Who builds U.S. data centers: the general, electrical and mechanical contractors

Which general contractors are named on the most U.S. data centers?

Counted by named projects, Turner Construction leads. A public source names it as general contractor on 19 U.S. data center projects in Spezia's tracker, 14 of them approved or under construction. DPR Construction follows with 16, then Kiewit with 15, Bechtel with 9 and Clayco with 9.

firms named as general contractor

120

projects with a named general contractor, each campus once

208

of approved or building projects name one

31%

name the electrical or mechanical contractor

7% or less

These are counts of projects where the builder is public. They are not market share in dollars, and they favor builders whose jobs get written about. A firm counts once per campus, so phases of one site do not inflate it.

Bechtel shows how much stage matters: 1 of its 9 named projects is approved or building. The other 8 are not reported as approved or under construction. Turner Construction is the widest: it is named in 13 states.

How concentrated is the data center construction market?

Not very, by this measure. 120 firms are named as general contractor across 208 projects, each campus counted once. 75 of them appear on a single project. The five most-named firms together appear on 55 projects, 26% of those with a named general contractor. No firm is named on more than 9%.

For a supplier, the long tail is the point. The builder buying on a given job is often not one of the five national names above, and a list of five firms will miss most of the market.

Who are the electrical contractors on data centers?

Electrical contractors are named far less often. A source names one on 48 of 1,047 project records, and on 27 of the 408 that are approved or under construction. Counted by campus, 45 projects name 50 electrical firms, and 37 of those firms appear once.

Rosendin is the only electrical firm named on more than 3 projects. Everyone else in the table is named on two or three. Most electrical firms on these jobs are named once, if at all.

Who are the mechanical contractors on data centers?

Mechanical and cooling contractors are the least visible. A mechanical contractor is named on 29 project records, and on only 7 of those approved or under construction. Campus by campus, 29 projects name 25 firms.

Small numbers like these say more about what gets published than about who does the work. Mechanical packages are usually subcontracts let by the general contractor, and the award is rarely announced. If you sell chillers, cooling units, piping or controls, the general contractor table above is often the better place to start.

Who designs U.S. data centers?

Architects and engineers are named on 97 projects. Gensler is named most (12), then Jacobs (10), Corgan (8) and HKS (6). Designers are often named in zoning and site plan filings, which can come before a builder is announced.

Who builds data centers in each state?

The share of projects with a named builder varies by state. Virginia names a general contractor on 20 of its 40 projects. Texas has the most projects, 127, but names a general contractor on only 26.

Each state page lists every tracked project there, with its stage, stated size and the public records behind it. For the size and stage of the whole pipeline, see the U.S. AI data center pipeline.

What do FAA and EPA records add?

They often name builders that no other source does. Anyone putting up a crane tall enough to matter to aircraft files a notice with the FAA, and the filing names a sponsor and often a representative. A construction site of an acre or more needs stormwater permit coverage before grading, and EPA's records list the operator: often the general or site contractor, sometimes the owner.

72 tracked campuses have an FAA or EPA record tied to them. On 32, a record names a builder rather than the owner, a designer, a utility or an agency. On 26 of those 32, at least one builder on the record is a firm the research had not found named on that project.

The records name three kinds of firm:

• General contractors, such as Turner Construction, Evans General Contractors, Rogers-O'Brien Construction and McCarthy Building Companies.
• Crane and rigging firms, such as Bragg Crane, Maxim Crane and Barnhart Crane and Rigging.
• Steel and concrete trades, such as Area Erectors, Bosworth Steel Erectors and Lithko Contracting.

A crane filing is also dated. It gives the dates the crane work starts and ends, which tells a supplier when the structure is being built. Is that data center really being built? shows how to read these records.

How complete is this list?

It covers who is named in public, and that is a minority of jobs. Here is how often each role is filled in, out of every project record and out of those approved or under construction.

These rates count every record that names a firm in the role, as the method page does, so they run a little higher than the campus counts above. The same rates, refreshed with every run, are on the tracker's method page. Three limits matter:

• Coverage follows publication. A builder that never issues a release, files a permit under its own name or appears in local news is not counted.
• Some records are phases of one campus. Firms are counted once per campus to correct for that, but the campus count is an estimate.
• The run. The figures come from Spezia's research run that finished November 9, 2026, with the FAA and EPA records read on November 13, 2026. The tracker re-researches every project each week and merges records of one project as it finds them, so later counts on the live tracker will differ.

How to use this if you sell to data center builders

The list answers two questions: which builders to know, and where the gaps are.

1. Start with the general contractor. On most jobs it lets the electrical and mechanical subcontracts, so its preconstruction and purchasing teams are the first call. Large power gear is often bought by the owner, so for switchgear, transformers and generators the owner is the other.
2. Treat an unnamed trade as an open question, not a closed door. With an electrical contractor named on 7% of active projects, most packages have no public holder. Some are open, and some are awarded quietly.
3. Watch the records. A new crane filing or stormwater permit often names the builder before any announcement does.
4. Match the timing. Electrical and mechanical subcontracts are let as the structures go up. When data center trade packages are bought lays out the order.