Data Center Late Fees Jump to $5M a Day, Marsh Rolls Out Cover

Data center tenants are demanding more than $5 million a day in late-delivery penalties, up from roughly $1 million as recently as this spring, The Information reported.

The leap has sent developers scrambling for cover. Mike Mathews, who runs the global digital infrastructure practice at insurance broker Marsh, had his team put together a custom "delay-in-delivery" policy this spring for a developer whose tenant wanted $1 million a day if the first phase of a gigawatt-scale campus missed its date. Within months, fresh deals had the ask at $5 million and up.

The leverage sits with the tenants: hyperscalers and AI labs, the deep-pocketed buyers every developer wants on a long-term lease. Under OpenAI's deal with SB Energy, OpenAI receives one free day of rent for every day of delay, and that penalty doubles once the delay passes 90 days.

Marsh's Nimbus facility, launched in June 2025 for large data center construction, started with up to $1 billion in construction all-risks limits and $365 million for delay in start-up. In January, Marsh raised Nimbus limits to as much as $2.7 billion. Goldman Sachs expects only about half of scheduled U.S. capacity to arrive on time.