Data Centers in Hawaii

Hawaii – Strategic Mid-Pacific Connectivity Hub

Hawaii serves as a critical digital bridge connecting North America and the Asia-Pacific region. For businesses requiring a low-latency presence to serve Pacific islands, deliver content, or facilitate trans-pacific data flows, Hawaii's data centers offer an indispensable strategic advantage. This market is ideal for gaming, content delivery networks (CDNs), and multinational corporations that depend on reliable connectivity across the Pacific Ocean.

Hawaii: At A Glance

Network & Connectivity Ecosystem

Hawaii's connectivity is defined by its unique position as a mid-ocean hub, anchored by a growing number of submarine fiber optic cables.

Carrier Density & Carrier Neutrality Hawaii has over 5 network providers operating within its colocation facilities as of September 2025. Carrier-neutral facilities provide access to the primary networks that land their subsea cables here, ensuring resilient routing options between North America and Asia.

Direct Cloud On-Ramps There is over 1 major cloud on-ramp available in Hawaii, providing direct access to 1 cloud region as of September 2025. Private, low-latency connections are available for AWS. Access to other cloud providers is typically achieved via network extensions from West Coast hubs like Los Angeles or San Francisco.

Internet Exchange Points (IXPs) The Honolulu Internet Exchange (HONIX) facilitates local traffic peering, improving performance and reducing latency for island-to-island communications. Most trans-pacific peering, however, occurs within private facilities or at major West Coast exchanges.

Bare Metal Bare metal server options are available in Hawaii, offering dedicated compute resources for performance-sensitive workloads. Providers such as Hivelocity offer deployment options in the market.

Power Analysis

The state's isolated island grids present unique power generation and cost considerations.

Average Cost Of Power Industrial power costs are estimated between $0.28 and $0.35 per kWh as of September 2025. These rates are substantially higher than the U.S. mainland average and are a critical factor in total cost of ownership calculations for large-scale deployments. The power mix is dominated by petroleum and coal, with a growing share from renewable sources.

Power Grid Reliability Each island operates an independent power grid. While this presents challenges, data centers in Hawaii are engineered with significant power redundancy, including multiple on-site generators, battery backup systems, and N+1 or 2N UPS configurations to ensure continuous uptime.

Market Access, Business & Tax Climate

Hawaii offers a unique business environment with specific strategic benefits for data-centric operations.

Proximity To Key Business Districts Data centers are located primarily on the island of Oahu, serving the business district of Honolulu, major military installations like Pearl Harbor, and the state's significant research and tourism sectors.

Regional Market Reach The primary advantage of Hawaii is its ability to serve as a low-latency hub for the entire Pacific. It improves application performance for users in Hawaii, surrounding Pacific islands, Australia, and New Zealand, while also acting as a midpoint for traffic between Asia and North America.

Tax Advantage For Data Centers Hawaii offers compelling tax incentives that can lower long-term operational expenses. The state provides revolving credit for green infrastructure financing and is considering a specific tax credit for data center development, which would reduce the cost basis for new facilities.

Natural Disaster Risk

Hawaii has a high natural disaster risk profile, with a FEMA National Risk Index score of 87.69 as of September 2025. Data center selection requires careful evaluation of facility design and mitigation strategies. Key risks include:

• Hurricanes
• Tsunamis
• Earthquakes
• Volcanic Activity
• Coastal and Riverine Flooding
• Wildfires