Data centers in Illinois: 51 projects mapped

Imagery: Esri, Maxar

Illinois' largest approved data center is the Joliet Technology Center, a campus of about 795 acres on farmland near Rowell and Bernhard roads, planned by Hillwood and PowerHouse Data Centers. The Joliet City Council approved it 8-1 in March 2026 after a public meeting that ran more than six hours. Yorkville approved Project Cardinal, a 1,037-acre campus along the Eldamain corridor, the same month, and the developers of Project Cardinal and Project Steel committed $91 million to the city over four years.

Cook County has 26 of the tracked sites, most of them established data centers in Elk Grove Village, Northlake, Des Plaines and at 350 East Cermak Road in Chicago. Elsewhere, residents have stopped projects. Karis Critical withdrew its request to rezone 186 acres at Higgins Road and Route 59 in Hoffman Estates on June 30, after the plan commission voted 4-2 against it and residents learned village staff had discussed the project with Karis for about 18 months before it became public. Karis had a similar proposal rejected in Naperville in January.

Projects in Rochelle, Pekin and Barrington Hills were also voted down or pulled this year, and eight towns and counties, including Lake County, Champaign County, Bloomington, Normal, Bourbonnais and Carbondale, have pauses on new data centers in force. Statewide, Governor JB Pritzker stopped signing new data center tax break agreements on July 1, 2026, after lawmakers did not pass the POWER Act, a bill regulating data centers' power and water use; lawmakers said it could return in the fall veto session. Plainfield's moratorium is set to end October 18.

Every project above is drawn from public records, filings and local reporting. Each row links to what it is based on. Statuses change, so check the source date before you rely on one. Found something wrong? Write to [email protected] and it gets fixed.