Europe Data Center Market Growth Insights – Market Area to Reach 16.22 Million Sq. Ft. and Power Capacity to Exceed 4,294 MW by 2031. Investment, Area, Power Capacity, and Share Analysis
EUROPE DATA CENTER MARKET SIZE AND SHARE
| MARKET SIZE (INVESTMENT) | USD 148.82 Billion (2031) |
| MARKET SIZE (AREA) | 16.22 million Square feet (2031) |
| MARKET SIZE (POWER CAPACITY) | 4,294 MW (2031) |
| CAGR - INVESTMENT (2025-2031) | 16.40% |
| HISTORIC YEAR | 2022-2024 |
| BASE YEAR | 2025 |
| FORECAST YEAR | 2026-2031 |
| EMERGING LOCATIONS | Norway, Sweden, Spain, Italy, Finland, Poland, Austria |
| KEY POLICY DEVELOPMENTS | Switzerland’s Sustainable Development Agenda Supporting Data Center Investments |
| MAJOR PLAYERS | 3data Premium Data CentersP4 GroupAire NetworksAmazon Web ServicesAppleAQ Compute |
EUROPE DATA CENTER MARKET SIZE & SHARE
The Europe data center market size witnessed investments of USD 59.84 billion in 2025 and will witness investments of USD 148.82 billion by 2031, growing at a CAGR of 16.40% during the forecast period. The Europe data center market is witnessing rapid growth, fueled by wide range of growth factors like the surge in adoption of advanced technologies such as Artificial Intelligence (AI), Machine Learning, big data, Internet of Things (IoT), and robotics, increasing sustainability practices among data center operators and hyperscalers, surge in demand for digitalization, integration of district heating into data centers, development of smart city projects, rising submarine and inland connectivity, increasing government support for data centers, deployment of 5G connectivity, surge in demand for cloud computing, and other factors.
In Europe, Frankfurt, London, Amsterdam, Paris, and Dublin stand out as prominent destinations for data center development, and these locations have been experiencing a continuous rise in data center investments. The data center expansion in these locations is likely to slow down during the forecast period because of the rising power and land scarcity challenges. On the other hand, the secondary markets like Milan, Madrid, Brussels, Lisbon, Athens, Oslo, Stockholm, Copenhagen, Helsinki, Warsaw, and Vienna are establishing themselves as prominent destinations for data center development.
As the primary markets, including UK, Germany, France, and Netherlands are experiencing rapid digitalization, the governments across these nations are increasingly developing Free Trade Zones, Industrial Parks, and Special Economic Zones to attract enterprises across various sectors, including data centers to develop data centers.
In 2025, the UK accounted for the highest data center investments in the Europe data center market, contributing to around 27% of the data center investments, followed by Germany, which accounted for around 12% of the data center investments in the same period. The Nordic countries like Norway, Sweden, Finland, and others are positioning themselves as prominent destinations for AI-ready data center development because of the presence of abundant renewable energy sources and a cool climate, which is beneficial for data center operations. Nations like Luxembourg, Hungary, Ukraine, Estonia, Romania, Lithuania, and others are likely to gain momentum for data center development gradually over the next five years.
EUROPE DATA CENTER MARKET INSIGHTS BY AREA
The Europe data center market by area is expected to reach 16.22 million square feet by 2031. Major locations such as London, Manchester, Frankfurt, Berlin, Paris, Amsterdam, Dublin, and Zurich remain prominent data center development hubs, while secondary markets including Milan, Madrid, Brussels, Lisbon, Athens, Oslo, Copenhagen, Stockholm, Helsinki, Reykjavik, Vienna, and Warsaw are gaining momentum as demand for data center infrastructure increases across Europe. London remains one of the most preferred data center locations in the UK; however, operators are increasingly expanding into cities such as Manchester, Liverpool, and Portsmouth due to the comparatively higher commercial land costs in London, which ranged from $500 to $9,500 per square meter in 2026.
The UK also supports data center development through around nine Freeports across locations such as Humber, Liverpool, Plymouth, Teesside, and Thames, along with approximately 10 operational Industrial Strategy Zones (ISZs). In Germany, Frankfurt remains a prominent data center hub due to its strategic location, economic importance, and smart city infrastructure, attracting investments from local and global data center operators.
