Data Centers in North Carolina

North Carolina – Resilient East Coast Hub

North Carolina is a primary East Coast data center market for enterprises requiring resilient, scalable infrastructure with favorable operating costs. Its robust power grid, extensive tax incentives, and low natural disaster risk provide a stable platform for mission-critical applications and disaster recovery sites, protecting revenue and ensuring uptime.

North Carolina, United States: At A Glance

Network & Connectivity Ecosystem

North Carolina has a mature and competitive connectivity landscape, making it a strong alternative to more congested northern Virginia markets. The state is well-connected to national fiber routes.

Carrier Density & Carrier Neutrality: The state features a dense ecosystem with access to over 28 national and regional carriers, as of September 2025. Numerous carrier-neutral facilities in Charlotte, the Raleigh-Durham Research Triangle, and western North Carolina ensure competitive pricing and high-performance network options.

Direct Cloud On-Ramps: With over 1 on-ramp available, as of September 2025, enterprises can establish secure, low-latency connections to major cloud providers. While Cloudflare provides general access, dedicated private connections to hyperscalers like AWS, Google Cloud, and Microsoft Azure are typically provisioned via network partners from colocation facilities, often connecting through nearby hubs in Ashburn, VA or Atlanta, GA.

Internet Exchange Points (IXPs): While major public peering occurs in Ashburn and Atlanta, local exchanges facilitate regional traffic optimization. Most interconnection within North Carolina data centers is handled via private peering or direct cross-connects inside carrier-neutral facilities.

Bare Metal: Bare metal server options are widely available from providers like Hivelocity and phoenixNAP. These services offer dedicated compute for workloads requiring maximum performance and security without the overhead of virtualization.

Power Analysis

North Carolina offers a reliable and diverse power grid, which is a critical consideration for data center operators.

Average Cost Of Power: Specific industrial electricity rates are not publicly available but are considered competitive for the East Coast. The state's power mix is diverse, with significant contributions from natural gas (~42%) and nuclear (33%), providing a stable generation base that helps moderate price volatility.

Power Grid Reliability: The electrical grid, particularly in the key data center zones around Charlotte and the Research Triangle, is well-engineered and supported by multiple substations. This infrastructure is built to support critical industrial and research facilities, resulting in high levels of reliability for data center operations.

Market Access, Business & Tax Climate

The state's business-friendly environment and strategic location provide significant advantages for digital infrastructure.

Proximity To Key Business Districts: Data centers are concentrated near Charlotte, a major financial and banking hub, and the Research Triangle Park (RTP) in the Raleigh-Durham area. Proximity to these districts provides low-latency access for financial services, biotechnology, and technology companies.

Regional Market Reach: From North Carolina, organizations can effectively serve a large population across the Southeastern and Mid-Atlantic United States. Its location offers a compelling latency profile for reaching major metros from Atlanta to Washington, D.C.

Tax Advantage For Data Centers: North Carolina provides substantial tax exemptions specifically for data centers, covering sales, use, and property taxes on electricity and qualifying equipment. These incentives directly reduce capital expenditures and ongoing operational costs, making the total cost of ownership highly competitive.

Natural Disaster Risk

North Carolina has a very low risk profile for natural disasters, enhancing its appeal for primary and secondary data center deployments.

Based on its FEMA National Risk Index score of 14.7 out of 100, the state is in a very low-risk percentile nationally, as of September 2025. The primary environmental risks to consider are severe storms and their consequences, including tornadoes, hurricanes (primarily impacting coastal regions far from inland data center hubs), hail, and strong winds. Other notable risks include lightning, drought, and winter weather.