Global Data Center Power Market - Growth, Trends, COVID-19 Impact, and Forecasts (2022 - 2027)

Global Data Center Power Market - Growth, Trends, COVID-19 Impact, and Forecasts (2022 - 2027)

The Global data center power market is expected to register a CAGR of 6.58% during the forecast period 2022-2027. The rising adoption of mega data centers is driving the market. Implementing fewer mega data centers depending on their locations can allow a company to enjoy advantages of certain local benefits with low energy prices, climate, or availability of alternative energy sources. Virtualization dramatically improves hardware utilization and enables firms to reduce the number of power-consuming servers and storage devices.

Key Highlights

• The rising adoption of cloud computing is also aiding the market growth leading to the rise of vast hyperscale cloud data centers. According to Cisco, data center traffic is growing fast and is expected to reach 19.5 zettabytes (ZB) per year by 2021 with factors such as the growth of the Internet of Things (IoT) applications like smart cars, smart cities, and connected health devices. Microsoft’s Azure cloud has been carbon-neutral, and half of the energy it uses already comes from 1.2 gigawatts of wind, solar, and hydro-electric sources, which the company expects to make 60 percent by 2020 and 100 percent at some point down the line for their data center infrastructure.
• Further, the increase in greenfield and brownfield facilities, along with modular data center deployment, is anticipated to drive the demand for power systems. The emergence of edge computing and expansion of facilities in the secondary data center market is driving the need for modular and efficient power infrastructure solutions. The increasing electricity costs, carbon emission, and initiatives to integrate renewable energy sources by hyperscale operators are expected to transform the market. The facility operators are adopting innovative and efficient power infrastructure to reduce carbon emissions and OPEX costs in the market.
• Many of the data centers across the global market are adopting 2N redundant UPS systems to exist with various feed designs of the facility and frequent failure. Factors such as cost, reliability, efficiency, and maintainability impact the adoption of UPS systems and generators in the global market.
• The intelligent rack PDU solutions are designed to facilitate smooth operations in complex facilities with high rack power density. Datacenter colocation providers are looking for modern infrastructure solutions that require less maintenance and less space, with 99.99% uptime. These diverse demands are expected to boost the vendors to offer innovative power solutions. PDU is the biggest and most established product category in the data center power market, which is expected to register a much more moderate growth level during the forecast period.
• However, higher investment is restraining the market growth as primary areas of investment are cabling, power facility, and data center infrastructure management (DCIM) solutions which require high cost during the initial investment.

Key Market TrendsThe Information Technology Segment is Expected to Hold a Major Market Share

• The IT industry requires on-premise private data storage centers and hyperscale data centers for its operations, as per the organizations' size. Additionally, the adoption of cloud storage has increased over the years due to growth in SaaS providers, enabling cloud storage providers to expand their capacities. Hence, the increasing data load requires more power. This creates a requirement for efficient power solutions in IT applications. According to the Data Center Survey, recently published by Vertiv, 98% of the participants voted for IT utilization be above 20% by 2025, which witnessed significant growth from its 2014 survey, in which the figure was 88%. This indicates that IT companies are focusing on deploying an efficient power source for their data centers and increasing their utilization rate.
• Uptime Institute, in its 2020 report, by studying 300 data centers, they have stated that, due to the aging IT equipment, it is the consumer of over 66% of the energy but only contributes around 7% of the computing energy. This indicates the need for efficient IT infrastructure and is estimated to increase the demand for a power solution for data centers used in the IT industry. In the recent report by SuperMicro, surveying over 2,000 IT professionals concluded that over 10% to 20% of energy saving could be extracted by coupling power and power data center infrastructure, which can be achieved with a single central cooling unit and single power supply.
• Cloud storage providers, like AWS, Microsoft, and Google, are expanding their storage capabilities to offer more efficient workflow on the cloud. These companies are making investments in hyperscale deals. For instance, in June 2021, Amazon Web Services Inc. (AWS) announced opening data centers in Israel. The company aims to enable more developers, startups, enterprises, government, education, and non-profits in the region to run their applications and serve end-users from data centers located in the country.
• Also, in November 2021, AWS announced plans to open an infrastructure region in Alberta, Canada, in late 2023/early 2024. The new AWS Canada West (Calgary) Region will consist of three Availability Zones (AZs) at launch and join the existing AWS Canada (Central) Region in Montreal, which also consists of three Availability Zones. The new AWS Canada West (Calgary) Region will enable even more developers, startups, enterprises, education, government, and NPOs, to run their applications and serve end-users from data centers located in Canada.
• Moreover, other companies are also planning data center expansion across various regions. For instance, in June 2021, Stockland, an Australian real-estate firm, announced to build a new data center in Sydney. The data center is to have an end value of AUD 264 million. Moreover, it will include 6,300 sqm of data halls, 3,215 sqm of office space, and more than 13,000 sqm for electrical and mechanical services. Such developments in the data center industry are anticipated to propel the growth of the data center power market during the forecast period. Some new entrants, like SpaceDC, Keppel Data Centres, and Princeton Digital Group, are also making moves to invest in hyperscale facilities and data center investments. As of April 2020, Princeton Digital Group has been planning two additional greenfield builds, one in Jakarta and one in Surabaya, as well as upgrading their five existing facilities.
• Although the industry is rapidly moving with the adoption of the cloud, the dependency on on-premise and hybrid data centers is significantly present. These companies are trying to expand their own data storage capacities, which is expected to demand an efficient power solution for data centers. Moreover, the trend of the IT industry's agile and DevOps operational frameworks is increasing the need for more efficient data storage solutions.

