Arizona’s emergence as a hub for semiconductor manufacturing and data center development is altering the commercial real estate landscape, and local title insurers are adapting.
The scale of today’s projects is unlike anything the industry has seen before. Driven by demand in artificial intelligence, cloud computing and advanced manufacturing, data center developers are acquiring significantly larger sites than in previous years. According to a 2025 study, the average data center land transaction reached 224 acres in 2024, a sharp 144% increase from just two years earlier. Many hyperscale facilities now require 200 to 500 acres, while some developers are assembling campuses exceeding 1,000 acres to accommodate future growth.
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The rapid expansion of the industry is reflected in its overall land footprint. On average, a full-scale data center occupies approximately 40 acres. As of March 2025, more than 10,000 data centers existed globally. Even using a conservative estimate of 40 acres per facility, that represents hundreds of thousands of acres devoted to supporting the world’s growing digital infrastructure. As demand for AI computing power continues to increase, developers are expected to pursue even larger sites capable of supporting future expansion.
As project sizes grow, so do transaction values. The amount of title insurance required for large data center developments often exceeds the underwriting limits many title insurers are willing to retain independently. As a result, co-insurance has become increasingly common. It is where multiple title insurance companies share liability under a single policy. In data center real estate, co-insurance refers to the practice of combining a title insurance policy with other insurance layers, such as property, liability or business interruption, to share risk and cost. This structure allows insurers to distribute risk while supporting the large-scale investments fueling Arizona’s growth.
The trend extends beyond new construction. Investors are actively acquiring portfolios of existing data centers, with individual facilities often selling for tens of millions of dollars and multi-site transactions reaching into the billions. These deals frequently require multiple insurers working together to provide sufficient coverage.
Another issue gaining attention is mineral rights. For data center operators, uninterrupted operations are critical. Facilities depend on reliable power, physical security and highly controlled, climate-specific environments. Any activity that could disrupt operations, including drilling, mining or pipeline construction, presents a potential risk.
While mineral rights concerns vary by state, they are especially relevant in jurisdictions where surface ownership and mineral ownership can be separated. In those cases, a property owner may control the surface land while another party retains the right to access subsurface minerals. This creates what is commonly known as a split estate, where the mineral owner or its lessee may have rights that affect surface operations.
For mission-critical facilities such as data centers, now more than ever, that possibility has increased demand for mineral rights-related title coverage during acquisitions. Developers and investors want greater certainty that future mineral extraction activities will not interfere with facility operations, utility infrastructure or long-term expansion plans. As a result, title insurers are increasingly being asked to address mineral rights concerns during the underwriting process.
Arizona’s technology-driven growth is creating opportunities across commercial real estate, but it is also changing how risk is evaluated and insured. As data centers and semiconductor facilities continue to expand across the state, title insurance providers, developers and investors will need to adapt to larger transactions, more complex ownership structures and heightened due diligence requirements.
The result is a commercial real estate market that is not only growing in size, but also evolving in sophistication.
Author: Tonya Lively is vice president of escrow operations and director of sales at Commonwealth Land Title Phoenix NCS.
