here's how to know where your requirement fits, and what changes as the megawatts climb.

Enterprise

Enterprise Colocation

Hyperscale Build-to-Suit

10MW – 100MW+

    Own land and thinking about developing it? See Site Development Planning →
  

Enterprise

Enterprise Colocation

100kW – 1MW · Cabinets, cages & private suites

Enterprise colocation is where most organizations meet the data center market. It covers everything from a handful of cabinets to a private suite approaching a megawatt — typically for traditional IT, disaster recovery, regulatory and compliance workloads, edge deployments, and SaaS companies scaling out of the cloud or their own server closet.

At this size you are almost always leasing inside an existing multi-tenant facility. Supply is plentiful in most metros, so the decision turns on location, network density, contract flexibility, and the operator's track record — not on whether the space can be built.

Illuminated server racks in an enterprise colocation data hall

Who it fits

Enterprise IT and corporate infrastructure
Disaster recovery and backup sites
Compliance and data-sovereignty workloads
SaaS teams leaving public cloud

What HyperBay does

Retail and wholesale colocation placement
Multi-market RFP coordination
SLA and commercial term review
Migration and consolidation support

Lease vs. build

Effectively always a lease. New construction is never justified at this size — the value is in matching you to the right existing facility on the right terms.

Wholesale

Wholesale Capacity

1MW – 10MW · Dedicated suites & powered shells

Wholesale is the fast-growing middle of the market — and HyperBay's sweet spot. These deals serve regional cloud providers, AI infrastructure startups scaling training and inference, and large enterprises whose needs have outgrown retail colocation but haven't reached hyperscale.

Here you're leasing dedicated suites or taking down a powered shell to fit out yourself. Power capacity and time-to-power start to matter as much as the real estate, and in tight markets, contiguous blocks at the top of this range can already be hard to find — which is where build-to-suit first enters the conversation.

Power distribution and electrical infrastructure in a wholesale data center

Who it fits

AI training & inference operators
Regional and niche cloud providers
High-growth SaaS and platform companies
Large enterprise private cloud

What HyperBay does

Wholesale suite and powered shell placement
Off-market inventory and operator introductions
Power capacity and time-to-power validation
Term sheet support through executed agreement

Lease vs. build

Usually a lease, but build-to-suit becomes viable toward 5–10MW when a tenant has the leverage to have a developer build for them, or when contiguous space runs short.

Hyperscale

Hyperscale Build-to-Suit

10MW – 100MW+ · Powered land & build-to-suit campuses

At hyperscale, the deal stops being about finding space and starts being about securing power and land. These requirements serve cloud providers, large AI training operators, and major enterprises — and at this size, move-in-ready inventory frequently doesn't exist in the market you need.

The constraint is energized capacity: utility queues, interconnect timelines, and substation proximity decide which sites are real. HyperBay brokers powered land, brownfield sites, and build-to-suit campus opportunities where the megawatts can actually be delivered — and on a timeline that works.

Hyperscale data center building exterior at dusk

Who it fits

Hyperscale cloud and platform providers
Large-scale AI training operators
Major enterprise & government deployments
Developers seeking anchor tenants

What HyperBay does

Powered land and brownfield site selection
Utility coordination and interconnect review
Confidential off-market campus opportunities
Multi-party transaction management

Lease vs. build

Predominantly build or build-to-suit. Above ~25–30MW in constrained markets, a new build is often the only path — the interconnect timeline becomes the project.

Consulting Service

Site development planning, before the shovels.

Owning powered land isn't the same as owning a viable data center site. Between the parcel and a signed tenant sits a body of work most landowners and early-stage developers underestimate: utility capacity confirmation, interconnect study review, zoning fit, water and fiber routing, phasing, and a defensible development timeline.

HyperBay's site development planning service walks landowners, IPPs, and early-stage developers through that work — so by the time your site meets a hyperscale or wholesale tenant, it's ready to be taken seriously. Offered on a scoped consulting basis, separate from brokerage.

What you leave with

A defensible site development package a serious tenant will actually take to their real estate committee.

Scoped engagements · Flat or milestone-based fees

Site & power assessment

Utility capacity and queue-position review
Substation proximity and routing analysis
Interconnect study interpretation
Realistic time-to-power estimate

Planning & feasibility

Zoning, entitlement, and jurisdictional fit
Water availability and cooling strategy
Fiber route options and network density
Preliminary site plan and phasing options

Buyer-ready packaging

Development timeline you can defend
Risk register and mitigation notes
Diligence package tenants expect to see
Positioning strategy for offer to market

When does a project force a new build?

There's no magic megawatt number — the real question is whether existing inventory with the right power exists, in the right market, on the right timeline. As requirements climb, the answer shifts from "lease" to "build." Here's roughly how that progression looks in today's supply-constrained markets.

< 1MW

Always lease

Abundant retail and wholesale colocation. No reason to build.

1 – 5MW

Lease

Wholesale suites inside existing or already-planned facilities.

5 – 10MW

Gray zone

Build-to-suit becomes viable; contiguous space gets scarce.

10MW+

Often build

Move-in-ready capacity rarely exists. Power and land lead the deal.

Deal size questions, answered.

The questions tenants and developers ask most when sizing a data center requirement.

How many megawatts before you have to build a new data center?

There's no fixed threshold — the trigger is whether existing inventory with the right power is available, in the right market, on the right timeline. Below roughly 5MW, tenants almost always lease. Between 5 and 10MW, build-to-suit enters the conversation. Above 10MW — and almost always above 25–30MW in supply-constrained markets like Northern Virginia or Phoenix — contiguous move-in-ready capacity often simply doesn't exist, so a new build or build-to-suit arrangement becomes the only path. The real gate is energized power capacity and interconnect timing, not square footage.

What's the difference between enterprise, wholesale, and hyperscale?

Enterprise colocation runs from a few cabinets to about 1MW, serving traditional IT, disaster recovery, and compliance workloads. Wholesale runs roughly 1MW to 10MW, serving growing SaaS, cloud, and AI companies needing dedicated suites or powered shells. Hyperscale starts around 10MW and reaches into the hundreds of megawatts, serving cloud providers and large AI operators through powered land or build-to-suit campuses.

What is a powered shell?

A powered shell is a data center building delivered with core infrastructure — power brought to the building, cooling provisions, and structural readiness — but without the full interior fit-out of racks, electrical distribution, and mechanical systems. It lets a tenant complete the buildout to their own specification, shortening the timeline versus greenfield construction.

Why does power matter more than space at large sizes?

Modern workloads — especially AI training — are power-dense. The limiting factor isn't square footage but how many megawatts a site can actually be energized with, and when. Utility interconnection queues can run years in hot markets, so a site's power position and substation proximity determine whether a deal is real or aspirational.

Does HyperBay help evaluate a site before it's ready to list?

Yes — through our Site Development Planning consulting service. It's a scoped engagement, separate from brokerage, that walks landowners and early-stage developers through utility capacity, interconnect review, zoning fit, water and fiber routing, and phasing. You come out with a defensible site development package ready to put in front of a serious tenant.

Does HyperBay really work with smaller deals?

Yes. Our ideal target is 1MW or greater, but we regularly work with enterprise requirements below that. Smaller requirements often grow, and we'd rather build a relationship from day one than turn good clients away.

Not sure which tier you're in? That's our job.

Tell us your capacity range, geography, and timeline. We'll tell you honestly whether you're leasing or building — and find you the options either way.

Book a Call hello@hyperbay.co