Gitnux/Report 2026

Data Centre Industry Statistics

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Data Centre Industry Statistics
Samuel NorbergWritten by Samuel Norberg·Fact-checked by Maya Johansson
Published
How this report is researched
01Editorial Scope

Gitnux editors write the brief first: the topic, the inclusion rules, and the frame for what belongs.

02Source Research

Agents search the published record and log every extracted figure back to the passage it came from.

Read our full methodology →

Search agents attach provenance to every extracted figure.

Next review: within 31 days

01 Industry overview

The data centre industry at a glance

The data centre industry is expanding rapidly around AI workloads: global capacity is projected to increase by 97 GW between 2025 and 2030, while electricity demand reached almost 500 TWh in 2025.

$383.82B[3]
Global market size, 2025
97 GW[17]
Capacity added, 2025–2030
49%[25]
North America capacity share, 2025
1.4%[20]
North America vacancy, H2 2025
Market size
Grand View Research estimates the global data centre market at $383.82 billion in 2025. It forecasts revenue of $902.19 billion by 2033.[3]
Forecast & CAGR
Grand View Research forecasts an 11.3% compound annual growth rate from 2026 to 2033. Separately, JLL projects global physical data centre capacity to increase by 97 GW between 2025 and 2030, effectively doubling over five years.[3][17]
Market share & regions
North America held approximately 52.2 GW of capacity at the end of 2025, equal to 49% of global capacity. Europe held approximately 16.2 GW, or 15%, while the remaining capacity was distributed across Asia-Pacific and other regions.[25]
Segmentation
JLL divides global supply into hyperscale owner-occupied, leased colocation and build-to-suit, and on-premises capacity. Its 2030 outlook shows 70 GW of hyperscale owner-occupied capacity, 105 GW of leased capacity and 25 GW of on-premises capacity.[17]
Key players & concentration
Hyperscale customers are central to colocation demand: 62% of surveyed colocation facilities hosted hyperscale technology companies in 2025, and those customers occupied 44% of facility space on a weighted-average basis. The leading customer group includes AWS, Google, Microsoft, Meta, IBM, Tencent, Alibaba and Baidu.[1]
Pricing
In North American primary markets, requirements of 250–500 kW were expected to exceed $200 per kW per month in 2025. Pricing for 3–10 MW requirements increased 12.5% year over year in the second half of 2025.[20]
Trends, drivers & challenges
AI workloads are the principal growth driver: global data centre electricity demand increased 17% in 2025, while AI-focused facilities grew faster than overall data centre demand. Power procurement, grid interconnection, permitting, skilled-labour shortages and rising construction costs remain major constraints.[79][17]
Consumer behavior & competition
Enterprise workloads continue to move toward third-party facilities: Uptime Institute reported that third-party data centres hosted 46% of enterprise IT workloads in 2025, compared with 44% in enterprise-owned corporate data centres. Competition is therefore strongest among hyperscale, wholesale colocation and build-to-suit providers able to secure power and deliver capacity quickly.[1]
M&A
Private-equity investment in U.S. data centres reached $45.7 billion in 2025, the highest level in at least five years according to S&P Global data reported by Data Centre Dynamics. Notable sector activity also included Daikin’s acquisition of liquid-cooling company Chilldyne in 2025.[80][81]
Regulation
The EU requires data centres with significant energy consumption to report energy-performance information through a European database, with annual reporting deadlines after the initial 2024 submission. In the United Kingdom, 2025 regulations added data centres to the prescribed category of business or commercial projects eligible for consideration under the national infrastructure planning regime.[82][83]
Latest news
In November 2026, an Indianapolis city-council committee recommended rejecting a proposed $113 million tax-incentive package for a DC Blox data centre, highlighting growing scrutiny of public subsidies and local infrastructure impacts. Separately, recent reporting indicated that Nvidia was exploring the reuse of more than 130 former telecommunications buildings as smaller AI data centres.[31][19]

02 Ranking

Top 10 Companies in the Data Centre Industry

The leading companies in the data centre industry, ranked on market impact, performance, momentum, innovation and brand popularity.

Updated November 11, 2026 · Next review December 11, 2026

Verdict

NVIDIA leads Gitnux's 2026 data centre ranking with an Overall score of 9.6, backed by fiscal 2025 data centre revenue of $115.2 billion. Microsoft is the highest-ranked cloud infrastructure operator at 9.5, driven by over $75 billion in Azure revenue.

Ranked by Overall score · How we score ↓

Editor's top 3 picks

Where to start, by need.

  1. #1 Overall · Leader in AI accelerator hardware

    NVIDIA

    US

    Ranked #1 · 9.6 · AI accelerator hardware

    Why we picked it: Its AI accelerators connect directly to AI compute demand, reflected in fiscal 2025 data centre revenue of $115.2 billion.

    See in ranking ↓Visit nvidia.com ↗

  2. Leader in hyperscale cloud

    Microsoft

    US

    Ranked #2 · 9.5 · Hyperscale cloud

    Why we picked it: Its Azure hyperscale footprint spans 400+ datacenters across 70 regions, tied to $75 billion-plus Azure revenue.

