As global demand for data centre capacity accelerates—driven by AI, cloud and digital transformation—the ability to deliver at scale is becoming the defining differentiator between regions. Our latest Global Data Centre Market Comparison reveals a growing divergence. While EMEA demand remains strong, delivery constraints are shaping where, and how fast, growth can happen. We spoke to Andrew Fray, Head of Data Centres EMEA, to comment on what this means for the market and for clients navigating a constrained environment.
Interview with Andrew Fray on the Global Data Centre Market Comparison
What is the single most important takeaway from this year’s report?
Andrew Fray: The scale gap between regions is striking and widening. The Americas are not only ahead today, but the future pipeline shows that gap accelerating. That’s being driven by huge demand spreading right across the US, faster execution (for now), fewer constraints and a very clear focus on scaling AI infrastructure. For the markets, cloud computing was doing just fine, but AI has switched on the afterburners.
How does EMEA compare in that context?
Andrew Fray: EMEA is growing at an extraordinary pace too, but just less dramatic. The Report shows total capacity increasing around 2.3x, compared to 6.0x in the Americas. When you look at planned capacity, the difference becomes even more pronounced. If, and it is a ‘big IF’, everything gets built out, then the Americas will deploy 260GW, compared to EMEA’s 26GW, so 10x in total capacity. To put that in context, Europe’s leading metro became a 1GW location as recently as 2022.
It’s not a demand issue; in EMEA demand is incredibly strong. The challenge is deliverability and building the data centres needed: power availability and pricing, permitting timelines, supply chain and regulatory complexity are restricting the speed for the new capacity to come online.
You mentioned AI. How much is that driving the divergence?
Andrew Fray: AI is the major factor in driving this growth. The levels of liquidity and interest in ‘The New Industry’ based on AI are staggering. The IPOs of Coreweave and Blackstone Digital Infrastructure Trust (BXDC), now Open AI and Anthropic are placing AI front and centre of the oncoming wave. In the Americas, it appears that it’s the relative ease of doing business that’s allowing neoclouds and hyperscalers to move faster and commit to significantly larger development pipelines.
In EMEA, we’re seeing just as much demand, but the ability to deliver at pace simply isn’t there yet. That’s what’s creating a gap. Personally, I don’t think it’s necessarily a bad thing to deliver capacity in a measured way, but the power grab means that being ‘shovel ready’ makes you a winner, or at least towards the front of the queue. So, inevitably, there will be winners and losers in gaining market share.
What does this mean for investors in the sector right now?
Andrew Fray: It fundamentally changes how clients need to approach the market.
- If you have land, you need to ‘tick all the boxes’ upfront to play, including securing and confirming timely power delivery and planning.
- If you have capacity to offer, you need to secure an off-taker to sell, or lease to, which is not easy. You need to be resilient and adaptable.
- Then you enter into a dance, which involves creating a data centre, which meets the constantly changing requirements of both AI and cloud computing.
This is no longer a market where you can wait and respond. Success comes from planning early, securing capacity early, and, if you are investing, making sensible and flexible, expensive choices.
Where are the opportunities in EMEA?
Andrew Fray: The opportunities are shifting daily. Core markets like London, Frankfurt and Dublin remain critical on one hand, but we’re seeing momentum in all secondary and emerging markets on the other. The Nordics and the Iberian Peninsula have grabbed the headlines over the past two years, with Milan becoming a powerhouse market in its own right. But the dynamics are complex, as the scale of the sector and its mission-critical imperative, bring geopolitics, data sovereignty and capital markets into play. Most nations are waking up to the fact that they need state AI under state lock and key.
You’ve just come back from DataCloud in Cannes. How did market sentiment there compare with what we’re seeing in the report?
Andrew Fray: I enjoy Cannes immensely; hard work and full-on, but it’s where I meet my ‘tribe’. I appreciate those who have been working over many years in data centres to create and build mission-critical digital infrastructure under the radar but now need to do so as leaders of this ‘Rock & Roll Real Estate’.
Our conversations at Cannes reflected what we’re seeing in the data. There is great optimism in the sector and, from observation, an expansion of technical solutions to meet the demands of AI. While the industry experiences constraints, nobody is giving up. Attendee numbers were up again, and there were attendees from all over the globe; all with stories to tell and proposals to make. For now, ‘Everything everywhere all at once’ remains intact.
The Global Data Centre Market Comparison provides the clarity needed to navigate that complexity, helping clients make informed decisions on where to invest, when to act, and how to secure capacity in an increasingly competitive landscape.
