Ranked: Which Countries Have the Most Data Centers?
Ranked: Which Countries Have the Most Data Centers?
Data centers come in various sizes, ranging from small server rooms to extensive facilities spanning multiple buildings. Businesses, organizations, and individuals use them to store and process data, run applications, and provide services.
But how many data centers are there?
For this graphic, Visual Capitalist partnered with Global X ETFs to determine who operates the largest number of data centers.
The U.S. Leads the Way
As of December 2023, over 10,000 data centers were operating worldwide—86% of which were in the top 10 nations, and over half were in the U.S.:
| Rank | Nation | Number of Data Centers |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | 🇺🇸 U.S. | 5,388 |
| 2 | 🇩🇪 Germany | 522 |
| 3 | 🇬🇧 UK | 517 |
| 4 | 🇨🇳 China | 449 |
| 5 | 🇨🇦 Canada | 336 |
| 6 | 🇫🇷 France | 315 |
| 7 | 🇦🇺 Australia | 306 |
| 8 | 🇳🇱 Netherlands | 300 |
| 9 | 🇷🇺 Russia | 255 |
| 10 | 🇯🇵 Japan | 219 |
However, this list is subject to change. Vacancy rates are decreasing steadily in many global markets, with Singapore leading with a 1% vacancy rate.
Working at Scale
Data centers require vast amounts of power and can be genuinely vast in size. The largest is the China Telecom-Inner Mongolia Information Park, which sits at an incredible 10.7 million square feet.
However, as demands on the data center industry increase with more and more people getting access to the internet every year, the industry faces a problem of scaling in line with technology while being sustainable.
One answer to this problem could be ‘Hyperscale-Cloud’ data centers. These structures, while usually larger than typical data centers, are designed to scale with advancing technology, allowing processing and storage capacities to increase without increasing the physical size of the center.
The potential of this technology has led to favorable revenue forecasts for the industry sub-sector:
| Year | Revenue |
|---|---|
| 2020 | $91B |
| 2022 | $173B |
| 2024F | $323B |
| 2026F | $587B |
The Importance of Digital Infrastructure
Digital infrastructure, particularly data centers, facilitates telecommunications and allows software like artificial intelligence to function, making them incredibly important in modern life.
Are you interested in learning more about the exciting world of digital infrastructure?
Click here to learn more about the Global X Data Center & Digital Infrastructure ETF
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