    See in ranking ↓Visit microsoft.com ↗

  3. Leader in data centre networking

    Cisco

    US

    Ranked #4 · 9.0 · Data centre networking

    Why we picked it: Its data-centre networking and infrastructure line shows webscale demand via over $2 billion in FY2025 AI orders.

    See in ranking ↓Visit cisco.com ↗

Pick 1 is the #1 company overall. Picks 2 and 3 are the highest-ranked companies in the top 5 that add a new segment.

Full ranking

Sort by
Top 10 companies in the data centre industry, 2026 – Gitnux ranking
#CompanyOverall ↓Company snapshot
1

NVIDIA

AI accelerator hardware · US

9.6
2

Microsoft

Hyperscale cloud · US

9.5
3

Alphabet

Hyperscale cloud · US

9.3
4

Cisco

Data centre networking · US

9.0
5

Eaton

Electrical power infrastructure · IE

8.8
6

Schneider Electric

Data centre power, cooling and management · FR

8.8
7

Equinix

Global colocation and interconnection · US

8.3
8

Digital Realty

Global data centre, colocation and interconnection · US

8.2
9

Iron Mountain

Data centre colocation and digital infrastructure · US

8.1
10

Cummins

Backup power systems for data centres · US

7.7

How we score

  • Impact (30%): scale and weight in the market (revenue, market share, employees, market position).
  • Performance (20%): recent revenue growth and operating margin; an analyst assessment where a company does not publish them.
  • Momentum (20%): growth trajectory and future potential.
  • Innovation (15%): R&D intensity and how technologically advanced the company is.

Popularity (brand search demand, 15%) counts toward Overall but is not published as a column. Overall leaves out what is not known.

Scale Scores are shown on a 7–10 scale with one decimal; bars start at 7.0.

Cadence Recalculated when new figures are published; next review December 11, 2026.

Independence. Rankings are editorially independent. Scores, ranks, picks and the verdict follow the method above; no company can pay to change them.

Cite this ranking

APA

Samuel Norberg. (2026, November 11). Top 10 companies in the data centre industry. In Data Centre Industry Statistics. Gitnux. https://gitnux.org/data-centre-industry-statistics/#top-companies

report visual · Comparison

Revenue of the largest data centre companies

Alphabet leads with $402.8B in annual revenue (group level, converted to USD).

Alphabet$402.8B
Microsoft$281.7B
NVIDIA$130.5B
Cisco$56.7B
Schneider Electric$43.4B
Cummins$33.7B
source-verifiedsec.gov · microsoft.com · investor.nvidia.com · investor.cisco.com · se.com2025

04 Statistics

Technology & Innovation

Operators cite AI-related upgrades in cooling (51% in 2025) and power distribution (52% in 2025). The automation market is estimated at $10.1 billion in 2024 and $25.4 billion projected for 2030.

AI in the data centre industry

  • 44% of data-center operators identified reduced cooling-energy costs as an important benefit of AI in 2024.[1]
  • 51% of data-center operators hosting AI applications were upgrading cooling systems to support AI workloads in 2025.[2]
  • 52% of data-center operators hosting AI applications were upgrading power distribution systems to support AI workloads in 2025.[2]
  • 59% of data-center operators trained AI in their on-premises data centers in 2024, according to a survey of owner and operator respondents worldwide.[1]
  • 79% of data-center operators said their organizations were increasing AI spending in 2024.[1]
  • 43% of data-center operators identified reduced failure risk from human error as an important AI benefit in 2024.[1]

Automation in the data centre industry

  • USD 25.4 billion was the projected global data-center automation-market size for 2030.[3]
  • 43% of data-center operators cited reducing human-error failure risk as an important AI-enabled operational benefit in 2024.[1]
  • 50% of data-center operators hosting AI applications cited the ability to use existing infrastructure as a leading location factor in 2025, supporting automation-led upgrades and workload integration.[2]
  • USD 10.1 billion was the estimated global data-center automation-market size in 2024.[3]
  • 57% of data-center operators cited AI-enabled root-cause analysis as an important operational benefit in 2024.[1]
  • 13% of data-center operators reported significant returns from implementing AI in their data centers in 2024.[1]

Digital Transformation in the software and IT services sector (sector benchmark)

  • 45% of North American technology and business decision-makers planned to adopt AI and machine learning to improve business within 12 to 24 months.[4]
  • 75% of digital leaders globally planned to increase AI-related business expenditure in 2024.[4]
  • 34% of surveyed organizations globally identified replacing or upgrading legacy technology as a top digital-transformation goal in 2024.[4]
  • 54.8% of surveyed organizations reported having a chief digital officer or another executive responsible for digital transformation.[5]
  • 72% of digital leaders globally expected to increase technology spending in 2024, compared with 50% of digital laggards, according to a survey of 855 technology and business decision-makers.[4]

Technology Adoption in the software and IT services sector (sector benchmark)

  • 57.7% of surveyed organizations reported having a chief information security officer or equivalent in 2024.[5]
  • 67.6% of IT services were delivered through cloud infrastructure among surveyed organizations in 2024.[5]
  • 51.8% of surveyed organizations reported that AI solutions were somewhat or extremely rare in 2024.[5]
  • More than 50% of surveyed global IT decision-makers were exploring AI use cases or piloting AI technologies in 2024.[4]