EUROPE DATA CENTER MARKET INSIGHTS BY POWER CAPACITY
The Europe data center market by power capacity is expected to reach 4,294.0 MW by 2031. Rising power scarcity across major European markets is encouraging data center operators to invest in renewable energy and decentralize development from primary markets toward emerging and developing locations with greater power availability. The Nordic countries are becoming prominent destinations for data center development due to their abundant renewable energy resources and favorable climatic conditions that enable free cooling, helping operators improve energy efficiency and reduce cooling costs. Across Europe, data center operators are also collaborating with renewable energy providers to procure green energy and reduce greenhouse gas emissions and environmental impact. For instance, in April 2025, Amazon Web Services (AWS) signed two long-term PPAs with OX2 to procure wind power from OX2's Rajamäenkylä and Honkakangas wind farms in Finland to support AWS data center operations.
The growing concerns over power availability in the UK are also encouraging data center operators to explore alternative power sources. Several operators are planning to connect data centers to the UK's natural gas transmission networks and develop on-site gas-fired power plants to ensure a reliable and stable electricity supply for data center operations. These initiatives are supporting the expansion of data center power capacity while helping operators address grid constraints and increasing electricity demand.
Key Report Takeaways
- Facility Type - The colocation data centers segment by investment accounted for the largest market share of around 68% in 2025.
- Infrastructure - The IT infrastructure dominates and holds the largest share of the Europe data center market.
- Electrical Infrastructure - The generators segment shows significant growth, with the fastest-growing CAGR of 24.45% during the forecast period.
- Mechanical Infrastructure - The cooling systems segment dominated the mechanical infrastructure of the Europe data center market in 2025
- Cooling Techniques - The liquid-based cooling technique is expected to witness the highest growth during the forecast period.
- General Construction - The core & shell development segment contributes around 43% of the market share in 2025.
- Tier Standards - Tier III dominates the Europe data center market with the largest share.
Note: Market size and forecast figures are generated using Arizton's proprietary estimation framework, based on facility-level primary and secondary research, updated as of the current reporting cycle.
Europe Existing & Upcoming Data Center Portfolio
EXISTING FACILITY DATA POINTS
- Location — region, city, full address
- Operator / owner name & facility name
- Core & shell white-floor area
- Core & shell IT load capacity
- Rack Capacity
- Tier standard (I–IV) & redundancy design
- Year of operations
UPCOMING FACILITY DATA POINTS
- Investor name & location
- Planned area & power capacity (MW)
- Total investment (USD Million)
- Electrical / mechanical / construction investment split
- Announcement year & project status
- Expected year of opening
- Retail & wholesale colocation pricing
EUROPE DATA CENTER MARKET TRENDS
TRENDS
Rising Adoption of Liquid Cooling Techniques in Data Centers
Data centers across Europe are progressively utilizing liquid cooling methods since conventional air-based cooling solutions are inadequate for managing the significant heat produced by Artificial Intelligence (AI) and high-performance computing workloads (HPC). Consequently, data center operators are progressively investing in liquid cooling methods since they provide improved thermal management.
In October 2025, the UK-based company Spode Works Regeneration Ltd revealed its plans to build a new data center in Staffordshire, the UK; the facility is likely to be equipped with a direct-to-chip liquid cooling technique.
The increasing need to dissipate substantial heat in data centers throughout European nations, fueled by AI and HPC workloads, is rising the demand for emerging liquid cooling techniques like direct-to-chip and immersion cooling techniques. Data center companies throughout Europe are expected to significantly invest in implementing advanced liquid cooling technologies in their facilities over the next five years.
The Surge in Digitalization Fuelling Data Center Demand
European nations are consistently experiencing a fast rise in digitalization as entities across various sectors, such as government, banking, finance, healthcare, education, and more, are progressively embracing digital technologies, including cloud computing, Artificial Intelligence, big data, Internet of Things, and other digital innovations.
In May 2025, Sweden's government announced that it had introduced Sweden’s Digitalisation Strategy 2025–2030 to establish a clear vision for enhancing digitalization across the country over the next five years, and the Strategy is likely to focus on five areas, such as digital competence, digitalization of business, digitalization of administration, the digitalization of welfare, and enhancing connectivity infrastructure across the country.
The expanding digitalization throughout European nations is expected to boost the need for edge data centers in Europe to gather, store, and process data nearer to end users, ensuring low latency and high-speed real-time digital services.
Rise in District Heating Concept
The idea of district heating, an intelligent method to utilize waste heat produced by data centers, is gaining significant traction in the European data center market. Data center facilities produce large amounts of heat, which in earlier years was merely expelled into the atmosphere. In recent years, many data center operators in European countries have been reusing the waste heat produced in data center facilities and redirecting it to meet the heating demands of nearby residential, commercial, and public facilities via district heating systems.
