Data Centers in North Carolina

North Carolina – Resilient East Coast Hub

North Carolina is a primary data center market for enterprises requiring resilient, low-latency connectivity to East Coast population centers. The state combines favorable tax policies, competitive power costs, and a robust network infrastructure, making it an ideal location for disaster recovery, primary production workloads, and scalable colocation.

North Carolina: At A Glance

Network & Connectivity Ecosystem

Carrier Density & Carrier Neutrality: North Carolina supports a healthy and competitive network environment, with access to over 25 unique network service providers as of September 2025. Major markets like Charlotte and the Research Triangle area offer a wide selection of carrier-neutral colocation facilities, ensuring redundant and cost-effective connectivity.

Direct Cloud On-Ramps: The state provides direct, low-latency connections to major cloud platforms. As of September 2025, there is at least one dedicated on-ramp available, enabling private access to one major cloud region and facilitating hybrid cloud architectures.

Internet Exchange Points (IXPs): While most peering occurs privately within carrier-neutral data centers, local IXPs facilitate traffic exchange between networks. This ecosystem reduces latency for regional end-users and improves overall network performance.

Bare Metal: Bare metal server options are available from multiple providers in North Carolina. This allows businesses to lease dedicated hardware for performance-intensive applications, with providers like Hivelocity offering solutions in the market.

Power Analysis

Average Cost Of Power: Industrial electricity rates in North Carolina are competitive for the East Coast, typically ranging from $0.07 to $0.09 per kWh as of September 2025. These predictable and affordable power costs provide a significant operational advantage for large-scale deployments.

Power Grid Reliability: The state's power grid is reliable, particularly in the established data center corridors. The energy mix is diverse, with significant contributions from nuclear and natural gas, and major facilities are supported by redundant substations to ensure high levels of uptime.

Market Access, Business & Tax Climate

Proximity To Key Business Districts: Data centers in North Carolina are strategically located near major business and technology hubs, including Charlotte's financial district and the Research Triangle Park (RTP). This proximity serves enterprises in finance, healthcare, life sciences, and technology with low-latency infrastructure.

Regional Market Reach: The state is an excellent hub for serving the Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern United States. Its central East Coast location enables efficient data delivery to millions of consumers from Atlanta to Washington, D.C.

Tax Advantage For Data Centers: North Carolina offers substantial tax incentives that directly reduce capital and operational expenses. The state provides a sales and use tax exemption on electricity and qualifying data center equipment, significantly lowering the total cost of ownership.

Natural Disaster Risk

North Carolina has a very low overall risk profile for natural disasters, with a FEMA National Risk Index score of 14.70 out of 100 as of September 2025. While the overall risk is minimal, operators should engineer for specific regional hazards. The primary risks include hurricanes and associated riverine flooding, severe storms with strong winds and hail, tornadoes, and lightning. Other monitored risks are drought and wildfire.