Cloud Computing in the software and IT services sector (sector benchmark)

  • 71.7% of EU enterprises using paid cloud services used them for office software in 2025.[6]
  • 26.1% of EU enterprises using paid cloud services used computing platforms for application development, testing or deployment in 2025.[6]
  • 52.7% of EU enterprises with at least 10 employees used paid cloud-computing services in 2025.[6]
  • 65.5% of EU enterprises using paid cloud services used them for security software applications in 2025.[6]
  • 85.2% of EU enterprises using paid cloud services used them for email in 2025.[6]
  • 71.5% of EU enterprises using paid cloud services used them for file storage in 2025.[6]

Big Data in the software and IT services sector (sector benchmark)

  • 40% was the highest reported enterprise adoption rate for big-data analytics across OECD countries in the latest available data through 2023.[7]
  • Big-data analytics adoption averaged 14% among OECD enterprises with at least 10 employees, compared with 49% for cloud computing in the latest comparable data.[7]
  • 3% was the lowest reported enterprise adoption rate for big-data analytics across OECD countries in the latest available data through 2023.[7]

05 Statistics

Data & Analytics

Survey results connect automation and outage cost exposure: 54% reported an outage cost over $100,000 in 2024. Reported average PUE improved to 1.54 in 2025.

Business intelligence in the data centre industry

  • 54% of surveyed operators reported that their most recent significant outage cost more than $100,000 in 2024.[1]
  • 10–20 high-profile IT outages or data-center events causing serious or severe losses occur globally on average each year, according to Uptime Institute.[8]
  • 53% of operators reported experiencing an outage during the previous three years in Uptime Institute’s 2024 survey.[1]
  • 44% of enterprise IT workloads remained inside enterprise-owned corporate server farms in 2026.[9]
  • 73% of respondents in Uptime Institute’s 2025 survey would trust a trained AI system to run automated analytics on sensor data or prioritize alarms.[1]
  • 80% of respondents said their most recent serious outage could have been prevented through better management, processes and configuration in the 2023 survey.[8]

Data analytics in the data centre industry

  • 1.56 was the weighted-average annual PUE reported by surveyed data-center operators in 2024.[1]
  • 1.57 was the weighted-average annual PUE reported by surveyed data-center operators in 2021.[1]
  • 73% of data-center survey respondents in 2025 would trust trained AI to analyze sensor data automatically.[1]
  • 1.59 was the weighted-average annual PUE reported by surveyed data-center operators in 2020.[1]
  • 1.58 was the weighted-average annual PUE reported by surveyed data-center operators in 2023.[1]
  • 1.54 was the weighted-average annual PUE reported by surveyed data-center operators in 2025.[1]

Data Quality in the software and IT services sector (sector benchmark)

  • In 2024, 95% of enterprise data leaders and practitioners reported a data-quality issue with a direct impact on business outcomes, across companies with at least $1 billion in revenue.[10]
  • In 2025, 46% of organizations globally rated their data excellent for accuracy and integrity, across surveyed technology and business organizations.[11]
  • In 2025, 35% of organizations globally rated their data excellent for consistency and standardization, across surveyed technology and business organizations.[11]
  • In 2025, 34% of organizations globally rated their data excellent for relevance and suitability, across surveyed technology and business organizations.[11]
  • In 2025, 46% of organizations globally said they were fully confident in their data quality, across surveyed technology and business organizations.[11]
  • In 2025, 43% of organizations globally rated their data excellent for quality and completeness, across surveyed technology and business organizations.[11]

Data Governance in the software and IT services sector (sector benchmark)

  • In 2026, 76% of global data leaders said their company’s AI governance did not completely keep pace with employee use of AI technology.[12]
  • In 2024, 18.3% of organizations reported having a data-governance or catalog solution as part of their governance program, according to a global governance study.[12]
  • In 2024, 32% of global technology leaders prioritized data governance among their data-management areas for the next 12 months.[13]
  • In 2024, 35% of U.S. technology executives prioritized data governance among their data-management areas for the next 12 months.[13]
  • In 2024, 81.7% of organizations reported having no data-governance or catalog solution as part of their governance program, according to a global governance study.[12]
  • In 2024, 61% of supply-management organizations reported having a dedicated data-governance function, based on an Institute for Supply Management survey.[14]

KPIs in the data centre industry

  • 1.98 was the average annual PUE recorded in 2011.[1]
  • 2.50 was the average annual PUE recorded in Uptime Institute’s 2007 baseline survey.[1]
  • 78% of respondents reported an outage during the previous three years in Uptime Institute’s 2020 survey.[1]
  • 1.65 was the average annual PUE recorded in 2014.[1]
  • 60% of respondents reported an outage during the previous three years in Uptime Institute’s 2022 survey.[1]
  • 69% of respondents reported an outage during the previous three years in Uptime Institute’s 2021 survey.[1]

06 Statistics

Strategy & Growth

Supply growth is quantified with 97 GW capacity added between 2025 and 2030. Vacancy fell to 6.6% in the first quarter of 2025, while hyperscale campus differentiation appears via 1 GW+ sites.

