This. Along with the federal government more generally. And also all of the companies that lobby or otherwise work with the federal government. NoVA is adjacent to DC and has a better tax environment than MD, so that's where all the government data centers are going to go.
Also the first transatlantic cables terminated there. Once that started, a lot of cross country fiber wanted to locate there too. Once ghat starts, a lot of other fiber wants to interconnect with existing cables.
Once critical mass was achieved it became much easier to build data centers there. Everyone knows how to do it. Power companies are used to requests for redundant power. There’s talent to build and maintain them…