{"id":98407,"date":"2026-04-09T04:47:28","date_gmt":"2026-04-09T04:47:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.timberindustrynews.com\/big-tech-and-data-centres-reshape-us-mass-timber-market\/"},"modified":"2026-04-09T04:47:28","modified_gmt":"2026-04-09T04:47:28","slug":"big-tech-and-data-centres-reshape-us-mass-timber-market","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.timberindustrynews.com\/ro\/big-tech-and-data-centres-reshape-us-mass-timber-market\/","title":{"rendered":"Big Tech and data centres reshape US mass timber market"},"content":{"rendered":"

The International Mass Timber Conference<\/span><\/span> in Portland, now in its tenth year, brought together more than 3,000 delegates and offered a detailed snapshot of an industry that is no longer defined by experimentation, but by execution. What emerged over the course of the event was not a single narrative, but a convergence of forces\u2014technical, financial and industrial\u2014that are beginning to align around mass timber as a scalable construction solution.<\/p>\n

Demand in the United States remains firm. A significant number of projects are still in the design phase, suggesting that current activity is only part of a broader pipeline. Architects and engineers are increasingly involved from the earliest stages, integrating timber into structural concepts rather than treating it as an alternative material introduced later in the process. This shift is important: it indicates that timber is becoming embedded in the logic of design, not simply layered onto it.<\/p>\n

At the same time, the range of applications continues to expand. Mass timber is now used across residential, office and institutional buildings, as well as in logistics and industrial facilities. Increasingly, it is also being considered for infrastructure linked to the digital economy\u2014most notably data centres, where scale, speed and performance requirements are particularly demanding.<\/p>\n

The rise of data centres as a key end use is one of the most significant developments highlighted at the conference. Around 10 per cent of all mass timber sold in the US in 2025 was directed towards data centre-related projects, according to Vittorio Salvadori of TimberBLDR<\/span><\/span>. For a market of this size, the figure is striking and points to a structural shift rather than a temporary surge.<\/p>\n

The expansion is being driven primarily by Amazon<\/span><\/span> and Meta<\/span><\/span>, with Microsoft<\/span><\/span> also playing a central role. These companies are not only experimenting with timber, but incorporating it into core construction strategies across their real estate portfolios.<\/p>\n

<\/a>
Meta is testing the use of mass timber as part of its effort to lower the environmental impact of data centre construction.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Meta has already deployed mass timber in multiple data centre campuses. In Aiken, South Carolina, the company is developing a large-scale site where timber has been used in administrative buildings within a broader complex dominated by conventional data halls. Similar approaches are being extended to projects in Cheyenne, Wyoming, and Montgomery, Alabama. The materials used include cross-laminated timber (CLT), glue-laminated beams and mass plywood panels, all of which allow for prefabrication and rapid on-site assembly.<\/p>\n

The company has indicated that timber could move beyond administrative structures into warehouses and, potentially, into the data halls themselves. The ambition is linked to its broader target of achieving net-zero emissions across its value chain by 2030, with timber seen as a way to reduce embodied carbon in construction.<\/p>\n

<\/a>
A cross-laminated timber panel is lifted into place at Microsoft\u2019s Northern Virginia data centre, the first facility to use a CLT sandwich system and a model now being adopted at scale by Amazon and Meta.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Microsoft\u2019s approach has focused on hybridisation. Its data centres in Northern Virginia incorporate CLT for floors and ceilings, combined with steel and concrete to meet structural and operational requirements. The company reports reductions in embodied carbon of around 35 per cent compared with steel-based systems and significantly more relative to concrete-heavy designs. Engineers involved in these projects emphasise that timber must meet the same standards of durability, safety and resilience as traditional materials, particularly in facilities that operate continuously and require high reliability.<\/p>\n