Summary
- Up to $5 billion is available for construction all risks, delayed start up, property damage, and business interruption.
- Additional limits include cyber, technology errors and omissions, project cargo, third party liability, and terrorism cover.
- Insurance engineering is moving earlier into site selection, design, procurement, and commissioning as campus values and common failure risks rise.
Aon has expanded the available capacity under its Data Center Lifecycle Insurance Program to $5 billion, increasing the cover available as campuses grow larger and carry more concentrated construction and operating risk.
The programme provides up to $5 billion for construction all risks, delayed start up, property damage, and business interruption through a panel of insurers operating in the Lloyd’s and company markets.
Associated capacity includes up to $400 million for cyber and technology errors and omissions, $500 million for project cargo, $1 billion for terrorism, and third party liability limits of up to $200 million outside the US and $100 million within it.
The expansion follows the programme’s launch in 2025 and an earlier increase to $3.5 billion. Aon is combining the insurance placement with climate, environmental, security, engineering, professional indemnity, and operational resilience advice across development and operation.
The risk changes as the building becomes a service
A data centre passes through several distinct exposure periods. Land and design decisions influence flood, fire, access, and utility risk before construction begins, while contractor performance, equipment transit, installation damage, testing, and delay dominate the delivery phase.
Once the facility enters service, the financial exposure moves towards property damage, equipment breakdown, business interruption, cyber events, service credits, and customer loss. A lifecycle structure is intended to reduce gaps as responsibility transfers between developers, contractors, operators, tenants, and lenders.
Delayed start up cover is particularly important where capacity has already been contracted. A damaged transformer, switchgear fault, fire, or commissioning failure can prevent the facility reaching its service date, interrupting revenue before conventional operational cover begins.
Project cargo has become more prominent as long lead equipment moves through global supply chains. Large transformers, generators, chillers, switchgear, prefabricated modules, and cooling equipment may take months to replace after damage in transit.
Cyber and technology errors and omissions reflect the connection between digital and physical systems. A compromised control platform can affect cooling or electrical distribution, while a physical outage can create contractual and data service liabilities far beyond the cost of repairing the failed equipment.
Insurability begins before procurement
Aon’s approach brings risk engineering into development rather than waiting until construction is under way. Site selection, flood protection, fire compartments, equipment separation, security, and the design of redundant systems can all affect available cover and pricing.
Campus scale increases the value exposed to a single event. Several buildings may share a substation, fuel system, cooling plant, network room, control platform, or access route, creating a common failure point despite redundancy within each individual building.
Insurers increasingly examine whether duplicated equipment is physically and electrically independent. Two generators, pumps, or switchboards offer limited protection when they share the same room, cable route, controls, fuel supply, or flood exposure.
Natural hazard assessment is also becoming more important. Sites selected for available power and land may face flood, drought, extreme heat, wildfire, storm, or water stress, influencing the cooling design, construction cost, and long term availability of insurance.
Higher deductibles, exclusions, engineering conditions, and sublimits can alter the project economics even when headline capacity is available. Lenders may require specific limits, policy terms, and insurer credit ratings before releasing capital.
Terrorism cover reflects the status of data centres as critical infrastructure in a growing number of jurisdictions. Perimeter security, vehicle access, standoff distance, building separation, fuel protection, and emergency response can influence both operational resilience and policy conditions.
The $5 billion limit does not mean every development will receive the full amount on identical terms. Location, construction method, asset concentration, contract structure, engineering controls, claims history, and market appetite will determine the capacity available to an individual project.
Its scale nevertheless gives a measure of the values entering the market. AI campuses can combine multibillion dollar buildings, energy infrastructure, and computing equipment, while a delayed opening or prolonged outage may interrupt substantial contracted revenue.
Insurance is therefore moving closer to design, finance, and commissioning. A facility that cannot demonstrate separation, hazard protection, maintenance, cyber control, and credible recovery may still be technically buildable, but its cost of capital and risk transfer will reflect those weaknesses.