Growth in the data centre industry

  • Worldwide data-centre physical-infrastructure manufacturer revenue is projected to reach $120 billion by 2030.[15]
  • The global data-centre market had approximately 55 GW of live IT capacity by mid-2025, around nine times its 2010 level.[16]
  • Global data-centre capacity is projected to increase by 97 GW between 2026 and 2030, effectively doubling over five years.[17]
  • Global demand for data-centre capacity could more than triple by 2030, implying approximately 22% CAGR.[18]
  • Ireland’s data centres consumed 23% of the country’s electricity in 2025.[19]
  • The global data-centre sector is projected to expand at a 14% CAGR through 2030.[17]

Differentiation in the data centre industry

  • The global weighted-average data-centre vacancy rate fell 2.1 percentage points year over year to 6.6% in the first quarter of 2025.[20]
  • Sixteen global data-centre sites exceeded 1 GW of theoretical IT capacity by mid-2025, indicating differentiation through hyperscale campus size.[16]
  • A typical operating data centre in Querétaro was reported to provide approximately 200 permanent jobs in 2026.[21]
  • Inventory across London, Frankfurt, Paris and Amsterdam increased 7.2% year over year in the first quarter of 2025.[20]
  • Meta’s Louisiana data-centre project was expected to reach around 2 GW and potentially expand to 5 GW through multiple phases.[16]

Mergers and acquisitions in the data centre industry

  • The 2024 data-centre infrastructure deal market included 81 deals valued at $46.4 billion, according to White & Case analysis.[22]
  • Data-centre-oriented mergers and acquisitions closed at $73 billion in 2024.[23]
  • Synergy Research Group had recorded 1,514 data-centre-oriented M&A deals with an aggregate value of $324 billion through 2024.[23]
  • Data-centre transaction value increased 82.7% in 2024, while transaction volume rose 18.8%.[24]
  • The median value per MW across 43 verified data-centre acquisitions, financings and joint ventures was approximately $7.0 million in 2026.[25]
  • Americas data-centre transactions had a median value of $7.5 million per MW across 16 comparable deals in 2026.[25]

Strategic partnerships in the data centre industry

  • Middle East and Africa data-centre transactions represented 13 deals and $3.8 billion of value in 2025.[26]
  • The Aligned Data Centers transaction represented 5 GW of operational and planned data-centre capacity in 2025.[19]
  • KKR and Energy Capital Partners announced a $50 billion strategic partnership for data-centre, power and grid infrastructure in 2024.[27]
  • The Ohio public-private project announced in 2026 targeted a 10 GW data-centre development with dedicated power generation.[28]
  • An investment consortium involving BlackRock, Microsoft, Nvidia and xAI agreed to acquire Aligned Data Centers for $40 billion in 2025.[19]
  • Vantage Data Centers’ Asia-Pacific platform received a $1.6 billion equity investment from GIC and ADIA affiliates in 2025.[26]

07 Statistics

People & Workforce

Workforce constraints appear in persistent hiring and retention difficulty: 51% reported difficulty finding qualified candidates in 2024, and 37% reported difficulty retaining staff in 2025.

Hiring in the data centre industry

  • 25% of global data-center operators reported staff being hired away by competitors in 2025.[1]
  • 39% of data-center operators identified operations management as the role with the most serious skills gap in 2025.[29]
  • 51% of data-center operators reported difficulty finding qualified candidates in 2024.[1]
  • 64% was the increase in U.S. data-center employment between 2016 and 2023.[30]
  • 241.9% was the increase in Arkansas data-center employment between the first quarters of 2018 and 2024.[31]

Employee retention in the data centre industry

  • 53% of data-center operators reported difficulty finding qualified employees in 2022.[32]
  • 37% of global data-center operators reported difficulty retaining staff in 2025.[1]
  • 38% of data-center operators reported difficulty finding qualified employees in 2018.[32]
  • 12% of global data-center operators reported staff being hired away by non-data-center employers in 2025.[1]
  • 47% of data-center operators reported difficulty finding qualified employees in 2021.[32]

Remote Work in the software and IT services sector (sector benchmark)

  • 84% of technology-services employers agreed in 2025 that the ability to work remotely is important for employee retention.[33]
  • 48% of U.S. software and IT professionals surveyed worked remotely in 2026, compared with 21% in France.[34]
  • 6% of global respondents worked fully remotely in 2025, defined as spending less than one day per week in the office.[33]
  • 34.8% of global software and IT services respondents worked remotely in 2026, according to the Stack Overflow Developer Survey.[34]
  • 10% of technology-services respondents worked under fully flexible arrangements in 2025, allowing employees substantial control over remote work.[33]

Hybrid Work in the software and IT services sector (sector benchmark)

