Pippa, the DCSI mascot Data Center Stress Index Independent · Public · Cited
Earth seen from above in a bronze-etched scientific-atlas style. On the land at left: wind turbines, transmission lines, a smoking power plant, and three terrestrial data center buildings. On the water at right: a single floating barge data center with subsea cables snaking across the seabed. Above Earth's curve: five satellites arranged in an orbital arc, each connected by dotted laser-link beams down to ground stations below. A faint Moon at the upper right.
Tier 1 · Terrestrial
Land-based · the U.S. ledger
670 counties · 4,984 facilities · 119 cancelled
Open the National view
Tier 3 · Orbital
On Orbit · data centers in space
13 projects tracked · Watchlist v1
Open the On Orbit watchlist
Tier 2 · Floating
On Water · barge & subsea
Working tracker · 14 projects
Open the On Water tracker

Data Center Stress Index: an independent public ledger of where data centers live and what they cost the public.

A public ledger of where data centers exist physically: on the ground, on the water, and now in orbit. What each medium is costing the public that hosts it.

Land ~16 GW operating · ~265 GW pipeline Operating today (~16 GW) plus disclosed forward pipeline (~265 GW). Including ~9 GW behind-the-meter bypassing utility oversight.
Sea 14 projects Floating barge + subsea data centers. Operating: Nautilus Stockton, China Highlander Hainan.
Space 13 projects From Lonestar on the lunar surface to SpaceX's and Blue Origin's million-class FCC applications. None operating at scale yet.
How we count. Counts DCSI can corroborate row-by-row against primary records are direct counts, each traceable to a published tracker row: 670 U.S. counties (FIPS-bound), 4,984 facilities (DCSI V9.3 pipeline aggregating FracTracker, Epoch AI, Synergy Research, EIA-923, and operator disclosures), 62 active moratoriums across 18 states (cross-referenced with Good Jobs First), 12 named orbital projects, and 154 verified compliance requirements. Figures marked est. are modeled estimates: capacity numbers (~17 GW Land, ~9 GW BTM) built from per-facility MW estimates with uncertainty bounds shown on hover. The 119 cancellations, 79 pushback events, and 72 AI errors logged are aggregated counts; hover any for the methodology and known uncertainty. Last pipeline refresh: 2026-05-10.
Tier 1 · Terrestrial Land-based · the U.S. ledger 670 counties · 4,984 facilities · 119 cancelled · 62 moratoriums. Tier 2 · Floating On Water · barge & subsea Floating data centers using seawater for cooling. Operating: Nautilus Stockton CA, China Highlander off Hainan. Tier 3 · Orbital On Orbit · data centers in space 12 projects tracked: Lonestar (lunar), Starcloud (LEO), Axiom Station, Ramon.Space, China's 2,800-sat constellation.
What this is

Pick the altitude. Or pick the scope.

The illustration above maps the three physical mediums data centers now occupy. The cards below let you navigate by political scope instead: the U.S. National picture, your specific state, the global view, or what's coming next on the frontier. Either entry takes you to the same source data, organized differently.

Or browse by scope
Live National 670 U.S. counties ranked by burden, opacity, and return. Live State Drill into your state, your county, and your legislators. Q3 2026 · Stake page live Global EU, Singapore, Brazil. International DCSI in development. New Frontier Behind the meter. On the water. In orbit. Where the rules haven't caught up. New Orbit 13 named projects, 154 verified requirements, the science of compute that escapes the planet.
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Every score, label, formula, and visualization was reviewed by a human before it shipped. Every error caught was logged in public, on the same page as the corrected number. The analyst never abdicated to the machine.

Anna R. Dudley · Independent · v9.3 · Last updated 2026-05-10