The Asia Pacific Region is Expected to Witness a High Market Growth

• According to Cloudscene, China currently has 447 data centers and 112 service providers. The presence of a large number of data centers is driving the demand for data center power systems in the country. Furthermore, the increasing number of new data center developments and upgradation of existing data centers is also expected to drive the market’s growth. According to a report published in 2019 by Greenpeace and North China Electric Power University, China’s data centers consumed 161 billion kilowatt-hours of electricity in 2018. It is 2% of China’s total usage. Moreover, data center power consumption is projected to grow 66% by 2023, to 267 billion kilowatt-hours.
• In April 2021, Apple officially announced the opening of a new data center in Guizhou, China. Apple and Guizhou-Cloud Big Data Industry Co. Ltd jointly built this data center. Such new developments of data centers in the country are further anticipated to promote the demand for data center power solutions. As most of the data centers are powered by polluting coal, the governments of the countries are undertaking a huge transition shift toward clean and renewable sources of energy. China has installed the largest amount of renewable energy, with solar power reaching over 174GW and wind power over 184GW. Furthermore, the surge in investment in data center development is expected to fuel the demand for data center power solutions.
• Further, the Japanese government has announced its plan to subsidize 50% of the building costs toward new zero carbon-emissions data centers and upgrade existing facilities as part of a new USD 7.3 billion initiative to innovate the industry and reduce carbon emissions.
• According to a study by DataSpan, in up to 55% of data centers, energy consumption is used to run cooling and venting systems. Thus, to reduce carbon emissions and the amount of energy used by data centers, which is mainly required to maintain server-suited temperatures, Japan is planning to build more new facilities in its colder regions. In November 2021, AirTrunk opened its first data center in Japan to support the growing number of companies in the country shifting into the cloud. The company has built a 300MW data center campus in Inzai and is set to begin operations with a 60MW phase.
• Colt also launched its Inzai three data center in 2021, a 27MW facility next to its existing two Inzai buildings, which, in turn, is expected to create lucrative opportunities for the data center power solution market in the country.
• There is a tremendous impetus in Japan for green power, and a lot of activity toward an improved regulatory framework to buy green power in the market is expected to be witnessed. Market vendors are looking to work with third-party providers on green energy in Japan. Players like Google, Microsoft, and Digital Realty are looking for other companies to fund renewable power through power purchase agreements to build solar and wind farms.

Competitive Landscape

The data center power market is highly fragmented in nature, with the presence of several vendors. Players are adopting several strategies, such as mergers and acquisitions (M&A), collaborations, partnerships, etc. Various initiatives are undertaken by the governmental bodies as well as private data center construction which is creating high rivalry. Key players are Schneider Electric SE, Fujitsu Ltd, Cisco Technology Inc., etc. Recent development in the market are -

• January 2022 - Tripp Lite by Eaton business introduced practical options for connecting and controlling network equipment in demanding industrial environments, such as factories and warehouses. The new managed, and lite managed industrial Gigabit Ethernet switches have an IP30-rated ruggedized metal case that can withstand vibration, shock, and the low and high temperatures often found on the factory floor. The switches also offer protection from electrostatic discharge (ESD) that can interfere with normal operation. An included rail clip enables mounting to standard 35 mm DIN rail. The switches can also be wall-mounted
• September 2021 - ABB Limited announced that it had been selected as a technology partner to support the CMC Creative Space data center with its critical power for delivering reliable, efficient services to fulfill the demand for data and digitalization services. ABB will safeguard critical power and ensure uptime for CMC Creative Space, a cloud computing infrastructure provider.
• April 2021 - Schneider Electric announced the launch of the Galaxy VL 200-500 kW (400V/480V) 3-phase uninterruptible power supply (UPS), the newest addition to the Galaxy family. It is a compact UPS that offers up to 99% efficiency in ECOnversion mode for a full ROI within two years for medium and large data centers and commercial and industrial facilities.

Additional Benefits:

• The market estimate (ME) sheet in Excel format
• 3 months of analyst support

Companies Mentioned

Schneider Electric SE
Fujitsu Ltd
Cisco Technology Inc.
ABB Ltd
Eaton Corporation
Tripp Lite
Rittal GmbH & Co. KG
Schleifenbauer
Vertiv Co.
Legrand SA
Black Box Corporation