  • 61% of U.S. employees with remote-capable jobs preferred hybrid work in November 2025, compared with 33% preferring fully remote work.[35]
  • 55% of technology-services respondents worked in a hybrid arrangement in 2025, the highest share among industries measured by Cisco.[33]
  • 52% of U.S. employees with remote-capable jobs worked in hybrid arrangements in May 2026, according to Gallup.[35]
  • 56% of IT employees worked in hybrid arrangements in 2025, while 31% were fully remote and 13% attended the office daily.[36]
  • 47% of global respondents worked in hybrid arrangements in 2025, down from 63% in Cisco’s 2022 study.[33]

Upskilling in the data centre industry

  • 51% of colocation data-center operators had formal employee mentoring programs in 2025.[37]
  • Nearly 100 accredited data-center training courses were delivered annually by Uptime Institute across design, operations and management tracks.[38]
  • 45% of data-center survey respondents had at least 20 years of data-center experience in 2019, highlighting the sector’s need to transfer operational knowledge.[39]
  • 45% of enterprise data-center operators had formal employee mentoring programs in 2025.[37]
  • 11 percentage points was the increase in the share of data-center operators without initiatives to hire recent college or training-program graduates in 2024.[40]

Employee Engagement in the software and IT services sector (sector benchmark)

  • 37% of exclusively remote U.S. employees were engaged in May 2026, compared with 34% of hybrid employees and 29% of on-site employees with remote-capable jobs.[35]
  • 22.2% of global software and IT respondents were happy with their current professional role in 2026, while 32.6% were unhappy.[34]
  • 54% of exclusively remote U.S. employees were thriving in May 2026, compared with 52% of hybrid employees and 49% of on-site employees with remote-capable jobs.[35]
  • 92% of employees ranked collaboration and community as very important aspects of office culture in Cisco’s 2025 global study.[33]
  • 74% of respondents approved of fully flexible hybrid policies in 2025, the highest positive sentiment among the policy types Cisco measured.[33]

08 Statistics

Customer & Sales

Maintenance friction shows up in reported pain points: 27% cited difficulties placing service calls or tickets in the United States in 2024. Colocation use is tied to managed services, with 92% leveraging at least one managed service in 2025.

Customer experience in the data centre industry

  • 38% of data center infrastructure customers cited customer experience as a challenge with their current maintenance provider in the United States in 2024.[41]
  • 27% of data center infrastructure customers cited difficulties placing service calls or tickets with their current maintenance provider in the United States in 2024.[41]
  • 30% of data center infrastructure customers cited slow response to service needs as a challenge with their current maintenance provider in the United States in 2024.[41]
  • 14% of data center infrastructure customers cited data center infrastructure management as a challenge with their current maintenance provider in the United States in 2024.[41]
  • 23% of data center infrastructure customers cited system-monitoring quality as a challenge with their current maintenance provider in the United States in 2024.[41]

Customer acquisition in the data centre industry

  • 50% of surveyed U.S. enterprise data center managers were not using colocation and had no intention to use it in 2020.[42]
  • 16% of current U.S. enterprise colocation users had used colocation for more than ten years in 2020.[42]
  • 18% of current U.S. enterprise colocation users had used colocation for less than one year in 2020.[42]
  • 35% of surveyed U.S. enterprise data center managers were using colocation at the time of the survey in 2020.[42]
  • 65% of surveyed U.S. enterprise data center managers were already using colocation or planned to use it within the next 12 months in 2020.[42]

Customer loyalty in the data centre industry

  • 15% of colocation users planned to dramatically increase their space over the following two years in the 2025 survey.[43]
  • 32% of colocation users cited disaster recovery as a reason for using colocation in the 2025 survey.[43]
  • 92% of colocation users leveraged at least one managed service in the 2025 survey.[43]
  • 56% of colocation users planned to increase the amount of space they used over the following two years in the 2025 survey.[43]
  • +54.2 was Iron Mountain Data Centers’ customer Net Promoter Score globally in 2024.[44]

09 Statistics

Marketing & Brand

Budgets for creator or influencer marketing are reported as flat or changing: 27% of marketers reported dedicated but flat budgets in 2026, while 64% reported dedicated and growing budgets.

Influencer Marketing in the software and IT services sector (sector benchmark)

  • Across technology companies, 27% of marketers reported dedicated but flat budgets for creator or influencer marketing in 2026, according to Nielsen’s global marketing survey.[45]
  • Across B2B companies, another 29% of marketing organizations planned to adopt influencer marketing within the next year in 2025, based on an Ipsos survey of 1,500 marketing leaders.[46]
  • Across B2B companies, 43% of marketers reported outstanding results from their influencer programs in the 2025 B2B Influencer Marketing Report.[47]
  • Across B2B companies, 58% of marketing teams reported using an always-on influencer marketing approach in the 2025 B2B Influencer Marketing Report.[47]
  • Across technology companies, 64% of marketers reported dedicated and growing budgets for creator or influencer marketing in 2026, according to Nielsen’s global marketing survey.[45]

10 Statistics

Operations & Execution

Operational outcomes are framed by outage prevention and configuration: 87% said the most recent impactful outage could have been prevented with better management, processes or configuration. Average PUE is reported as low as 1.54 in 2025 elsewhere in the dataset.

