World’s largest data centers: how size and power compare

There is no single, permanent answer to “What is the world’s largest data center?” A campus can lead by land area, total building area, data-hall space, power capacity, rack count, or a future full-build target. Those measures are not interchangeable, and published rankings often mix operating facilities with projects that are still planned.

This comparison was last verified on 24 August 2026. Every figure below keeps the operator’s or public authority’s original scope and states whether it describes an operating site, a completed phase, or a plan. Missing values are left missing rather than inferred.

How to compare the world’s largest data centers

Four distinctions matter before any facility can be called “largest”:

• Facility, building, and campus: a campus can contain several data-center buildings plus offices, utilities, roads, and undeveloped land. Its total site area is not the same as live data-hall space.
• Operating, under construction, and planned: an announced full-build target does not describe capacity available today.
• Power and energy: megawatts (MW) describe power capacity at a point in time. Megawatt-hours (MWh) and terawatt-hours (TWh) describe energy used over a period.
• Disclosed and comparable: operators publish different measures. A blank cell is more accurate than converting an unrelated number into a false ranking.

Large operating campuses and current disclosed figures

The following examples are useful because their operators or public authorities disclose a scale figure. They still do not form a perfect league table.

Runze International Information Port, Langfang, China

• Published scale: 1.34 million m² of land and 2.62 million m² of total building area.
• Data-center scope: 1 million m² of professional data-center rooms, 22 data-center buildings, and capacity for 130,000 racks after completion.
• Status: an operating industrial park whose published totals include planned full-build figures.
• Source: the current Runze International Information Port site, checked 24 August 2026.

These are among the largest first-party campus figures we found, but they should not be presented as 2.62 million m² of live data halls. The operator separates total construction area from planned professional data-center-room area.

China Telecom Inner Mongolia Information Park, China

• Published scale: China Telecom lists Inner Mongolia among fifteen 100 MW-scale AIDC hub parks.
• Area: the operator’s current investor presentation does not provide a comparable operating floor-area figure.
• Status: part of China Telecom’s current AIDC portfolio.
• Source: China Telecom’s 2025 annual-results presentation, dated 24 March 2026.

The often-repeated 10.7 million ft² claim describes a broad information-park figure and is not supported as operational data-hall area in the operator’s current disclosure. It is therefore not enough to name this site the unqualified world’s largest data center.

China Mobile Harbin Data Center, China

• Completed area: phases one and two totaled 167,800 m² when phase three began.
• Planned total: approximately 596,000 m² and 29,000 racks after phase three.
• Status: phases one and two were complete in 2022; China Mobile launched an active intelligent-computing cluster at the site in 2024.
• Sources: the Heilongjiang provincial government, dated 21 September 2022, and a 2024 SASAC report on China Mobile’s Harbin AI cluster.

The previous 663,000 m² description treated an older proposal as completed dedicated data-center space. The official record supports a smaller planned total and a much smaller completed area at the 2022 phase boundary.

Switch Core Campus, Las Vegas, United States

• Published scale: more than 2 million ft² and up to 315 MW across the Core Campus.
• Status: operating campus; these operator figures were published when LAS VEGAS 10 opened in 2017.
• Source: Switch’s Core Campus announcement, dated 10 August 2017.

This is the Las Vegas campus. It should not be combined with Switch’s much larger Tahoe Reno full-build target.

Large announced and full-build targets

Switch Tahoe Reno, Nevada, United States

• Current full-build target: up to 17.4 million ft² and 850 MW.
• Earlier disclosed design: up to 7.2 million ft² and 650 MW when the first building opened in 2017.
• Status: an operating campus with a much larger future full-build target; the current built area is not disclosed on the cited page in a directly comparable form.
• Sources: Switch’s 2017 opening announcement and its current Tahoe Reno campus page, checked 24 August 2026.

Tahoe Reno is a good example of why rankings must show status. Its full-build target is much larger than the capacity disclosed when the first building opened.

Kolos in Ballangen, Norway: a canceled project, not an operating giant

Kolos was promoted as a 600,000 m², 1 GW data-center campus, but it was never built. HIVE Blockchain Technologies reported that it sold the Kolos Norway subsidiary back to the local community on 10 May 2021 after development conditions were not met. The project belongs in the historical record, not in a list of operating data centers. See the company’s SEC-filed disclosure.

Why the rankings disagree

A simple “top 10” can look precise while comparing different things. Runze publishes total park and building area alongside planned data-center-room space. China Telecom currently describes Inner Mongolia through a 100 MW-scale portfolio category rather than a like-for-like floor-area figure. Switch publishes operating announcements and larger full-build targets for separate campuses.

Power numbers need the same discipline. MW is a capacity rating, not annual consumption. A site can also disclose utility capacity, contracted power, critical IT load, or energized capacity, and those values can differ. Annual energy use should be stated in MWh or TWh with a defined period.

Project status can change the answer entirely. Announced campuses may be delayed, reduced, sold, or canceled. Kolos shows why a proposed headline number cannot remain in an operating ranking after the underlying project ends.

Energy and water context

Size alone does not determine environmental impact. Utilization, hardware efficiency, cooling design, climate, grid mix, redundancy, and workload all matter. The International Energy Agency estimates that data centers used about 415 TWh of electricity in 2024, around 1.5% of global electricity consumption. Its 2026 update estimates 485 TWh in 2025 and a central projection near 950 TWh in 2030.

Water figures also depend on the accounting boundary. On-site cooling water and water used to generate electricity are different measures, and local climate changes cooling demand. The Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory’s 2024 U.S. Data Center Energy Usage Report provides the methodology and national scenarios. A single daily water figure should not be applied to every hyperscale facility. For the broader demand and technology context, see our overview of data-center growth trends.

Where Hivenet fits

Hivenet uses product-specific infrastructure paths rather than one universal operating model. Its current architecture pages describe services backed by Policloud and other infrastructure appropriate to each product. Environmental performance should be evaluated by product, workload, region, baseline, redundancy, electricity mix, and stated exclusions. See how Hivenet works and the Hivenet sustainability methodology for the current scope and assumptions.

Frequently asked questions

What is the world’s largest data center by area?

There is no defensible single answer unless “area” is defined. Among the first-party figures reviewed here, Runze publishes exceptionally large campus and building totals, but part of the data-center-room figure is planned. Campus land, total building area, and operating data-hall area should be ranked separately.

What is the world’s largest data center by power?

Power comparisons must separate operating IT load from utility, contracted, and full-build capacity. Switch currently advertises up to 850 MW for the Tahoe Reno campus at full build, but that target is not the same as operating capacity today.

Is Inner Mongolia Information Park the world’s largest data center?

China Telecom includes Inner Mongolia in its current portfolio of 100 MW-scale AIDC hub parks. Its March 2026 presentation does not support the old 10.7 million ft² figure as live data-hall area or name the park the world’s largest by a comparable current metric.

Why is Northern Virginia a major data-center cluster?

Northern Virginia combines dense fiber connectivity, established cloud and colocation markets, proximity to major network routes, and a large concentration of power-intensive facilities. The IEA reports that nearly half of U.S. data-center capacity is concentrated in five regional clusters. Rankings by city still depend on geographic boundaries and whether the measure is facility count, floor area, or power.

How current is this comparison?

The sources and status labels were checked on 24 August 2026. Facility plans and disclosed capacity change quickly, so the source date and project status should always travel with the number.