Procurement
You can’t just order a data center.
The long pole is often a transformer, a utility study, or a GPU allocation — not the tilt-wall building. Lead times below are labeled. None of them is a purchase order.
Land
12–78 weeks
Market estimate
Entitlements, title, and neighbor process vary more than acreage. West Bexar land near fiber and substations is the scarce kind.
Permits
16–78 weeks
Market estimate
Building, air, stormwater, and utility permits stack. A noise condition at the property line is often the civic lever.
Interconnection
52–260 weeks
Market estimate
ERCOT large-load process applies at >75 MW. Smaller sites still wait on the utility study. Queue position is not a construction schedule.
Substation
80–200 weeks
Market estimate
Yard construction is often gated by the transformer sitting in the middle of it.
Transformers
128–160 weeks
Market estimate
Wood Mackenzie survey (as reported 2025–26): ~128 weeks for power transformers; longer for large GSU. Hitachi publicly: >30 months. DOE: some EHV units 3–4 years.
Generators
50–110 weeks
Market estimate
Market compilations put large diesel sets near 90–110 weeks. Not a Caterpillar quote.
Switchgear
44–80 weeks
Market estimate
MV data-center switchgear commonly 52–80 weeks in 2026 compilations.
UPS / batteries
30–72 weeks
Market estimate
Hall UPS often 30–48 weeks; large integrated systems longer. Li-ion fire-code review adds calendar time, not factory time.
Cooling plant / CDUs
16–40 weeks
Market estimate
CDUs are shorter than transformers on paper. Allocation still exists in a tight market.
Fiber
12–52 weeks
Market estimate
Laterals are fast where ducts exist and slow when a bore has to cross a highway.
GPUs
No week count
Allocation-constrained
Not a catalog lead time. Hyperscalers take the first allocations. A 5 MW hall without an OEM slot is an empty hall. Dual-vendor RFQs exist; 'NVIDIA will come' is not a procurement strategy.
Labor
No week count
Market estimate
Electrical is a large share of data-center construction labor. Texas electrician scarcity shows up in schedule even when the box is 'modular'.
Commissioning
8–24 weeks
Published / standard practice
Integrated systems testing is where paper designs meet a 110°F afternoon. Skipping it is how you buy a building that cannot make IT load.
GPUs are not a catalog. They are an allocation. Transformers are not software. A 5 MW hall still dies on long-lead gear if you wait for issued-for-construction drawings to place the order.
Data last checked 2026-09-04 · Current public data is a snapshot, not a live meter
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