Data Center Alley

Loudoun County, Northern Virginia is the largest data center market in the world. The area, nicknamed Data Center Alley, consists of hundreds of data centers centered on the town of Ashburn, comprising millions of square feet. With space at a premium, operators are now looking to build in neighboring areas that are less saturated. However, Virginia still has the advantage of a well-established infrastructure.

The roundtable discussed this change of location, and Sen. Warner, in a bid to keep companies investing in Virginia, offered to lobby for more incentives favorable to tech companies. The Commonwealth is already hard at work in trying to keep data center investment in Virginia high.

Numerous counties in the US state have been trying to attract similar investments. In April last year, DCD reported on Virginia's Stafford County Government passed a motion to give lower property taxes to data center operators.

At the time Scott Mayausky, Stafford's commissioner of revenue, said the move was to match other counties doing the same thing: “We’re lowering our rates to match Prince William County’s and have adopted the same depreciation schedule as theirs.

"We’re not giving away anything by lowering the tax rate, because, at the current rate, data centers wouldn’t be coming to Stafford.”