Atlas of AI Buildout

Anomaly · Power & Grid

One Asian market has space nobody wants

Hong Kong data centre vacancy

18%Hong Kong vacancy, Q1 2026 · grade A, Reported

Across the markets that matter, vacancy is functionally zero: Northern Virginia 0.3%, Atlanta 1%, Dallas 1.8%, Singapore 2%, Frankfurt 3.1%. Capacity is absorbed before it is finished — Dallas has 716.7 MW under construction already 88% preleased.

Hong Kong sits at 18%, down from 28% a year earlier but still an order of magnitude looser than its neighbours. Bogotá, at 18.7%, is the only comparable market in the atlas.

Empty space in a market this starved is information. It says the binding constraint on AI infrastructure is not floor area, and not even capital — it is power, land with grid access, and jurisdiction. Hong Kong has buildings. What it does not have is the demand routing that follows political and regulatory geography.

Source — CBRE, Global Data Center Trends 2026 (2026)
Q1 2026 metro inventory, vacancy and preleasing. Northern Virginia 4,182.0 MW at 0.3% vacancy; Dallas-Ft Worth 1,249.4 MW with 716.7 MW under construction, 88% preleased; Atlanta 1,465.2 MW; Chicago 910.6 MW; Frankfurt 1,222.5 MW; Paris 666.8 MW; Sao Paulo 536.7 MW; Queretaro 298.2 MW; Santiago 165.8 MW; Bogota 44.3 MW.

Explore this in the interactive atlas →

The thinking behind the atlas is written up in Cheap thought has a physical address on Substack.

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