The fifth edition of the Turner & Townsend’s Data Center Cost Index reveals that data center demand is stronger than ever. Reasons for the demand and growth in the market are attributed to the ever-increasing “totally digitally connected world” which was “accelerated by 18 months of online working and socializing,” and the growing expansion of the internet of things. Interesting highlights:
- Out of the 44 global data center market locations examined, Tokyo is most expensive followed by Zurich, Silicon Valley, New Jersey, Seoul, Oslo, Sydney Stockholm, Hong Kong, Portland, Copenhagen – all rounding out the top ten.
- Increased new sources of demand and elevated market opportunity “can be found in regions where people are approaching the steepest part of the digital adoption curve, such as parts of Africa and South America where the digital market is coming of age and use of internet enabled devices is soaring.”
- A growing market concern is the impact of the climate crisis and the pressure to change to “less resource hungry” facilities. The good news is that heavy players, such as Google, Microsoft and Equinix are making climate pledges and are becoming Climate Neutral Data Centre Pact members.
- In cutting carbon costs, it is still cheaper to build a new facility as opposed to converting former spaces, but the retrofitting market is growing.
