Data Centers in Charleston

Charleston, South Carolina – Regional Hub for Coastal Resiliency

Executive Summary

Charleston serves as a strategic edge data center market for enterprises requiring low-latency connectivity to coastal South Carolina and its significant port and manufacturing industries. This market is ideal for disaster recovery and content delivery applications supporting the growing regional economy. Its favorable tax climate and low power costs provide a compelling financial advantage for infrastructure deployments.

Charleston, South Carolina: At A Glance

Network & Connectivity Ecosystem

Carrier Density & Carrier Neutrality The Charleston market includes at least 2 unique network providers as of September 2025. While not as dense as a primary hub like Atlanta, the presence of multiple carriers in local facilities allows for resilient, multi-homed network architectures.

Direct Cloud On-Ramps There are no direct public cloud on-ramps within Charleston as of September 2025. Businesses connect to major cloud providers like AWS, Google Cloud, and Microsoft Azure via the primary interconnection hub in Atlanta. Private network extensions via wave or PNI are common solutions for establishing secure, high-performance cloud access.

Internet Exchange Points (IXPs) Public peering is limited within Charleston. Most interconnection occurs through private peering arrangements inside local data centers or by connecting to major IXPs in Atlanta to exchange traffic efficiently.

Bare Metal Bare metal server options are available in the region, often provided by national providers that can deploy hardware into Charleston-area facilities. Providers like Hivelocity offer on-demand compute solutions suitable for workloads that require dedicated physical resources.

Power Analysis

Average Cost Of Power Industrial power costs in the Charleston area are approximately $0.07/kWh as of September 2025. This rate is highly competitive and sits well below the U.S. national average, making it a key factor for reducing the total cost of ownership for power-intensive operations. The grid mix is dominated by nuclear power (≈55%), providing a stable baseload.

Power Grid Reliability The power grid serving Charleston's commercial and industrial zones is well-engineered to support critical infrastructure. Local data centers typically feature connections to multiple utility substations and have extensive on-site backup power generation to ensure high uptime.

Market Access, Business & Tax Climate

Proximity To Key Business Districts Data centers in Charleston provide low-latency connectivity to the region's key economic drivers, including the Port of Charleston, major aerospace and automotive manufacturing plants, and a growing technology sector. This proximity is critical for logistics, IoT, and real-time data processing.

Regional Market Reach Charleston is positioned to effectively serve the coastal markets of South Carolina and Georgia. Its location makes it a valuable point of presence for content delivery networks and enterprises targeting consumers and businesses from Savannah to Myrtle Beach.

Tax Advantage For Data Centers South Carolina provides significant tax advantages that directly lower capital and operational expenses. The state offers a statutory sales and use tax exemption on electricity, computer equipment, and software for qualifying data center investments.

Natural Disaster Risk

Charleston has a High natural disaster risk profile, with a FEMA National Risk Index score of 88.80 as of September 2025. The risk is primarily driven by its coastal location.

Key risks for this market include:

• Hurricane
• Strong Wind
• Tornado
• Lightning
• Riverine Flooding
• Hail
• Earthquake

Data center selection in this market requires careful evaluation of a facility's specific structural engineering, flood zone location, and storm mitigation strategies.