One of the most vigorous construction venues in the past decade may be taking a hit in response to the Trump administration’s recently announced tariff policies.
According to the publication Data Center Frontier, the construction of data centers has traditionally been dependent on “key materials such as steel and aluminum, which are essential for everything from structural frameworks to power infrastructure.”
Those materials coming from a variety of countries, including China, Brazil, South Korea, and the United Arab Emirates, are now subject to increased tariffs. The same materials were also targeted in two earlier Trump orders in February generally increasing the tariffs on them by at least 10%.
Just as problematic, according to the Data Center Frontier, is the potential for delayed project deadlines due to both “rising materials cost and the limited availability of key components.”
Not only are steel and aluminum vital for building the actual structure of a data center, but they are also used in transformers, switchgear, and cooling equipment.
Notes Fortune: “There is a motherlode of electronic and metal hardware in data centers, many of which are manufactured or assembled in tariff-affected countries like China.”
It is thought that many builders have already purchased certain components in bulk, hoping to weather the tariff storm for the time being.
In January the real estate analysis firm JLL predicted that 2025 will prove a banner year for up to $170 billion in new data center construction, with growth exceeding 15% over last year.
April 8, 2025
By Garry Boulard
Photo courtesy of Pixabay
