Data Center Colocation Market - Global Outlook & Forecast 2023-2028
The data center colocation market was valued at USD 30.42 billion in 2022 and is expected to grow at a CAGR of 7.25% from 2022 to 2028.
KEY HIGHLIGHTS
The European data center colocation market is attracting substantial investments, with Western Europe drawing the focus of those global operators seeking to extend their presence. Furthermore, favorable policies make the Nordics an attractive hub for investments.
The major contributors to green data center development in Latin America include Brazil, Chile, Argentina, and Paraguay; these countries' data center operators and governments are working toward adopting renewable energy and other measures.
In Central and Eastern Europe, data center operators are securing land for new facilities or repurposing existing buildings to meet the growing demands for infrastructure. Over USD 450 million was invested in Central & Eastern European countries in 2022.
The UAE and Saudi Arabia are the major contributors to power capacity in the Middle East & Africa region, accounting for a share of around 24% and 16%, respectively. The data center colocation market in these countries is expected to skyrocket in four to five years due to the shift from the oil economy to the digital economy. In addition, South Africa is the major contributor to power capacity in Africa, accounting for a share of over 60%; Nigeria and Kenya follow this. Cloud-based services, smart city developments, and fiber connectivity are the other factors driving continuous colocation data center investments across the region.
The Middle East & Africa market is continuously growing in terms of connectivity by deploying new submarine cables, such as Africa-1, 2Africa, India Europe Xpress (IEX), Raman, Saudi Vision, Blue, Equiano, Medusa Submarine Cable System, and SeaMeWe – 6, which will be ready for services during the forecast period.
Data centers in the Middle East & Africa region invest in cooling infrastructure due to the prevalence of high temperatures in some countries. In 2022 cooling systems accounted for over 65% of the total mechanical infrastructure.
KEY MARKET TRENDS
Growing Focus on Sustainability
Companies in the global data center colocation market focus on using renewable energy as their main power source. Operators are planning to reduce environmental harm by using clean energy solutions. This change is part of a larger trend in the industry to adopt renewable sources, such as solar and wind power, to run data centers and other infrastructure.
5G Deployments Fueling Edge Data Center Demand
5G network deployments have fueled digital transformation, the growth of IoT and smart cities, and the fourth industrial revolution. All the regions are working toward adopting digital transformation to attract foreign investments.
Rapid investments in 5G technology have increased the demand for high-bandwidth internet in Tier II and Tier III cities and contributed to substantial data volume. These factors have accelerated data center developments to process the information at par with the major countries and supported the data center colocation market growth.
The deployment of 5G services has impacted the ICT, government, manufacturing, services, agriculture, and retail industries. 5G network services play a key role in supporting enterprise digitalization, thereby driving the adoption of IoT applications.
Adoption of Advanced IT Infrastructure in Data Centers
Data centers are equipped with servers and network and storage solutions. Traditional IT infrastructure constantly influences the data center industry as it requires more physical space and is more expensive, resulting in a drop in demand.
Converged infrastructure is a hardware platform where servers with internal or external storage options and network switches are offered as integrated rack-scale systems.
ARM is a chip technology firm that creates intellectual property, which other firms license to form their processor chips. An ARM server is an enterprise-class computer server that employs many ARM processors rather than a traditional processor.
Server virtualization divides the physical server into multiple and isolated servers using various software applications. Server virtualization is widely adopted in the data center colocation market since a single physical server can host dozens of applications as virtual machines instead of hosting each application in its designated server, reducing recurring technology expenses by 50%.
Surge in Rack Power Density
Rack power density is one of the critical factors in data center design, capacity planning, cooling, and power provisioning.
Over the past few years, an unprecedented rise in the rack power density of IT equipment has been observed. The adoption of compute-intensive workloads, such as AI, IoT, Augmented and Virtual Reality (AR/VR), and the popular cryptocurrency mining trend have increased the data storage and processing requirements, necessitating high-density racks.
The surge in demand for High-Performance Computing (HPC), led by the adoption of converged and hyper-converged solutions and virtualization techniques, will contribute to the rise in rack power density to an average of 10 to 12 kW during the forecast period.
The growth in rack power density has propelled the use of innovative and flexible facility designs along with augmenting the adoption of rack-level UPS solutions and diverse electricity feeds for racks.
