Data Center Construction in Cheyenne, Wyoming

Data center companies in Cheyenne have collectively invested $3.1 billion from 2012 onward, according to the head of Cheyenne LEADS, and the next round is larger. Meta announced an $800 million, 715,000 square foot data center on 960 acres in the High Plains Business Park, with an opening scheduled for 2027 and more than 1,000 skilled trade jobs at peak construction. A builder who wants to work in that market has to think about the project the way an operator does, starting with power, fiber, water and the labor pool, and only then turning to walls and roofs.

We build data center shells, white space and the support structures around them. In Cheyenne that means coordinating with the utility on service capacity, laying out cooling plant and generator yards around the wind, and phasing the building so that halls can go live on a published date while later halls are still under construction. We are a contractor, not an operator, so we take the owner's reliability targets and the engineer's design as the standard and manage the work to meet them.

Part of the draw is the corridor. The I-80 route through Cheyenne runs along a major internet backbone that follows the Union Pacific right of way, and Cheyenne's first Microsoft data center, part of the Cheyenne data center corridor, was built north of the Walmart Distribution Center near I-80 and I-25 on a business park created with a Wyoming Business Council matching grant. Other investments named in local reporting include Lunavi, ANB Bank and the EchoStar facility, and the NCAR-Wyoming Supercomputing Center at North Range totals 153,000 square feet with 24,000 square feet of raised floor.

The constraint is power. The Cheyenne Chamber's chief executive expects electricity demand to rise about 50 percent over five years, and the same reporting flags transmission, housing and workforce as challenges, with Black Hills Electric as a utility partner. We treat those as schedule items. When we price a hall we also list the utility interconnection dates we are relying on, so owners know which parts of the plan depend on someone else's work.

Meta's agreement to use no more water than a standard business with 100 employees, along with plans for closed-system cooling, shows the direction the market is heading. For us, it means mechanical yards are sized around dry or closed-loop systems, and the water balance is a design condition rather than an afterthought. Some neighbors raised noise and traffic concerns at the announcement, so we plan haul routes, delivery windows and generator testing schedules to be good neighbors from the first day.

Large sites also need infrastructure before the building. In the High Plains Business Park, Cheyenne LEADS ran seven bid packages for two sanitary sewer mains, a water main, a new 4.5-mile road and a traffic signal on US Highway 85, and the work was privately funded. The trade partners for site development and utilities handle that kind of ground-up work, and we fold it into the data hall schedule so that the building never waits on the road.

Hall structures are usually steel or tilt-up with long spans, high loads and tight tolerances. In Laramie County the 2024 International Building Code took effect with amendments on January 1, 2025, the County lists a 105 mph design wind speed, and loading follows IBC Chapter 16 with code study sheets. Wind matters twice here: for the building itself, and for rooftop and yard equipment whose supports are designed for uplift.

Fire and life-safety review is just as important as structure. The 2024 International Fire Code took effect in the county on April 15, 2025, and gaseous suppression, battery rooms, fuel storage for generators and smoke control all fall under it. We bring the fire marshal's office into the review early and keep a log of comments so that nothing surprises the owner at inspection. For the structure itself we often rely on structural steel erection with a fast, repeatable bay layout.

Switchgear, generators, chillers and transformers have lead times measured in months, and they decide the opening date. We issue early procurement packages for them and build the shell around their delivery, which lets the owner lock in equipment slots even before every design drawing is final. Rooftop equipment sets and crane time are also coordinated with the wind forecast to reduce delays.

A fast build schedule depends on trades, and Meta's own announcement put the peak at more than 1,000 skilled trade jobs. Add the F.E. Warren Sentinel construction ahead, with peak workforce estimated between 2,000 and 5,000 people, and labor becomes the thing to schedule around. Developers who bring us a program early, including commercial real estate developers assembling powered land, get the best access to trades. We secure subcontractor commitments early, stagger our work with other projects, and track labor availability weekly so that crews arrive when they are needed.

Data hall construction ends with energized equipment, so we plan the transition from construction to commissioning carefully. Lockout and tagging procedures, arc-flash labels, clean-room protocols and controlled access all begin before the first system is powered. Contractors enter through a single checkpoint, and deliveries are scheduled against site capacity.

At altitude and in a windy climate, rooftop work needs extra attention. Fall protection at the roof edge, wind limits for hoisting and ice control in winter are all in our site plan. We coordinate with the owner's own safety team so there is one set of rules on the project, and we hold weekly walk-throughs with the data center building team to catch problems before they grow.

Send us the capacity target, the utility timeline and the parcel. We will build a phased schedule and a budget that shows which dates depend on power, fiber and long-lead equipment.

How long does a data center shell take?

It depends on size and phasing. Meta's announcement in July 2024 targeted an opening in 2027 for its 715,000 square foot building, which gives a sense of the scale. A smaller shell can be quicker, and the true critical path is usually utility power and long-lead equipment, not the walls.

Does Cheyenne's climate help or hurt cooling?

Cold, dry air at about 6,086 feet makes free cooling and closed-loop systems attractive for much of the year. Meta plans closed-system cooling and agreed to use no more water than a standard business with 100 employees. We design the mechanical yard to the owner's chosen system, and allow for wind and snow around exposed equipment.

What worries owners most about building here?

Power supply, transmission, housing and workforce are the four that local reporting flags. We cannot solve the grid, but we can show how each affects the schedule, secure trades early and structure procurement so that the owner is not waiting on a single missing piece.

Can you build in phases while the first hall is live?

Yes. We separate construction access, fence off the work area, and plan commissioning of each hall so energized systems stay isolated from active construction. Later phases are scheduled around the operator's outage windows.

Who reviews plans for a data center in the county?

It depends on the parcel's jurisdiction, because Wyoming has no single statewide building code and local governments enforce their own adoption. We confirm the reviewer early, then prepare the code study sheets that Laramie County asks for.