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
- Executive Summary
- Players
- The Evolving Data Center Landscape
- Industry Analysis
- Value Chain
- Companies
- Sector Scorecards
- Glossary
- Further Reading
- Thematic Research Methodology
Companies Mentioned (Partial List)
A selection of companies mentioned in this report includes, but is not limited to:
- 3M
- ABB
- Accton
- Acer
- Achronix Semiconductor
- Adani Green Energy
- Adata
- Adtran
- AES Corp
- AES Solar
- AGL Energy
- Alibaba
- Alkira
- Alphabet (Google)
- Amazon
- AMD
- American Tower
- Apple
- Arista
- Arm
- Asetek
- Asperitas
- Assetspire
- AT&T
- AtlasEdge
- Atos
- Auras Technology
- Aviatrix
- Axiom Space
- Baidu
- Baseload Capital
- Biren Technology
- Bloom Energy
- Bouygues
- BP
- Broadcom
- Brookfield Renewable
- BT
- Burlywood
- ByteDance
- Calmac
- Calpine
- Cambricon
- Cato Networks
- Celestica
- Celona
- Centec Comms
- Cerebras
- Chevron
- China Mobile
- China Telecom
- China Unicom
- Chindata
- Ciena
- Cisco
- Cloud Software Group (Citrix)
- CNNC
- CNPC
- Coal India
- Coherent
- Comcast
- CommScope
- Commvault
- Compass Datacenters
- Constellation Energy
- CoreWeave
- Crucial
- CyrusOne
- Cyxtera Technologies
- DartPoints
- Data Foundry
- DataCore
- DDN
- Deep Atomic
- DeepSeek
- Dell Technologies
- Delta Electronics
- Deutsche Telekom
- Device42
- Digital Realty
- Dominion Energy
- DTE Energy
- Duke Energy
- DXC Technology
- E.ON
- Eaton
- Eavor
- EDF
- Edge Centres
- EdgeConneX
- EdgeMicro
- EDP
- EkkoSense
- Electron Green
- Elementl Power
- Enel Green Power
- Enercon
- ENGIE
- Equinix
- Ericsson
- EticaAG
- Etisalat
- European Energy
- Exceed Geo Energy
- Exelon Corporation
- Exowatt
- Extreme Networks
- Exus Renewables
- ExxonMobil
- Fervo Energy
- First Gen Corporation
- First Solar
- Flexential
- flexiWAN
- Fluence
- FNT Software
- Fortinet
- Foxconn
- Fujitsu
- GDS
- GE Hitachi Nuclear Energy
- GE Vernova
- Global Switch
- Graphcore
- Graphical Networks
- GRC
- Groq
- Habana Labs
- HCLTech
- HiCloud
- Hitachi
- HPE
- Huawei
- Hydro Quebec
- Hyperview
- Iberdrola
- IBM
- Iceotope
- Infinidat
- Inspur
- Intel
- Inventec
- Iron Mountain
- JetCool
- Kairos Power
- KDDI
- KEPCO
- Kepler Space
- Kingston Technology
- Kioxia
- KT
- Lambda
- Lattice Semiconductor
- Leading Edge Data Centres
- Lenovo
- LiquidStack
- Liteon
- Lonestar Data Holdings
- Lumen Technologies
- Lumentum
- Macom
- Malta
- ManageEngine
- Maruwa
- Marvell
- Meta
- MGX
- Microchip Technology
- Micron
- Microsoft
- Mistral AI
- Mitsubishi Power
- Mobileye
- Mobily
- Moore Threads
- Movidius
- National Grid
- Nautilus Data Technologies (NDT)
- Naval Group
- Nervana
- NetApp
- Netcracker
- Netgear
- NEXTDC
- NextEra Energy
- NGD systems
- nLighten
- Nlyte
- Nokia
- Northern Power Systems
- NoviFlow
- NTPC
- NTT Data
- NuScale
- Nutanix
- NV Energy
- Nvidia
- Oklo
- OpenAI
- OpenDCIM
- Oracle
- Orange
- Orano
- Ormat Technologies
- Ørsted
- OVHcloud
- Panduit
- Pattern Energy
- Penta Infra
- PG&E
- Pica8
- PLDT
- Powerex
- Primoris Renewables
- Proximity Data Centres
- Proxmox
- Pure Storage
- Qcells
- QCT
- QTS Data Centers
- Qualcomm
- Quobyte
- Rackspace Technology
- Rakuten
- RFCode
- Rittal
- Rolls-Royce
- RusHydro
- RWE
- Rye Development
- Saft
- Sage Geosystems
- SambaNova
- Samsung Electronics
- Saudi Aramco
- Scale Computing
- Scality
- Schneider Electric
- Seagate
- SGCC
- Shell
- Siemens
- Silk
- Singtel
- SK Hynix
- SK Telecom
- SKY Perfect
- Skyloom
- SoftBank
- Solidigm
- Standard Power
- Star Energy Geothermal
- Starcloud
- Statkraft
- STC
- StorONE
- StorPool
- STT
- Stulz
- Submer
- Subsea Cloud
- Sugon
- Sunbird
- Supermicro
- SUSE
- Süwag Energie
- Switch
- TCS
- Tech Mahindra
- Telefonica
- Telenor
- Telia
- Telstra
- Telxius
- Tencent
- Tesla
- Three Gorges Group
- TidalScale
- Toshiba
- Total Energies
- Trina Solar
- TSMC
- Ubiquity
- Uniper
- Vapor IO
- VAST Data
- Vattenfall
- Verizon
- Vertiv
- Vestas
- Virtuozzo
- Vodafone
- Waaree Energies
- Weebit Nano
- Western Digital
- Wipro
- Wistron
- Wpd
- X-energy
- Xerox
- XGS Energy
- ZT Systems
- ZTE
