Data Centers in Rhode Island

Rhode Island – Low Latency Bridge in the Northeast Corridor

Strategic Regional Infrastructure

Rhode Island serves as a critical high-performance alternative for organizations requiring proximity to the massive digital hubs of Boston and New York City. This market provides a resilient environment for securing mission-critical data and maintaining low-latency access to the New England economic core. For enterprises focused on reliability and regional reach, the state offers a stable site for edge computing and disaster recovery.

Rhode Island: At A Glance

Network & Connectivity Ecosystem

Carrier Density & Carrier Neutrality: Carrier count: over 10, as of September 2025. The market supports a mix of local and national fiber providers, offering resilient routing options for enterprises. Most facilities operate under carrier-neutral models, ensuring competitive cross-connect pricing and flexible infrastructure management for colocation tenants.

Direct Cloud On-Ramps: 0, as of September 2025. While no native on-ramps for AWS, Google Cloud (GCP), or Microsoft Azure are located within the state, deployments utilize high-speed transport to Boston or New York City. These private network interfaces ensure low-latency access to major cloud regions while maintaining local physical control.

Internet Exchange Points (IXPs): Most local peering occurs through private interconnects or by leveraging regional exchanges in Boston. This strategy keeps traffic efficient while maintaining lower transit costs than routing through more distant national hubs.

Bare Metal: High-performance bare metal services are available through providers such as Hivelocity and phoenixNAP. These options allow for rapid scaling of compute resources without the management burden of traditional hardware.

Power Analysis

Average Cost Of Power: Industrial electricity is estimated between $0.16/kWh and $0.21/kWh, as of September 2025. The generation mix is heavily reliant on natural gas at approximately 87%, with the remaining 13% coming from renewables and other sources. These rates are typical for the Northeast and represent a stable cost profile for regional operations.

Power Grid Reliability: The local grid is well-engineered with redundant configurations to support dense commercial zones. Infrastructure in key data center corridors benefits from multi-substation support, minimizing the risk of prolonged outages during peak demand cycles.

Market Access, Business & Tax Climate

Proximity To Key Business Districts: Data centers in the Providence metro area are positioned to serve financial services, healthcare, and higher education sectors. This proximity ensures low-latency access to the state economic core and major research institutions.

Regional Market Reach: Rhode Island is uniquely positioned to serve the broader New England population. Its location allows for sub-5ms latency to Boston and efficient reach into Connecticut, making it an ideal site for edge computing and disaster recovery.

Tax Advantage For Data Centers: Rhode Island maintains a predictable business environment despite the lack of a dedicated data center tax incentive program. The lack of specific incentives is often offset by the strategic geographic value and lower operating costs compared to neighboring tier-one markets.

Natural Disaster Risk

Rhode Island carries a FEMA NRI Score of 75.02 (High), as of September 2025. While the risk is managed through stringent building codes and infrastructure hardening, operators must account for regional environmental factors.

The primary natural hazards impacting the area include:

• Hurricanes: High risk due to coastal proximity and Atlantic storm tracks.
• Ice Storms: Material risk from significant winter weather events.
• Riverine Flooding: Material risk in low-lying areas during heavy precipitation.
• Coastal Flooding: Material regional hazard for low-elevation infrastructure.
• Lightning: Frequent during summer storm cycles.
• Drought: Present as a material regional environmental factor.

Tornadoes and earthquakes are present as minor hazards within the regional risk profile.