DC Hub's weekly market rankings show Western and South Central markets dominating expansion opportunities, while Northern Virginia and Phoenix face constraint headwinds.
## Highlights
Cheyenne, WY earned the highest BUILD rating in DC Hub's Data Center Power Index this week, posting a 69.5 excess power score against a 22.5 constraint score. The WECC market's combination of abundant capacity and minimal grid friction positions it as the top opportunity for hyperscale expansion in the current cycle.
Rural SPP (Kansas) followed at 67.2 excess / 22.5 constraint, while Midlothian, TX captured third place with 65.6 excess and a 17.6 constraint score — the lowest transmission bottleneck among the top three. All three markets reflect a common pattern: Western and South Central ISOs continue to outpace legacy East Coast hubs in available capacity.
## Markets to Avoid
Mount Pleasant, WI registered the week's highest constraint score at 80.0 despite a respectable 55.0 excess rating, signaling severe interconnection delays. Northern Virginia dropped to 14.5 excess against 64.2 constraint — a stark reversal for the market that pioneered U.S. colocation. Phoenix posted 34.8 excess but carries a 61.5 constraint load, reflecting Colorado River allocation pressure and WECC transmission congestion.
## What It Means
Developers chasing 100+ MW hyperscale deals are rotating capital toward WECC, SPP, and ERCOT footprints where substations can absorb load without multi-year queue windows. Northern Virginia's slide underscores the structural limits of mature markets: existing fiber and network density no longer offset power scarcity.
## Methodology
The DCPI Excess Power Index synthesizes real-time substation capacity, ISO queue data, utility rate structures, and historical interconnection timelines across 286 U.S. markets. Constraint scores weight transmission congestion, environmental permit risk, and local opposition patterns. Updated daily.
**Source:** DC Hub Data Center Power Index (https://dchub.cloud/dcpi). Updated daily.
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