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Air cargo · AI hardware
The AI airlift is creating a new industrial building type
United States hi-tech air imports rose 70% to 401,000 tonnes in the first quarter of 2026 while e-commerce air fell 11%, with data center cargo up 42%, GPUs up 65% and networking equipment up 70%. AI hardware is now roughly 10% of global air cargo volume. The real estate consequence is concrete: DHL is launching ten dedicated warehouses totalling more than seven million square feet in North America in 2026, purely for data center logistics.
Key takeaways
- Forwarders are booked out for years. Morrison Express reports customers booked out until the end of next year and some until the end of 2028, and has secured dedicated 747 freighter capacity for oversized semiconductor manufacturing equipment that is getting larger against aircraft accommodation limits.
- Vietnam is the new node. AI-related air cargo exports from Vietnam rose 110% year on year in the first four months of 2026, and Vietnam freighter capacity is up 32% overall, up 190% from Europe and up 50% from North America. CEVA launched a three-times-weekly 777 freighter service from Hanoi to Chicago consolidating Hanoi, Danang and Ho Chi Minh City specifically for technology and AI manufacturing.
- Asia-Pacific accounts for roughly 80% of global air cargo growth in 2026. Asia to North America grew for six consecutive months through July 2026, at plus 19.9% in May, plus 14.7% in June and plus 9.2% in July, representing 23.5% of the global market.
- Semiconductor demand is the underlying driver. Second-quarter 2026 global semiconductor sales reached $403 billion, up 35.1% on the first quarter, with June 2026 at $134.5 billion.
- The equipment is specializing. Qatar Airways Cargo partnered with VRR on RZY 16-foot and RGX 20-foot climate-controlled, shock-absorbing containers certified for maindeck carriage on 777 freighters, supporting its TechLift semiconductor product.
A quarterly brief on powered land, port capacity and air-cargo gateways, plus the Powered Land and Gateway Pricing Benchmarks data file.
- Dollar per megawatt and dollar per acre benchmarks by market, with the substation-distance and voltage premiums applied
- Every committed United States port capacity opening from 2026 through 2035, with cost, TEU and date
- Airport-adjacent rent premiums by gateway, and the constraint map that drives them
- The named project pipeline: site, megawatts, developer, power source, status
- Sources and periods for every cell. Nothing unattributed.
What the new building actually is
The AI hardware building is not a cargo terminal and it is not a bulk distribution warehouse. The AI hardware building sits between them.
- Secure. Racked GPUs at current prices make a single trailer load a high-value target, and insurers and customers are specifying access control, monitoring and segregated bays.
- Climate-controlled to protect electronics through staging rather than to hold food.
- Rack pre-configuration space, meaning floor area and power to assemble, cable, burn in and test racks before they move to the campus. That is what DHL means by rack pre-configuration in secure warehouse environments.
- Oversized-capable. Semiconductor manufacturing equipment moves on dedicated 747s because of dimension rather than weight, and it needs doors, clear height and crane or gantry capacity to match.
- Positioned between an airport of arrival and a campus under construction, which is a narrow geographic intersection.
DHL’s rationale is that North America hosts over 40% of global data centers, and its own customer survey found 85% want a single end-to-end logistics partner but only 43% have one. The demand is being contracted by forwarders rather than airlines, which means the landlord’s counterparty is a third-party-logistics credit on third-party-logistics lease terms.
Where to look
The intersection of AI hardware airlift and data center construction: Arizona, Texas, and the Iowa, Illinois and Indiana corridor that Rockford is explicitly courting. Corroborating signal: CBRE recorded manufacturers rising above 12% of United States industrial leasing in the second quarter of 2026, driven by data center support, national infrastructure projects and growing defense spending.
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A quarterly brief on powered land, port capacity and air-cargo gateways, plus the Powered Land and Gateway Pricing Benchmarks data file.
- Dollar per megawatt and dollar per acre benchmarks by market, with the substation-distance and voltage premiums applied
- Every committed United States port capacity opening from 2026 through 2035, with cost, TEU and date
- Airport-adjacent rent premiums by gateway, and the constraint map that drives them
- The named project pipeline: site, megawatts, developer, power source, status
- Sources and periods for every cell. Nothing unattributed.
This research was produced by Landside Partners, a commercial real estate research and advisory firm working with owners of industrial land across North America on data center, seaport and air-cargo demand. To have a specific parcel assessed, contact Brad Cohen at Landside Partners.
Related research
- Air Cargo — Pillar: airport-adjacent industrial metrics and cargo gateway rent premiums, Q2 2026.
- Cold Chain — Pharmaceutical and perishable cold-chain facility requirements at cargo gateways, Q2 2026.
- Cargo Airports — Top twenty cargo airports ranked by annual tonnage, with the local land constraint.
- On-Airport Facilities — On-airport cargo facility leasing, ground leases and authority process, Q2 2026.
- Data Centers — Pillar: US data center demand, vacancy and the pipeline that has to find land, Q2 2026.
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