CBRE: Global data center demand continues to outstrip supply, driving up rental rates and construction costs
Trend seen in all regions despite extraordinary new supply growth
The rapid and accelerating demand for AI compute infrastructure is disproportionately increasing pressure on data center supply chains and energy grids globally.
This trend highlights critical choke points in the foundational infrastructure required for continued technological advancement, directly impacting the cost and availability of compute.
The economics of data center development are fundamentally shifting, making compute more expensive and challenging to deploy, thus favoring existing providers or regions with abundant resources.
- · Data center REITs
- · Hyperscalers with existing infrastructure
- · Energy utilities
- · Construction companies specializing in data centers
- · Startups requiring significant compute
- · Regions without ample power or land
- · Smaller cloud providers
- · Consumers of compute
Increased operational costs for AI and other data-intensive applications.
Greater strategic investment in energy infrastructure and alternative data center cooling technologies.
Potential for sovereign AI initiatives to be constrained by domestic data center supply and energy availability, leading to further geopolitical competition for resources.
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Read at DataCenter Dynamics