Pressure Mounts to Build More Datacenters
September 2, 2022 | Joyce Guevarra and Karl Angelo Vidal | S&P Global Market Intelligence
The first-half demand for datacenters in the U.S. came to 1,087 MW, more than 95% of the total demand in all of 2021, thanks to the continued high volume of pre-leasing activities, according to JLL’s H1 2022 Global Data Center Outlook report.
The surging demand for more facilities is unlikely to abate as more enterprises are expected to adopt cloud-based systems. Companies globally have invested $53 billion in cloud infrastructure services in the first quarter of 2022, an all-time high. The public cloud markets are estimated to grow by 10% to 30% annually from 2020 to 2027, according to the report.
The pipeline for datacenter construction in the U.S. as of the first six months of 2022 already exceeded the 2021 total, at 1,913 MW. However, datacenter owners face various constraints, including supply chain delays and shortage of labor, which stymie delivery of new facilities. The lack of available land pushes operators to search for new locations outside of their core markets. Meanwhile, a growing number of users demand that providers adopt sustainable energy use strategies.