Process optimization in the data centre industry

  • 87% of data centre operators in the 2025 global survey said their most recent impactful outage could have been prevented with better management or processes, worldwide, 2025.[1]
  • 89% of data centre operators identified increased facility efficiency as a top benefit of using artificial intelligence in operations, worldwide, 2025.[1]
  • 80% of data centre operators said their most recent impactful outage could have been prevented with better management, processes or configuration, worldwide, 2023.[39]
  • 51% of data centre operators identified lower risk of human error as a top benefit of using artificial intelligence in operations, worldwide, 2025.[1]
  • 48% of data centre operators identified increased staff productivity as a top benefit of using artificial intelligence in operations, worldwide, 2025.[1]

Operational efficiency in the data centre industry

  • 50% of data centre organizations reported an impactful outage during the preceding three years, worldwide, 2025.[1]
  • 1.4 or lower is the power usage effectiveness achieved by many large hyperscale and newer colocation data centres, worldwide, according to Uptime Institute analysis.[40]
  • 1.56 was the average power usage effectiveness of data centres surveyed globally in 2024.[1]
  • 11% of organizations reported that an outage had affected their artificial-intelligence training or inference applications, worldwide, 2025.[1]

Quality management in the data centre industry

  • 20% of respondents said their most recent significant, serious or severe data centre outage cost more than $1 million, worldwide, 2024.[1]
  • Power issues remained the most common cause of serious and severe data centre outages in the global 2024 outage analysis.[48]
  • 9% of respondents classified their most recent impactful data centre outage as serious or severe, worldwide, 2025.[1]
  • 53% of data centre operators reported that their organization had experienced an outage during the preceding three years, worldwide, 2024.[1]
  • 54% of respondents said their most recent significant, serious or severe data centre outage cost more than $100,000, worldwide, 2023.[39]

Supply chain in the data centre industry

  • 6 to 12 months of strategic inventory for critical components was being held by many large-scale data centre developers and operators in 2025, worldwide.[17]
  • 24% of surveyed data centre organizations identified construction delays for facility expansion or new builds as a supply-chain disruption, worldwide, 2024.[1]
  • 57% of data centre projects experienced a construction delay of at least three months in 2025, worldwide.[17]
  • 40 to more than 60 weeks was the reported lead time for medium-voltage switchgear used in United States data-centre projects, 2025.[49]

Outsourcing / Offshoring in the software and IT services sector (sector benchmark)

  • Across German digital-experience service providers, 13.2% of services for customer projects were delivered nearshore in 2024.[50]
  • Across EU enterprises sourcing business functions internationally during 2021–2023, 28.7% moved information and communication technology services abroad.[6]
  • Among German IT-service generalists, 19.5% of digital-experience services for customer projects were delivered nearshore in 2024.[50]
  • Across European organizations, 35% planned to increase their use of nearshore outsourcing in the 2024/2025 sourcing study.[51]
  • Among German IT-service generalists, 10.2% of digital-experience services for customer projects were delivered offshore in 2024.[50]

11 Statistics

Finance & Pricing

Pricing pressure is visible in North America: $184.06 per kW per month averaged for 250–500 kW wholesale colocation requirements in 2024. For 3–10 MW requirements, pricing increased 12.5% year over year in the second half of 2025.

Pricing strategy in the data centre industry

  • $184.06 per kilowatt per month was the average asking rate for 250-to-500-kilowatt wholesale colocation requirements in primary North American markets, up 12.6% year over year, 2024.[20]
  • $210 per kilowatt per month was the reported average wholesale data-centre rent for 250-kilowatt-to-4-megawatt deployments in the United States, 2024.[52]
  • 15.8% was the increase in reported United States hyperscale data-centre rents from 2023 to 2024.[52]
  • 10.5% was the increase in reported United States wholesale data-centre rents from 2023 to 2024.[52]
  • $110 per kilowatt per month was the reported average hyperscale data-centre rent for deployments above 4 megawatts in the United States, 2024.[52]

Cost reduction in the data centre industry

  • 89% of data centre operators said artificial intelligence could increase facility efficiency, creating a potential route to lower operating costs, worldwide, 2025.[1]
  • 35% to 45% of a high-availability data centre’s lifetime cost of ownership was attributed to cooling, according to an industry estimate, worldwide, 2024.[53]
  • 51% of data centre operators said artificial intelligence could lower the risk of human error, which can reduce incident-related operating costs, worldwide, 2025.[1]
  • 1.4 or lower was the power usage effectiveness associated with large newer facilities, indicating lower non-IT energy overhead than the industry average, worldwide, 2023.[40]

Financial planning in the data centre industry

  • 10 years was the maximum grid-connection wait cited for data-centre projects in some markets, worldwide, 2026.[18]
  • $650 billion was the expected 2026 combined capital spending by Alphabet, Amazon, Meta and Microsoft on artificial-intelligence capacity and related infrastructure.[19]
  • Four years was the average wait for grid connection cited for data-centre projects in current market analysis, worldwide, 2026.[18]

12 Statistics

Product & Service

Liquid cooling adoption is quantified with market sizing ($6.65 billion in 2025) and a forecast growth rate (20.1% CAGR from 2026 to 2033). Maintenance outsourcing is also common across cooling equipment and power assets.

