Estimated all-in capital cost of a 1 GW-IT AI campus; Epoch's May 2026 stylized GB200 NVL72 model gives ~$38B up-front CapEx
~$30–40Bestimate
| Value kind | estimate — Interpret this value according to its displayed kind, scope, source, and as-of date. |
|---|---|
| Scope | All-in campus CapEx (facility, power and IT) per GW of IT before financing; a planning band, not a quote. Epoch's ~$38B is one stylized GB200 configuration. |
| Caveat | The ~$38B is Epoch's UP-FRONT CAPEX for a stylized 1 GW-IT campus (May-2026 CSV: servers 21.2 + facility 11.4 + network 4.9 + land 0.17 + utility 0.16 = $37.9B). Financing is not included; land is, at a trivial $172M — correcting an earlier note here that placed land in opex. Epoch's annualized TCO for the same campus is ~$8.5B/yr. |
| As of | May 2026 (Epoch model) |
| Source | Epoch AI, AI data center cost breakdown (Amelia Michael and Ben Cottier, May 2026 stylized GB200 NVL72 model: ~$38B up-front CapEx per GW of IT, excluding financing); the ~$30–40B band is this guide's planning range, with Epoch at its top · Opening summary: typical 1 GW AI data center requires $38B in up-front CapEx |
| Review | checking…review by 2027-03-31 · fast cadence |
| Recorded changes | last 2026-10-16 · 3 revisions tracked |
| Claim id | fully-built-cost-of-a-gigawatt-scale-ai-campus |
Where the guide uses it
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