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AI Tenants’ Office Demand Surges 85% Year-Over-Year
Artificial intelligence companies’ demand for office space has increased 85% year-over-year, VTS reported. The firm’s first-ever report on the AI sector found that demand across the industry’s largest AI hubs has grown 179%, concentrating on a small number of submarkets at a speed and intensity that metro-level vacancy statistics haven’t reflected yet.
The surge in demand occurs against the backdrop of $226 billion of private capital investment in AI during the first quarter of 2026, with the U.S. accounting for $206 billion of that total. That capital trnaslates into office demand, with AI companies accounting for 34% of active tech requirements that VTS tracks nationally, and 46% of the square footage.
“The conversation around AI has largely focused on capital raised and technological breakthroughs,” said Nick Romito, CEO of VTS. “From where we sit, one of the clearest indicators of the industry’s next phase is where companies choose to establish long-term operations, creating new patterns of office demand well before they’re reflected in traditional market data.”
San Francisco, Silicon Valley and New York have emerged as the nation’s leading AI office markets, together accounting for nearly two-thirds of all active AI square footage tracked by VTS.
- ◦Lease