SEGMENTATION INSIGHTS
The development of colocation data centers dominates the data center construction market in the APAC region in terms of the number of investments. Several new players are entering the market for the development of colocation data centers. Furthermore, hyperscale data center operators are propelling their market presence with investments in cloud regions. In 2022, countries including Indonesia, Australia, and Myanmar witnessed investments in enterprise data centers.
The data center colocation market has strong growth potential in electrical infrastructure due to the high demand for lithium-ion and nickel-zinc batteries used in UPS systems. Operators can also adopt new-age generator sets that run on resources such as Hydrotreated Vegetable Oil (HVO) and natural gas.
The data center colocation market is witnessing growth in adopting air and water-based cooling solutions in terms of cooling infrastructure. Data center operators, especially in Southeast Asia, are more inclined to adopt water-based cooling solutions due to the tropical climate. The market presents opportunities for rack infrastructure vendors owing to the growing adoption of racks with a height ranging from 42U to 52U. Some countries in the region are adopting racks that comprise a height of less than 42U.
Segmentation by Colocation Services
Retail Colocation
Wholesale Colocation
Segmentation by Infrastructure
Electrical Infrastructure
Mechanical Infrastructure
General Construction
Segmentation by Electrical Infrastructure
UPS Systems
Generators
Transfer Switches & Switchgear
PDUs
Other Electrical Infrastructure
Segmentation by Mechanical Infrastructure
Cooling Systems
Racks
Other Mechanical Infrastructure
Segmentation by Cooling Systems
CRAC & CRAH Units
Chiller Units
Cooling Towers, Condensers & Dry Coolers
Economizers & Evaporative Coolers
Other Cooling Units
Segmentation by Cooling Techniques
Air-based Cooling
Liquid-based Cooling
Segmentation by General Construction
Core & Shell Development
Installation & Commissioning Services
Engineering & Building Design
Fire Detection & Suppression
Physical Security
DCIM/BMS Solutions
GEOGRAPHICAL ANALYSIS
China dominates the regional data center colocation market regarding data center development. India, Australia, Japan, Singapore, and Hong Kong are the other significant markets accounting for high data center development activities.
The Middle East & Africa region is marked by the UAE's prominent presence and leadership in the data center colocation market, spearheading substantial developments. Notably, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, Israel, Kenya, and Oman are significant contributors to the industry, accounting for robust data center activities. The emerging markets, such as Qatar, Nigeria, Bahrain, Egypt, Ethiopia, and Kuwait, are experiencing noteworthy growth due to digitalization and increased connectivity. These trends reflect the region's evolving landscape and the growing demand for data center infrastructure.
Segmentation by Geography
North America
US
Canada
Latin America
Brazil
Mexico
Chile
Colombia
Rest of Latin America
Western Europe
UK
Germany
France
Netherlands
Ireland
Switzerland
Italy
Spain
Belgium
Portugal
Other Western European Countries
Nordics
Denmark
Sweden
Norway
Finland & Iceland
Central & Eastern European Countries
Russia
Poland
Austria
Czech Republic
Other Central & Eastern European Countries
Middle East
UAE
Saudi Arabia
Israel
Oman
Qatar
Kuwait
Jordan
Bahrain
Other Middle Eastern Countries
Africa
South Africa
Kenya
Nigeria
Egypt
Ethiopia
Other African Countries
APAC
China
Hong Kong
Australia
New Zealand
India
Japan
Taiwan
South Korea
Rest of APAC
Southeast Asia
Singapore
Malaysia
Thailand
Indonesia
Philippines
Vietnam
Other Southeast Asian Countries
VENDOR LANDSCAPE
Wholesale and retail colocation vendors are expected to thrive in the future due to the increased demand in the market. Various sectors, including BFSI, IT/telecom, and cloud, drive the demand for colocation services.
The global data center colocation market has grown significantly over the last few years, with investments from global, regional, and data center operators.
The development of hyperscale data center campuses in all regions will bring in a significant revenue opportunity for vendors that offer the fastest-growing technologies, such as liquid immersion cooling, direct-to-chip cooling, lithium-ion UPS, HVO generators, microgrid technologies, renewable power solutions, and net-zero water data centers.