Maryland’s Data Center Clusters

(Approximate Areas)

🧭 1. Maryland’s Data Center Clusters (Approximate Areas)

Based on the Maryland inventories (53 facilities across 8 markets) and the detailed capacity list (7 major facilities + 8 planned hyperscale projects) , the clusters break down like this:

Baltimore Cluster (City + BWI + Suburbs)

• - ~15 facilities (mostly small/medium colocation)

• - Operators: TierPoint, CyrusOne, Security Land, others

• - Planned hyperscale: Security Land Baltimore (150 MW)

Frederick Cluster

• - ~18 facilities (mix of small/medium + several large planned hyperscale)

• - Planned hyperscale:

• - Aligned Quantum (264 MW)

• - Bauxite 1, 2, 3 (231 MW, 230 MW, 160 MW)

Silver Spring / Beltsville / Laurel Corridor

• - Silver Spring: 2 facilities

• - Beltsville: 2 facilities

• - Laurel: 2 facilities (includes Equinix DC-series adjacency)

• - These are mostly legacy telco buildings and medium colocation sites.

Prince Frederick Cluster

• - 12 facilities (mostly small/medium)

• - No hyperscale yet.

Rockville / Germantown

• - 1 facility each (small/medium)

Calvert County

• - Planned AWS Calvert Cliffs campus (size not listed but classified as hyperscale)

🧱 2. Small vs. Medium vs. Hyperscale (Maryland Only)

SMALL (1–5 MW)

Typical examples:

• - TierPoint Baltimore BWI (1 MW)

• - Legacy telco buildings in Silver Spring, Beltsville, Laurel

• - Most Baltimore city facilities

These are the ones you’ve lived near without noticing.

MEDIUM (5–30 MW)

Examples:

• - Digital Realty Elkridge (30 MW)

• - Equinix Laurel (20 MW)

• - CyrusOne Baltimore (20 MW)

These are still quiet, industrial, and low‑impact.

HYPERSCALE (100 MW–1,000+ MW)

Maryland’s hyperscale list (operational or planned):

• - AWS Maryland (est. 1,000 MW)

• - Meta Maryland (size not listed)

• - Chesapeake Data (1,000 MW)

• - Dickerson Data Center (300 MW)

• - Aligned Quantum Frederick (264 MW)

• - Bauxite 1, 2, 3 (231 MW, 230 MW, 160 MW)

• - Security Land Baltimore (150 MW)

These are the big boys — but they’re almost always in industrial zones, not neighborhoods.

🏗️ 3. Who’s Already in Maryland vs. Who’s Building More

Already Operating

• - Digital Realty (Elkridge)

• - Equinix (Laurel)

• - CyrusOne (Baltimore)

• - TierPoint (Baltimore + BWI)

• - NSA (Fort Meade — enterprise, not public)

Building / Planning Hyperscale

• - Amazon Web Services (AWS) — Calvert Cliffs + statewide hyperscale footprint

• - Meta — Maryland hyperscale (scraped listing)

• - TeraWulf — Chesapeake Data (1,000 MW)

• - Atmosphere Data Centers — Dickerson (300 MW)

• - Aligned — Frederick (264 MW)

• - Rowan Digital Infrastructure — Bauxite 1, 2, 3

• - Security Land & Development — Baltimore (150 MW)

Who’s not building much in Maryland (yet)

• - Microsoft Azure — no major Maryland builds listed

• - Google Cloud — no Maryland builds listed

Maryland is not Northern Virginia.

The hyperscale giants still prefer Ashburn, Manassas, and Prince William County.

🧨 4. Are These a Neighborhood Problem?

Short answer:

No. Not unless you live directly against the fence line.

Why?

• - They produce no smoke, no chemicals, no traffic, no 24/7 noise.

• - Cooling noise is regulated and drops off sharply with distance.

• - Heat exhaust rises vertically and dissipates within tens of feet.

• - Water use is regulated and often recycled.

• - Backup generators run once a month for testing.

At a quarter mile?

You’d never know it was there.

This matches your lived experience in Silver Spring — you lived near one and didn’t even know.

🧱 5. A Clean Narrative You Can Use to Calm People Down

Here’s the “sell the concept” version:

Data centers aren’t nuclear plants. They’re warehouses with air‑conditioning.

People panic because they don’t understand them.

In Maryland, most data centers are hidden in old phone company buildings or industrial parks.

You can live a quarter mile away and never hear, smell, or feel a thing.

The only time you’d notice anything is if you lived directly behind the cooling fans — and even then it’s just a hum.

Hyperscale centers are big, but they’re built in industrial zones, not next to houses.

They bring tax revenue, fiber upgrades, and jobs.

They don’t poison water, they don’t blow heat onto neighborhoods, and they don’t lower property values.

Maryland is getting some new hyperscale projects, but nothing like Northern Virginia.

If someone tells you a data center is going to destroy the community, they’re repeating internet folklore, not facts.