2024 Global Data Center Market Comparison
Table of Contents
Top Ten Markets | Key Evaluation Metrics | Americas | APAC | EMEA
Explore a unique way to assess and score 92 global primary and emerging data center markets utilizing 14 criteria.
With record-breaking absorption of IT load across markets, vacancies have fallen to extreme lows across many major global markets. Demand from cloud providers has consumed most large blocks of capacity, usually leaving only smaller leases that are well below 4MW. Preleasing has also become increasingly common, with many markets seeing over 70% of pipeline product preleased. Vacancies this low have pushed development pipelines to new heights, as supply races to keep pace with demand.
Larger capacity markets enjoy well-established inroads with local governments and utilities as to the planning, approval, construction and provisioning of power for new data center developments. This metric enables a gauge of one component of the relative risk profile of a market, with larger markets representing less risk while smaller, more emergent markets generally represent higher risk. Greater market sizes also ensure that on-site staff, sales teams and other supporting human capital are in place to support future developments. The largest markets are thus positioned for continued growth, at least until there is capacity strain on the local power grid or political imperatives change.
A key component to operating expenses for a data center are local power costs. Depending on available energy sources, infrastructure and government policies, the cost of power can vary widely between markets. As increasingly larger deployments become common, the cost of power and its availability are a critical factor for data center developers. Continuing a trend from last year, inflationary pressures and rising demand has kept power pricing between 15% -30% higher across many markets. While power cost does not encompass all the issues of power availability that arose in 2023, it does provide a useful indicator for market comparison.
Regional Highlights
AMERICAS
Over the past year, lead times for the delivery of power grew beyond just the constricted market of Virginia. Markets including Phoenix, Atlanta, Dallas and even Columbus – all where data center expansion had occurred rapidly over the past several years – began to experience similar power generation constraints. While continuing to develop where possible in these markets, operators expanded their focus to additional secondary and emerging markets such as Charlotte, Salt Lake City, Kansas City, Indianapolis, Minneapolis, Nashville and Iowa. These and other smaller markets offered largely untapped opportunities for significant land purchases and commitments. Simultaneously as lead times for power deliveries grew in major markets, North America became a testbed for how artificial intelligence might change the data center development landscape. Many of the larger deployments in smaller, more rural markets were targeted at facilities designed for training AI models and have less of a dependency on latency. Despite this, some of the deepest pipelines remain in the five largest markets, with hyperscalers doubling down on cloud regions and laying the groundwork for AI integration with cloud services.
| Established Markets | Emerging Markets |
|---|---|
| 01/ Virginia | 01/ Kansas City |
| 02/ Atlanta | 02/ Nashville |
| 03/ Dallas | 03/ Iowa |
| 04/ Phoenix | 04/ Minneapolis |
| 05/ Oregon | 05/ Austin |
| 06/ North / South Carolina | 06/ Queretaro |
| 07/ Chicago | 07/ Salt Lake City |
| 08/ Columbus | 08/ Indiana |
| 09/ Toronto | 09/ Santiago |
| 10/ SF Bay Area | 10/ Denver |
|
01/ Virginia
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02/ Atlanta
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02/ Dallas
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04/ Phoenix
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05/ Oregon
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06/ North / South Carolina
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07/ Chicago
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08/ Columbus
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09/ Toronto
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10/ SF Bay Area
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01/ Kansas City
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02/ Nashville
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03/ Iowa
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04/ Minneapolis
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05/ Austin
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06/ Queretaro
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07/ Salt Lake City
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08/ Indiana
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09/ Santiago
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10/ Denver
|
APAC
The APAC region crossed 10GW in total IT load capacity over the past year buoyed by growth across various countries. The largest markets in the region continued substantial growth, with Mumbai and Jakarta rising in the rankings as pipelines grew in the market. More established markets like Singapore, Beijing, Shanghai, Hong Kong, Sydney and Tokyo continued to grow despite challenges for available land and power. As hyperscalers grow their regional presence, transaction activity has increased in emerging markets such as Bangkok, Johor, Hyderabad, Ho Chi Minh and Manila. Almost 80% of operational capacity is concentrated in the region’s top 5 markets – Mainland China (3.9GW), Japan (1.3GW), Australia (1.2GW), India (1.1GW) & Singapore (962MW). In H2 2023, India joined Mainland China, Japan and Australia as >1GW-sized markets and we anticipate that Singapore will reach this status sometime in 2024 with 962MW currently live.
| Established Markets | Emerging Markets |
|---|---|
| 01/ Tokyo | 01/ Osaka |
| 02/ Mumbai | 02/ Hyderabad |
| 03/ Sydney | 03/ Bangkok |
| 04/ Beijing | 04/ Chennai |
| 05/ Jakarta | 05/ Delhi NCR |
| 06/ Singapore | 06/ Taipei |
| 07/ Johor | 07/ Guangzhou |
| 08/ Kuala Lumpur | 08/ Batam |
| 09/ Shanghai | 09/ Manila |
| 10/ Hong Kong | 10/ Pune |
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01/ Tokyo
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02/ Mumbai
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02/ Sydney
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04/ Beijing
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05/ Jakarta
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06/ Singapore
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07/ Johor
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08/ Kuala Lumpur
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09/ Shanghai
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10/ Hong Kong
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01/ Osaka
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02/ Chennai
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03/ Hyderabad
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04/ Bangkok
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05/ Delhi NCR
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06/ Taipei
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07/ Guangzhou
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08/ Batam
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09/ Manila
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10/ Pune
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EMEA
Across the biggest metros in EMEA namely Frankfurt, London, Amsterdam, Paris, and Dublin, (FLAP-D) the markets continue to expand, despite the headwinds emerging from power availability, power pricing and sustainability regulations. Owing to factors like strategic location, data sovereignty, connectivity and rising demand, the secondary markets such as Madrid, Milan, Stockholm, Copenhagen, Oslo, and Warsaw are also gaining interests of operators and investors and powering ahead. The Nordic countries, specifically Denmark, Finland, Norway, and Sweden, with their immense potential and a current contribution of 12% of the region's data center pipeline, are attractive prospects for investment.
Riyadh in Saudi Arabia and Johannesburg in South Africa are steadily emerging as key destinations due to their strategic geographic location, reliable connectivity, and increasing local and regional cloud adoption.
The top global hyperscale cloud service providers (CSPs) are entering secondary markets such as Brussels, Warsaw, Zaragoza, and Copenhagen, with more than 150MW of combined under construction capacity. The presence of these CSPs is likely to draw major colocation data center operators, developers, and investors to these markets.
| Established Markets | Emerging Markets |
|---|---|
| 01/ London | 01/ Milan |
| 02/ Madrid | 02/ Zurich |
| 03/ Paris | 03/ Copenhagen |
| 04/ Fankfurt | 04/ Warsaw |
| 05/ Amsterdam | 05/ Riyadh |
| 06/ Dublin | 06/ Zaragoza |
| 07/ Oslo | 07/ Riyadh |
| 08/ Brussels | 08/ Athens |
| 09/ Stockholm | 09/ Lagos |
| 10/ Johannesburg | 10/ Dammam |
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01/ London
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02/ Madrid
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02/ Paris
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04/ Frankfurt
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05/ Amsterdam
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06/ Dublin
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07/ Oslo
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08/ Brussels
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09/ Stockholm
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10/ Johannesburg
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01/ Milan
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02/ Zurich
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03/ Copenhagen
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04/ Warsaw
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05/ Riyadh
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06/ Zaragoza
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07/ Riyadh
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08/ Athens
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09/ Lagos
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10/ Dammam
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