- The data center boom is creating meaningful ripple effects across the industrial market, with rapid data center development across the stock of existing and planned data centers, sparking a growing share of industrial leasing activity that is being driven by companies that supply goods and services to this booming sector.
- Across high-growth data center markets — including primary markets like Atlanta, Chicago, and Northern Virginia and emerging markets like Charlotte, Austin, and Nashville — tenants that directly support data center development increased their share of leasing activity from 2.3% in 2021 to 9.0% in 2025. Collectively, these tenants accounted for at least 65 million square feet (msf) of leasing activity since 2021, including more than 20 msf last year alone.
- Leasing activity from tenants in related industries, even those not directly known to supply data centers, also increased notably, though at a slower pace. Some of this demand likely reflects companies positioning themselves to secure data center customers, while others are expanding inventories to navigate supply-chain constraints created by rapid data center development.
Data center development drives growing share of U.S. industrial leasing activity
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Peter Kroner
Director, National Industrial, Market Intelligence
Chicago, Cleveland, Columbus, Detroit, Indianapolis, Minneapolis, Pittsburgh
Industrial, Strategic Business Advisory, Market Intelligence
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