Product development in the data centre industry

  • 20.1% is the forecast compound annual growth rate for the global data-center liquid-cooling market from 2026 to 2033.[3]
  • $6.65 billion was the estimated global data-center liquid-cooling market size in 2025.[3]
  • 46% of data-center capital-project delays in 2024 were attributed to manufacturing or equipment delays.[1]
  • $7 billion is the expected worldwide data-center liquid-cooling manufacturer revenue by 2029, according to Dell’Oro Group.[15]
  • 30–50 kW per rack is a common power-density range at which air-cooling limitations become increasingly important for data-center product design.[3]

Product lifecycle in the data centre industry

  • 69% of data-center buildings had received significant upgrades by year 11 in JLL’s illustrative lifecycle model.[17]
  • 76% of data-center buildings had received significant upgrades by year 13 in JLL’s illustrative lifecycle model.[17]
  • 85% of data-center buildings had received significant upgrades by year 15 in JLL’s illustrative lifecycle model.[17]
  • 60% of data-center buildings had received significant upgrades by year 9 in JLL’s illustrative lifecycle model.[17]
  • 11% of data-center buildings had received significant upgrades by year 3 in JLL’s illustrative 15-year lifecycle model.[17]

After-sales in the data centre industry

  • 71% of surveyed data-center operators used third-party providers to maintain chillers in 2024.[39]
  • 60% of surveyed data-center operators used third-party providers to maintain cooling towers in 2024.[39]
  • 75% of surveyed data-center operators used third-party providers to maintain generators in 2024.[39]
  • 52% of surveyed data-center operators used third-party providers to maintain pumps in the 2024 maintenance survey.[39]
  • 87% of surveyed data-center operators used third-party providers to maintain UPS batteries in 2024.[39]

Value proposition in the data centre industry

  • 64% is the increase in U.S. data-center employment between 2016 and 2023.[30]
  • 4.5 additional U.S. jobs are supported elsewhere in the economy by each direct data-center job, according to a 2026 industry impact study.[54]
  • $1 billion in state GDP could be generated by a representative Ohio data-center project.[55]
  • $84 million in annual peak state and local tax revenue could be generated by a representative Ohio data-center project.[55]
  • $166 million in data-center tax revenue was contributed to Prince William County, Virginia, in 2024.[56]

13 Statistics

Sustainability & Ethics

Energy and carbon metrics tighten: estimated global data-centre carbon intensity fell from 398 gCO2e/kWh in 2020 to 270 gCO2e/kWh in 2024. Microsoft reuse or recycling reached 92% in 2024.

Sustainability in the data centre industry

  • 270 gCO2e/kWh was the estimated global data-centre carbon intensity in 2024, down from 398 gCO2e/kWh in 2020.[57]
  • 18% of 670 data-centre operators tracked Scope 3 carbon emissions for sustainability purposes in 2024, globally.[1]
  • 31% of 670 data-centre operators tracked e-waste or equipment lifecycle for sustainability purposes in 2024, globally.[1]
  • 41% of 670 data-centre operators tracked renewable-energy consumption for sustainability purposes in 2024, globally.[1]
  • 384 TWh was the estimated global data-centre electricity consumption in 2024, up from 208 TWh in 2020.[57]

ESG in the data centre industry

  • 92% of Microsoft hardware was reused or recycled in 2024, exceeding its 90% target one year early.[58]
  • 0.12 litres per kWh was AWS’s global data-centre water-withdrawal effectiveness in 2025.[59]
  • 1.22 was the average PUE reported for nine hyperscale cloud platforms in 2024.[60]
  • 90%+ of Equinix’s global electricity was sourced from renewable energy in 2024.[61]
  • 90.9% of Microsoft servers and components were reused or recycled in 2024.[58]

Ethics in the data centre industry

  • 2,341 questions and concerns were handled through TTEC’s employee helpline in 2024.[62]
  • 100% of TTEC general-and-administrative employees completed ethics and compliance training in 2024.[62]
  • 99% of TTEC contact-centre associates completed ethics and compliance training in 2024.[62]

CSR in the data centre industry

  • $542.9 million in property taxes and fees was paid by AWS in Virginia in 2024.[63]
  • 37,000 full-time-equivalent jobs annually were supported by Amazon’s U.S. AWS infrastructure investment since 2011.[63]
  • More than $1 billion over five years is Amazon’s committed community investment for U.S. data-centre communities under Built Together, from 2026.[59]
  • $51 billion in U.S. GDP was generated by Amazon’s four AWS infrastructure regions through investments since 2011.[63]
  • $400,000 was committed by AWS in 2024 to two community funds supporting local projects in four Virginia counties.[63]

Circular economy in the data centre industry

  • More than 3.2 million Microsoft components were reused through internal and external channels in 2024.[58]
  • 8.8 million components were harvested from decommissioned Google data-centre hardware and diverted for reuse or resale in 2024.[64]
  • Less than 1% of UK government ICT waste went to landfill or incineration without energy recovery in 2024–25.[65]
  • 92% of Microsoft hardware was reused or recycled in 2024.[58]
  • More than 3 million Google data-centre hard drives were securely wiped and reused or resold in 2024.[64]

