Digital Realty Plans Gigawatt-Scale Data Center Campus Near Indianapolis in Kokomo, Indiana

Digital Realty is pursuing a major expansion into Indiana with plans to develop a gigawatt-scale data center campus in Kokomo, roughly 50 miles north of Indianapolis, marking the company's first foray into the state's data center market.

The Dallas-based data center REIT has announced it is looking to develop three single-story data centers on 476 acres of greenfield land in the city's Industrial Park North, situated near US 31 and County Road 400 North. The campus could ultimately deliver around 1GW of IT capacity across approximately three million square feet (278,710 square meters) of data center space, with full build-out potentially completed by 2033.

The project represents a significant bet on Indiana as an emerging data center destination, as hyperscale and enterprise operators continue to seek out land and power resources beyond established markets. Digital Realty currently does not operate any data centers in Indiana, making Kokomo a new market entry for the company.

The city of Kokomo first announced Digital Realty's interest in developing in the city earlier this month. According to city officials, the site will utilize a closed-loop cooling system designed to reduce water consumption — an increasingly important consideration as data center developers face growing scrutiny over resource use. The city has also confirmed that no tax abatements will be agreed with any company that develops the site.

The announcement underscores the continued momentum in U.S. data center construction, particularly in secondary and tertiary markets where available power and land can support the large-scale campuses required by cloud and AI workloads. If realized, the Kokomo project would rank among the larger data center developments in the Midwest and could help position Indiana as a more prominent player in the region's digital infrastructure landscape.