The demand for data centers worldwide is being driven by technologies such as streaming, gaming, self-driving cars and artificial intelligence. However, a global shortage of available power and space is hindering the growth of the market. CBRE’s Global Data Center Trends 2023 report revealed that sourcing enough power is a top priority for operators across North America, Europe, Latin America and Asia-Pacific. Vacancies in these regions are near record lows with Silicon Valley at 2.9%, Santiago (Chile) at 3% (down from 11.7% from the year before), and little relief expected in Europe’s top markets this year according to report authors.
Positive absorption rates have been reported along with increased rental rates due to limited inventory availability; Northern Virginia saw 355 MW positive absorption between Q1 2022 – Q1 2023 while Dallas-Fort Worth experienced 62 MW positive absorption during that same period followed by Chicago (62 MW) & Silicon Valley (45). Expanding into new local markets could help meet capacity issues in Silicon Valley while ERCOT’s & Oncore Electric’s available power has generated shorter timelines for development in Dallas-Fort Worth . In addition to North American challenges such as expensive land/material costs & supply chain delays; European operators continue passing higher occupational/build costs onto customers through increasing rental prices which also applies to Latin American & Asian Pacific regions too .
Data center demand continues growing exponentially which will spur innovations regarding design/technology as operators aim deliver capacity meeting high performance computing requirements according CBRE’s report findings..
