Data Center Feasibility Study in Georgia

Exactly at the national share, with a 7(a)-only record

Georgia's data center record is small and unusually pure in its financing. Across FY2017 to FY2026 the agency backed 28 Georgia data center loans, $15.4 million in all, and every one of them went through SBA 7(a): the count under SBA 504 is 0. The location quotient is 1.00x, so Georgia gives data centers the same weight in its lending that the country does, and the state ranks 10 of 52 on counts, with the class at 23 of 39 within Georgia. Nothing here points to a Georgia specialism; what it shows is a steady trickle of small loans in a large state.

Small loans, and who made them

The median loan is $180,000, which is 0.88x of the median this class draws nationally, and the middle half runs from $85,200 to $350,000. Those sizes fit server rooms, fit-outs and equipment for small hosting and data-processing firms far better than a purpose-built facility with heavy power and cooling. There are no franchise loans. The lender table has a single entry: Newtek Bank, National Association, 5 loans worth $800,000, which confirms how modest the tickets are. Each loan is filed under its present holder, so this shows a book held and says nothing about any bank's approach to technology borrowers.

Where the loans are

The map is Atlanta's metropolitan core: Fulton and Gwinnett counties have 8 loans each and Cobb has 4, with Jackson at 2 and single loans in Catoosa, Clarke, DeKalb, Forsyth, Newton and Walton. Annual approvals ran from none in FY2017 to 6 in FY2026, with the largest dollar year being FY2025 at $5.3 million on 3 loans, a reminder that one larger award can lift a year.

What the code hides

The industry code does not distinguish a colocation building from a hosting service, and it also contains ordinary data processing firms. A loan counted here may therefore finance a web-hosting company that rents a few racks and owns no building at all. Cancellation and charge-off rates are withheld for Georgia because the cohorts hold too few loans; a withheld rate is not a rate of zero, and no loss floor can be quoted.

Testing a Georgia data center

A study of a Georgia data center has to test what a small-loan record cannot: power availability and cost at the site, the cooling design, fibre connectivity, and the contracts that will fill the space. It should separate the tenants who commit to long terms from those who rent month to month, and show coverage if the largest customer leaves. Because the typical loan in this record is far below the cost of a purpose-built facility, a plan above that range should explain the capital stack. An appraiser will value a data center on lease income, and the study should state what portion of that income is already under contract.