Carbon footprint in the data centre industry

  • 398 gCO2e/kWh was the global data-centre carbon intensity estimated for 2020.[57]
  • 200–250 million metric tonnes of additional annual CO2e emissions by 2030 were projected under S&P Global’s data-centre growth scenarios.[66]
  • 103 MtCO2e of combined Scope 1 and Scope 2 emissions were attributed to the global data-centre sector in 2024.[57]
  • 49 MtCO2e was the estimated 2024 emissions saving from avoiding a return to 2020 data-centre carbon intensity.[57]
  • 83 MtCO2e of combined Scope 1 and Scope 2 emissions were attributed to the global data-centre sector in 2020.[57]

15 Statistics

Globalization & Expansion

Regional investment and supply expansion are tracked, including Europe projected to attract $5.6 trillion in cumulative data-centre capex from 2026 through 2050. Capacity concentration remains visible via Querétaro holding 72% of Mexico’s installed capacity in 2026.

Globalization in the data centre industry

  • Brazil, China, India and Mexico attracted nearly 160 companies investing in data infrastructure, according to 2024 international investment data.[73]
  • Europe is projected to attract $5.6 trillion in cumulative data-centre capital expenditure from 2026 through 2050, about 18% of global investment.[28]
  • Ten of the world’s 30 largest data-centre markets were located in the Asia-Pacific region in 2025.[74]
  • 48% of non-U.S. data-centre projects in a 775-project dataset were operated by U.S. companies when weighted by investment value in 2025.[75]
  • The Americas are projected to achieve a 17% data-centre supply CAGR through 2030, the fastest rate among the three major global regions.[17]

Supplier management in the data centre industry

  • 878 data-centre professionals responded to Uptime Institute’s 2024 supply-chain survey conducted between October 9 and November 14, 2024.[1]
  • 29% of data-centre organizations had implemented detailed supplier reviews for deeper supply-chain visibility in 2025.[76]
  • 878 data-centre industry respondents participated in Uptime Institute’s 2024 spending and supply-chain survey.[39]

Stakeholder management in the data centre industry

  • Querétaro accounted for 72% of Mexico’s installed data-centre capacity in 2026.[21]
  • Only 14% of Americans supported building an AI data centre in their own community in a 2025 survey.[31]
  • The Ohio community opposing the $900 million data-centre project had approximately 6,600 residents in 2026.[77]
  • A proposed Indiana data-centre incentive package was valued at $113 million in 2026.[31]
  • A blocked Ohio AI data-centre project was valued at $900 million in 2026.[77]

Distribution channels in the data centre industry

  • Hyperscalers were pursuing a dual data-centre strategy of leasing capacity and self-building facilities in 2026.[17]
  • Global live data-centre IT capacity exceeded 55 GW by mid-2025.[16]
  • Sixteen data-centre sites worldwide exceeded 1 GW of theoretical IT capacity by mid-2025.[16]
  • North American IT distribution revenue reached $28.9 billion in the third quarter of 2026, driven partly by AI infrastructure demand serving data-centre ecosystem partners.[78]

Key questions about the data centre industry

What is the global data centre market size in 2025, and what is the 2033 forecast?
Grand View Research estimates the global data centre market at $383.82B in 2025. It forecasts revenue of $902.19B by 2033.
How fast is the market expected to grow from 2026 to 2033?
Grand View Research forecasts an 11.3% compound annual growth rate from 2026 to 2033.
Which companies lead the data centre industry?
NVIDIA leads Gitnux's 2026 data centre ranking with an Overall score of 9.6, backed by fiscal 2025 data centre revenue of $115.2 billion. Microsoft is the highest-ranked cloud infrastructure operator at 9.5, driven by over $75 billion in Azure revenue.
What technology shifts are showing up across AI-driven operations and infrastructure?
Operators reported upgrading cooling systems (51% in 2025) and power distribution systems (52% in 2025) to support AI workloads. Liquid cooling market size was estimated at $6.65B in 2025.
How is capacity structured across hyperscale and other supply types in the 2030 outlook?
JLL shows 2030 capacity of 70 GW for hyperscale owner-occupied, 105 GW for leased capacity, and 25 GW for on-premises capacity.
What are the main power and availability constraints affecting new development?
Power procurement, grid interconnection, permitting, skilled-labour shortages, and rising construction costs remain major constraints. North America vacancy was 1.4% in H2 2025.
Reference

Cite This Report

This report is designed to be cited. We maintain stable URLs and versioned verification dates. Copy the format appropriate for your publication below.

APA
Samuel Norberg. (2026, November 11). Data Centre Industry Statistics. Gitnux. https://gitnux.org/data-centre-industry-statistics
MLA
Samuel Norberg. "Data Centre Industry Statistics." Gitnux, 11 Nov 2026, https://gitnux.org/data-centre-industry-statistics.
Chicago
Samuel Norberg. 2026. "Data Centre Industry Statistics." Gitnux. https://gitnux.org/data-centre-industry-statistics.

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