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DataCentersExposed
U.S. data-center footprint

Colorado

DataCentersExposed tracks 41 AI data centers in Colorado — 7 operating and 6 in the pipeline — across 8 counties, drawing 3.9 GW of reported power demand from 9 tracked corporate operators.

Sources: Methodology, Coverage scorecard

Reporting by · Updated May 29, 2026

Tracked
41
data centers
Operating
7
live today
Pipeline
6
proposed / building
Demand
3.9 GW
16 w/ capacity
Counties
8
touched
Operators
9
corporate parents
The story so far

Colorado at a glance

The largest footprint in Colorado belongs to Flexential Corp., behind 4 tracked facilities. Equinix, Inc., CenterSquare (formerly Cyxtera), and CoreSite, LLC round out the most active operators in the state. Many of these sites are filed under shell or project names rather than the parent's — our operator column resolves them back to the real corporate parent wherever the chain is documented.

Geographically, the buildout clusters: Weld County leads Colorado with 3 facilities and a composite risk score of 20/100. Arapahoe County and El Paso County follow. Our county risk score weights project exposure (40%), power demand (30%), water draw (15%), and land footprint (15%); the full breakdown is shown on each county page.

Colorado is not done growing. 6 facilities are in the pipeline — proposed, permitted, or under construction — which is where residents still have a say at zoning hearings and in rate cases. Each pending project is a decision about land, water, electricity prices, and tax revenue that hasn't been finalized.

We also surface the accountability trail: 2 state bills mentioning data centers and 6 recent news items are tracked for Colorado below, pulled from LegiScan and GDELT and refreshed automatically. Legislation is linked to the counties and operators it names; news is classified by community sentiment.

Modeled scenario · not announced

2035 Buildout Outlook

via PNNL IM3 (CC BY 4.0)

Under the model's moderate-growth scenario (5%/yr annual load growth), PNNL's IM3 model sites about 3 standardized 36 MW campuses in Colorado by 2035 — roughly 108 MW of new electricity demand and ~52 M gal/yr of cooling water. Under the higher-growth scenario (15%/yr) that climbs to 18 campuses (648 MW). For scale, we currently track 41 real data centers in Colorado (3.9 GW of reported power).

Modeled new campuses by demand-growth scenario
  • Low growth2
    72 MW · ~35 M gal/yr cooling water
  • Moderate growth3
    108 MW · ~52 M gal/yr cooling water
  • High growth9
    324 MW · ~122 M gal/yr cooling water
  • Higher growth18
    648 MW · ~209 M gal/yr cooling water

The model assigns ~50% of these campuses' cooling to evaporative water cooling in Colorado (the rest to mechanical/air cooling), a split it derives from local water stress and wet-bulb temperature.

These are modeled candidate sites, not announced or permitted facilities. PNNL's IM3 model places identical 36 MW unit-campuses at feasible locations under each scenario — it shows where demand could concentrate, never a specific parcel. Figures use a market-gravity weight of 50. How the model works.

Who's building

Top operators in Colorado

Where it's concentrated

County risk leaderboard

Risk methodology
Still contested

Pipeline & proposals

41 of 41 shown

All tracked facilities

FacilityOperatorStatusCountyMW
Sterling Data CenterGranite RenewablesProposedLogan2,000
GlobalAI Windsor (former Kodak/Carestream)GlobalAIProposedWeld County1,000
Aligned Weld County Campus (proposed)Aligned Energy Holdings, LPProposedWeld500
Project TaurusRaedenProposedEl Paso50
Global AIProposedWeld18
QTS Aurora-DenverQTS Realty Trust, LLCUnder constructionArapahoe County177
CoreSite - Denver (DE2)CoreSite, LLCMapped (unverified)75
Flexential Denver - EnglewoodFlexential Corp.OperatingDouglas18
Colorado Springs Data CenterFlexential Corp.OperatingEl Paso3
Den1OperatingArapahoe2
1500 ChampaMapped (unverified)
Centersquare Denver (DEN1)CenterSquare (formerly Cyxtera)Mapped (unverified)
Centersquare Denver (DEN2)CenterSquare (formerly Cyxtera)Mapped (unverified)
ColoradoColo - Lakewood (LKWD)Mapped (unverified)
Data102 - COS01Mapped (unverified)
DataBank Denver (DEN1)Mapped (unverified)
DataBank Denver (DEN2)Mapped (unverified)
DataBank Denver (DEN4)Mapped (unverified)
EdgeConneX Denver (EDCDEN01)Mapped (unverified)
Equinix DE1 - DenverEquinix, Inc.Mapped (unverified)
Equinix DE2 - DenverEquinix, Inc.Mapped (unverified)
Flexential - Denver - AuroraFlexential Corp.OperatingArapahoe
Flexential - Denver - Centennial Data CenterFlexential Corp.OperatingArapahoe
Flexential Denver - DowntownFlexential Corp.OperatingDenver
Google - ThorntonAlphabet Inc.Mapped (unverified)Adams
H5 Data Centers DenverH5 Data CentersMapped (unverified)
Insurance Exchange BuildingMapped (unverified)Denver
Iron Mountain Data Center - Denver (DEN-1)Mapped (unverified)
JPMorgan ChaseMapped (unverified)Broomfield
Level(3) DenverLumen TechnologiesMapped (unverified)
QTSQTS Realty Trust, LLCMapped (unverified)Arapahoe
Sap Cos02Mapped (unverified)El Paso
Sungard AS AuroraMapped (unverified)
Sungard AS ThorntonMapped (unverified)
T5@Colorado SpringsOperatingEl Paso
Time Warner DatacenterMapped (unverified)Arapahoe
US Signal CO01 - DenverMapped (unverified)
Walmart Colorado Data CenterMapped (unverified)El Paso
Xfinity/Comcast Data CenterMapped (unverified)Arapahoe
Zayo NetworksMapped (unverified)
zColo by ZayoMapped (unverified)Arapahoe

Methodology & sources

Facility counts include operating, under-construction, proposed, and permitted sites. Capacity (MW) combines operator disclosures, interconnection-queue estimates, and research datasets; see each facility for provenance. County risk scores weight project exposure (40%), power demand (30%), water draw (15%), and land footprint (15%), renormalized over measured factors.

Every row carries a confidence level (high / medium / low) and a source URL. Spot an error? Tell us.