DC Byte, a market intelligence platform has revealed that data center demand has reached historic levels globally amid dwindling supply attributed largely to power supply constraints. Global take-up rate has increased by 30% on 2023 figures for a total of 12,975MW across both colocation and self-build schemes, said the 2025 edition of the Global Data Centre Index report released yesterday. The three-part report was based on 7,500 data centers tracked globally from 2019 to 2024 by DC Byte’s analysts.
Weighing in the impact of AI, the report said: “While AI holds the potential to tip the scales towards being the dominant absorber of data centre capacity, our data supports that it is still in the infancy stages of impacting global data centre demand, with dedicated AI deployment accounting only for 11% of take-up.” This demand is however increasing rapidly and has roughly doubled each year since 2022, it further said, adding that Public Cloud remains the largest user of space with 52% of known take-up.
“The index clearly shows three key trends—demand is stronger than ever, investor appetite for digital infrastructure is increasing, but the industry faces a serious challenge in its ability to meet both current and future demand,” said Ed Galvin, Founder and Chief Evangelist of Global Data Centre Index.
“The lack of available power for ever larger data centre schemes is possibly the most talked-about challenge in the data centre sector. This year, our research provides tangible evidence that a lack of available capacity within the grid has started to have an impact on the rate of development,” said Galvin.
“Demand for digital infrastructure has never been higher, but our data shows a widening gap between what’s needed and what’s being developed. It’s a global bottleneck, caused mostly by grid power constraints. In addition, we expect development pipelines to be further impacted by challenges to international supply chains if the US administration continues with its current tariff policy. Public Cloud, which is one of the most profitable services of many major tech companies, still ranks as the major consumer of data centre space, so the performance of the data centre sector is less affected by varying predictions about return on investment of the AI revolution in the near term. However, with demand from AI doubling every year since 2022 and public cloud increasing by around 20% per annum, data centre operators must find new ways to expand capacity to meet customer requirements to sustain current levels of growth.”
The report outlined several possible scenarios for the sector. Excess demand and a constrained supply pipeline will in the short term most likely lead to continued increases in colocation rents. This has been observed in EMEA and Americas regions, and which the team predicted will also be seen in APAC in the near future.
Other highlights include the following:
- The United States dominates new data centre supply, accounting for 62% of global IT power built in 2024.
- Alternative US markets (e.g., Alberta, Indiana, Bogota) are seeing rapid growth due to constraints in traditional hubs.
- Asia Pacific (APAC) has not yet seen the same rent inflation as other regions, due to stronger live supply growth.
- Pre-leasing activity is surging, with space increasingly sold before construction even begins, driving up rents – especially in the US and EMEA.
