Aug 27, 2026
AL.com Maps the Data Center Buildout Across Alabama
AL.com has mapped Alabama's data centers, those operating, under construction, or proposed. The total: at least 24 sites in 12 counties.
By AL.com's count, twelve of those sites are running today. Five are being built. Seven more are on the drawing board.
Official state figures put data center investment near $2.4 billion. When AL.com added the projects now proposed or being built, its total passed an estimated $63 billion.
Jefferson County is home to five, among them the Nebius AI Mega Factory being built in the middle of an Oxmoor neighborhood.
Much remains hidden.
Ten of the 24 sites decline to say how much electricity they will need.
Fifteen say nothing about water.
And no Alabama law caps what a company may draw from the state's rivers and aquifers.
"It's a free for all," Charles Miller of the Alabama Rivers Alliance told the newspaper.
The stakes reach every household. Alabama families already pay among the highest monthly electric bills in America, an average of $173.50 in 2024, according to data from the U.S. Energy Information Administration.