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Strategic Intelligence: Data Centers

Publisher GlobalData
Published Sep 25, 2025
Length 67 Pages
SKU # GBDT20481289

Description

Strategic Intelligence: Data Centers

Summary

The scale of investment in data center infrastructure is unprecedented. Microsoft, Alphabet, Amazon, and Meta reported combined capital expenditure (capex) of $245 billion in 2024, and their spending could exceed $360 billion in 2025, primarily driven by AI-related investments. They are competing to build large data centers and fill them with specialized chips to stay ahead in the race for AI dominance.

Key Highlights
  • Most AI training takes place in large-scale data centers. AI models require high-performance computing (HPC) infrastructure, specialized chips, large memory, and advanced cooling systems, making modern data centers essential to power AI development. As a result, data center expansion is accelerating. This expansion includes more facilities, wider geographic distribution, and substantial capacity increases to support AI workloads, which is reflected in their physical size and technology density.
  • Data centers are significant drivers of electricity demand. According to the International Energy Agency (IEA), data centers' electricity consumption will more than double to approximately 945 terawatt-hours (TWh) by 2030, up from 415TWh in 2024. Cooling and air conditioning systems consume a lot of energy, and water use is another significant environmental issue associated with data centers.
  • Tech giants and data center operators are increasingly shifting to low-carbon energy solutions to meet growing power demands within their data centers. Companies that develop and deploy innovative cooling technologies, particularly liquid cooling, will likely see increased demand.
Scope
  • This report provides an overview of the data centers theme.
  • It includes a comprehensive industry analysis, including forecasts for data center and hosting revenues to 2029.
  • The detailed value chain comprises four layers: data center energy sources, data center infrastructure, connectivity, and data center services.
Reasons to Buy
  • Data centers have become essential for modern life and are increasingly recognized as a critical utility. Data centers provide stability and computing power, allowing businesses to run important applications, store valuable data, and deliver online services.
  • Major technology and business shifts are shaping the data center industry. These include the rise in demand for digital and online services, greater automation across industries, and businesses' increased use of integrated networks of systems and platforms. The COVID-19 pandemic sped up the shift to remote working, further increasing the demand for computing power. More recently, demand for artificial intelligence (AI) surged after the launch of ChatGPT by OpenAI at the end of 2022. AI created new demands on data center infrastructure, as AI workloads require significant computing power.
  • This report is the perfect introduction to the data center theme, including an overview of the issues driving the rapid increase in data center expansion and analysis of the leading tech vendors.

Table of Contents

67 Pages
Executive Summary
Players
The Evolving Data Center Landscape
Data centers are a critical utility
Balancing data center supply and demand is a growing challenge
As demand for data center capacity surges, supply may struggle to keep up
Edge data centers are on the rise and may reduce the need for additional capacity
Data centers are a key area of focus for digital sovereignty efforts
The impact of US tariffs on data centers
AI is driving demand for data center capacity
Big Tech is fueling demand for AI-enabled data centers
AI chips are the core computing power inside AI-enabled data centers
The amount of energy required to power data centers is surging
Data centers are shifting to low-carbon energy
Cooling systems are major consumers of energy
AI training and inference optimization techniques reduce data center power use
Industry Analysis
Market size and growth forecasts
Timeline
Value Chain
Data center energy sources
Fossil fuels
Renewable energy
Nuclear energy
Onsite energy systems
Data center infrastructure
Servers
Storage
Networking equipment
Data center infrastructure management software
Edge data center infrastructure
Cooling systems
Data center services
On-premise data centers
Hyperscale data centers
Data center service providers
Infrastructure as a service cloud providers
Telecom services
Companies
Sector Scorecards
IT infrastructure sector scorecard
Who’s who
Thematic screen
Valuation screen
Risk screen
Semiconductors sector scorecard
Who’s who
Thematic screen
Valuation screen
Risk screen
Glossary
Further Reading
GlobalData reports
Our Thematic Research Methodology
About GlobalData
Contact Us
List of Tables
Table 1: Companies
Table 2: Glossary
Table 3: GlobalData reports
List of Figures
Figure 1: Who are the leading players in the data center theme, and where do they sit in the value chain?
Figure 2: The total number of data center construction projects is expected to peak in 2026
Figure 3: The IEA expects the global installed capacity of data centers to more than double from 2024 to 2030
Figure 4: The global edge data center market will be worth $19.3 billion by 2029
Figure 5: In edge computing, computations can be run and tasks performed closer to the users
Figure 6: Most of the data centers are concentrated in a few regions, creating disparities in digital sovereignty
Figure 7: Examples of data sovereignty laws in select countries
Figure 8: The total global AI market will be worth $641.8 billion by 2029
Figure 9: The capex of Big Tech will exceed $360 billion in 2025
Figure 10: The IEA estimates that global data center electricity consumption will reach 945TWh by 2030
Figure 11: By 2029, global enterprise data center and hosting revenues will reach $188.2 billion
Figure 12: North America is the largest regional market by revenue share
Figure 13: The data centers story
Figure 14: The data center value chain
Figure 15: The data center value chain – data center energy sources - Fossil fuels
Figure 16: The data center value chain – data center energy sources - Renewable energy
Figure 17: The data center value chain – data center energy sources - Nuclear energy
Figure 18: The data center value chain – data center energy sources - Onsite energy systems
Figure 19: The data center value chain – data center infrastructure - Servers
Figure 20: The data center value chain – data center infrastructure - Storage
Figure 21: The data center value chain – data center infrastructure - Networking equipment
Figure 22: The data center value chain – data center infrastructure
Figure 23: The data center value chain –data center infrastructure - Edge data center infrastructure
Figure 24: The data center value chain – data center infrastructure - Cooling systems
Figure 25: The data center value chain – data center services - Hyperscale data centers
Figure 26: The data center value chain – data center services - Data center service providers
Figure 27: The data center value chain – data center services - Infrastructure as a service cloud providers
Figure 28: The data center value chain – data center services - Telecom services
Figure 29: Who does what in the IT infrastructure space?
Figure 30: Thematic screen - IT infrastructure sector scorecard
Figure 31: Valuation screen - IT infrastructure sector scorecard
Figure 32: Risk screen - IT infrastructure sector scorecard
Figure 33: Who does what in the semiconductors space?
Figure 34: Thematic screen - Semiconductors sector scorecard
Figure 35: Valuation screen - Semiconductors sector scorecard
Figure 36: Risk screen - Semiconductors sector scorecard
Figure 37: Our five-step approach for generating a sector scorecard

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