Data Centers in Indianapolis

Indianapolis – Centralized Resilience for the Midwest

Executive Summary

Indianapolis serves as a strategic anchor for organizations requiring high uptime and cost-effective scalability within the Great Lakes region. By combining a stable geological profile with aggressive tax incentives, the market provides a secure environment for mission-critical infrastructure and regional disaster recovery.

Indianapolis: At A Glance

Network & Connectivity Ecosystem

Indianapolis provides a sturdy interconnection point for traffic moving between Chicago, St. Louis, and Cincinnati.

Carrier Density & Carrier Neutrality: Carrier count: over 10. As of December 2025, the market features approximately 14 distinct providers. This density supports competitive pricing and multiple fiber entry points for enterprise facilities.

Direct Cloud On-Ramps: Over 0, enabling access to 0 cloud regions. As of December 2025, there are no direct on-ramps within the city limits. Traffic typically reaches AWS or Microsoft Azure via private transport or PNI to Chicago.

Internet Exchange Points (IXPs): The Indy Telcom Center functions as the primary nexus for regional peering, reducing reliance on distant transit points. Most peering occurs privately or through regional transport hubs in the Midwest.

Bare Metal: High-performance compute options are available through providers such as phoenixNAP and Hivelocity, as of December 2025.

Power Analysis

Energy in Indianapolis is characterized by high availability and an evolving generation mix that remains highly competitive.

Average Cost Of Power: $0.09/kWh, as of December 2025. This rate offers a significant cost advantage over coastal markets, directly improving the bottom line for high-density deployments.

Power Grid Reliability: The local grid utilizes multi-substation support and redundant feeder lines to serve major data center corridors. Reliability remains high due to well-engineered distribution networks that support heavy industrial loads.

Market Access, Business & Tax Climate

The city serves as a logistics and technology anchor for the state of Indiana, attracting significant infrastructure investment.

Proximity To Key Business Districts: Data centers are centrally located near the downtown business district and the Carmel tech corridor. This proximity supports low-latency requirements for the financial, healthcare, and insurance sectors dominant in the region.

Regional Market Reach: Indianapolis effectively serves as a secondary or primary disaster recovery site for the Chicago metro area. It provides a reliable reach to a population of over 30 million people within a five-hour drive.

Tax Advantage For Data Centers: Indiana offers a significant sales and use tax exemption for qualifying data center equipment and energy. This incentive lowers the total cost of ownership for long-term infrastructure investments.

Natural Disaster Risk

Indianapolis maintains a Moderate risk profile with an NRI score of 35.34, as of December 2025. The region is geologically stable, making it a preferred site for primary production or regional backup.

• Tornado: The primary weather-related concern involves seasonal wind events.
• Winter Weather: Significant snow and ice accumulation can occur, requiring specific site winterization.
• Heat Wave: Periods of high temperature require efficient cooling systems to maintain efficiency targets.
• Lightning: Frequent during spring and summer storms but managed through standard facility shielding.
• Hail: Common during regional storm patterns but poses low risk to hardened structures.

Other risks such as earthquakes or droughts are minor or not listed as material threats to local operations. As an inland metro, there is no risk from coastal flooding or tsunamis.