Data Centers in Hawaii

Hawaii – The Strategic Mid-Pacific Interconnection Hub

Executive Summary

Hawaii serves as the indispensable digital relay for trans-Pacific traffic, providing the lowest possible latency between North American markets and the Asia-Pacific region. For enterprises requiring mid-ocean data sovereignty and high-performance subsea cable landings, this market is a non-negotiable strategic asset. Leveraging its position as a primary landing point, Hawaii ensures signal integrity and high-speed transit for global commerce.

Hawaii: At A Glance

Network & Connectivity Ecosystem

Carrier Density & Carrier Neutrality: Carrier count: over 6. Hawaii maintains a concentrated but highly specialized network ecosystem with 6–10 providers as of September 2025. These carriers manage the critical subsea infrastructure that connects the islands to the global backbone.

Direct Cloud On-Ramps: Over 1, enabling access to 1 cloud regions. As of September 2025, the market provides direct on-ramp access to AWS. This allows for reduced latency and more predictable network performance compared to routing traffic back to mainland hubs.

Internet Exchange Points (IXPs): The Hawaii Internet Exchange (HIX) is the primary peering point, allowing local networks to exchange traffic directly to improve speed for island-based end users as of September 2025.

Bare Metal: High-performance bare metal services are available through providers such as phoenixNAP and Hivelocity as of September 2025. These options allow for dedicated compute resources without the overhead of a traditional hypervisor.

Power Analysis

Average Cost Of Power: Industrial electricity: $0.32/kWh – as of September 2025. The energy mix consists of approximately 30% renewables and 70% fossil fuels, predominantly petroleum and coal. These rates are significantly higher than the US national average, which necessitates efficient cooling and power management strategies for local operators.

Power Grid Reliability: The electrical infrastructure in major data center corridors is well-engineered and relies on redundant utility feeds. Modern facilities utilize multi-substation support to maintain uptime despite the unique challenges of an isolated island grid as of September 2025.

Market Access, Business & Tax Climate

Proximity To Key Business Districts: Data centers are centrally located near Honolulu and the Kapolei industrial region. This proximity provides low-latency access to the state financial, government, and tourism sectors, as well as the critical logistics hub at the airport.

Regional Market Reach: Hawaii is the only location capable of serving as a mid-point for data moving between the United States, Japan, Australia, and Southeast Asia. It acts as a vital relay station that ensures signal integrity across the Pacific.

Tax Advantage For Data Centers: The state offers revolving credit for green infrastructure and has proposed specific tax credits for data center construction and operation. These incentives help offset the higher costs of power and logistics associated with island-based operations.

Natural Disaster Risk

The natural disaster risk for Hawaii is High (87.69 score) as of September 2025. The geography presents environmental challenges that require specific facility engineering.

• Hurricanes: Frequent seasonal risks requiring specialized building envelopes.
• Earthquakes: Seismic activity is a consistent factor due to volcanic proximity.
• Volcanic Activity: Risks from active volcanic zones on neighboring islands.
• Tsunami: A material regional risk for coastal facilities requiring elevated infrastructure or inland positioning.
• Wildfire: Increasing risk in drier leeward areas of the islands.
• Landslides: Present in high-elevation or high-rainfall areas.

Other hazards such as inland flooding are present but are secondary to the primary environmental threats mentioned above as of September 2025.