For Data Centers, Power is the New Real Estate (Literally)

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The Motley Fool

Business, Investing

4.3 • 3.1K Ratings

🗓️ 13 January 2026

⏱️ 22 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Data centers are still the headline, but the real pinch points are power and real estate. Emily Flippen is joined by Motley Fool analysts Anders Bylund and Dan Caplinger to map the data center buildout, the risks of “overbuild,” and where investors can look for exposure without paying bubble prices. Companies discussed: MSFT, AMZN, NEE, GOOGL, HPE, AAON, STRL, DLR, FIX, EME, AMT, EQIX, IRM, STN, SBGSY Host: Emily Flippen, Dan Caplinger, Anders Bylund Producer: Anand Chokkavelu Engineer: Dan Boyd Disclosure: Advertisements are sponsored content and provided for informational purposes only. The Motley Fool and its affiliates (collectively, “TMF”) do not endorse, recommend, or verify the accuracy or completeness of the statements made within advertisements. TMF is not involved in the offer, sale, or solicitation of any securities advertised herein and makes no representations regarding the suitability, or risks associated with any investment opportunity presented. Investors should conduct their own due diligence and consult with legal, tax, and financial advisors before making any investment decisions. TMF assumes no responsibility for any losses or damages arising from this advertisement. We’re committed to transparency: All personal opinions in advertisements from Fools are their own. The product advertised in this episode was loaned to TMF and was returned after a test period or the product advertised in this episode was purchased by TMF. Advertiser has paid for the sponsorship of this episode. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠megaphone.fm/adchoices Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	The opportunity in data centers is increasingly looking like an opportunity in power and real
0:09.9	estate. We're digging in today on Motley Full Money. Today is Tuesday, January 13th. Welcome to Motley Full Money. I'm your host, Emily Flippin,
0:25.7	and today I'm joined by full analyst Anders Byland and Dan Kaplanar as we dig into data centers
0:30.8	and the different ways investors can play on their buildout without baking in too much risk.
0:35.8	We'll walk through all the different players that are helping make data centers a reality, how sustainable the buildout really is, and We'll walk through all the different players that are helping
0:37.8	make data centers a reality, how sustainable the build out really is, and how mega investors
0:42.8	are helping fund them at scale. But to start, we have to talk about why we're discussing
0:47.8	data centers today. Of course, everyone knows large tech companies have been building data centers
0:53.2	at breakneck
0:54.5	speeds to help facilitate the AI ambitions that we all know and some of us love.
0:58.8	I mean, artificial intelligence requires massive amounts of data center capacity to not only
1:04.0	handle the queries that are being sent by U and I and enterprises to LLMs, but also to help
1:09.4	iterate and constantly train those same models.
1:12.3	But this is a topic that's really hitting close to home recently for individual Americans
1:15.8	alongside investors. I know myself, I live here in Maryland. I'm just a stone's throwaway from
1:20.5	Northern Virginia. It's sort of ground zero for data center middle in the United States.
1:25.3	CBRE has recently released reports noting that data center vacancies are at all-time lows in the United States, CBRE has recently released reports, noting that data center vacancies
1:29.4	are at all-time lows in the second half of 2025. Many big customers are pre-leasing out
1:35.6	capacity into 2027 and beyond. So for the people living nearby, this means higher electricity costs,
1:42.1	and data centers obviously require massive amounts of power to run.
1:46.2	So that's some of the backdrop. Dan, I want to start with the capacity. I think investors' minds
1:51.3	often immediately turn to the fear that the data centers that we see so far have actually been
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