In February 2026, nLighten, a European company, announced its intention to supply waste heat from its data center located in Stuttgart, Germany, to the regional district heating system. The initiative is expected to provide around 1.8MW of heat, aiding the city’s efforts in decarbonization and sustainable energy.
The development of integrated district heating systems in data centers is anticipated to rise substantially in the Europe data center market during the forecast period as data center firms are focusing on sustainability and energy efficiency initiatives.
Restraints Impact Analysis
Power Availability & Outage Challenges
Europe is one of the most important data center markets worldwide. Several data center companies prefer to build new data centers across multiple countries in Europe. However, the lack of power availability is hampering data center growth in European countries.
Data centers need a huge and continuous power supply, and these facilities cannot afford even a few minutes of disruption in power supply. The discrepancies in power supply can lead to severe power outages in data centers.
In March 2025, Nottingham City Council’s data center in the UK experienced a major power outage, which impacted payment systems, online services, Wi-Fi, and mobile connections across Nottingham City.
The increasing investments to modernize the grid infrastructure of Europe and transition toward renewable energy are expected to improve power stability across the European nations in the coming years.
EUROPE DATA CENTER MARKET DRIVERS
Increasing Adoption of Cloud Computing Technologies
The demand for cloud computing technologies in European nations has been rising swiftly due to the strict data regulation policies in the region, a surge in digitalization, the rollout of 5G connectivity services, and other factors.
In November 2025, the cloud services provider OVHcloud launched a third cloud region in Berlin, Germany, enhancing resilience and security for European digital infrastructure. The company introduced the OVHcloud AI EndPoint inference platform in partnership with SambaNova Systems to provide high-performance AI inference solutions.
The rising use of cloud-computing services in European nations is expected to boost the demand for data centers in the region during the forecast period, as cloud providers need low-latency and scalable infrastructure to facilitate the growing digital landscape of Europe.
The Surge in Inland and Submarine Cable Connectivity
Europe is enhancing its digital infrastructure through investments in submarine cable connectivity, which significantly improves the region's data transmission speeds and cross-border connectivity to meet the rising demands for Artificial Intelligence, cloud computing, and digitalization throughout European nations.
Amazon Web Services intends to establish a new cable landing station (CLS) in Cork, Ireland, in January 2026. The cable landing station is expected to be situated at Tullyneasky West, and the project will include building a cable landing station, a substation, a switch room building, and external plant infrastructure, such as generators and fuel tanks.
The growth of submarine cable connectivity development among European nations is expected to increase during the forecast period, which is crucial to meet the growing demand for high-speed internet, cloud services, and digital transformation throughout Europe, resulting in higher demand for data centers across European countries.
Increasing Government Support for Data Centers
The governments throughout Europe have understood the importance of data centers in boosting digital economies and promoting technological progress. Consequently, governments throughout European nations are launching different initiatives to promote data center growth, enhance digital infrastructure, and support sustainable data center practices across Europe.
In January 2026, UK lawmakers formed the Data Centres APPG (All-Party Parliamentary Group), an initiative aimed at improving awareness of the UK's data center industry. The team seeks to investigate the contribution of data centers to economic development, enhance digital infrastructure resilience, and aid the UK's net-zero goals.
During the forecast period, we anticipate that government support for data centers will increase significantly via initiatives that promote renewable energy use and partnerships with international technology firms. Europe is expected to witness more investments from local and global stakeholders in the data center industry during the forecast period.
Driver and restraint impact figures are directional estimates reflecting baseline growth, segment mix effects, and variable interactions — not strictly additive.
Segment Analysis
INSIGHTS BY FACILITY TYPE
The Europe data center market by facility type is segmented into hyperscale data centers, colocation data centers, and enterprise data centers. Colocation data centers accounted for the majority of data center investments in the European data center construction market in 2025, representing around 68% of the overall investment share. This dominance is attributed to the growing demand for third-party data center facilities across European countries, as businesses increasingly prefer colocation services to meet their infrastructure requirements without investing in and managing their own facilities. Colocation service providers offer data center space and rack cabinets based on customer requirements and demand. The two major types of colocation services are retail and wholesale colocation.
Retail colocation services primarily cater to small businesses, startups, and government agencies that require flexible and scalable data center infrastructure, while wholesale colocation services are designed for large enterprises, hyperscalers, and service providers that require higher power capacity and dedicated data center space. The increasing adoption of cloud services, digital transformation, and high-density computing is expected to support continued demand for both retail and wholesale colocation services across Europe.
INSIGHTS BY INFRASTRUCTURE
Based on the infrastructure, the IT infrastructure dominates and holds the largest share of the Europe data center market. The increasing adoption of advanced IT infrastructure, including high-performance servers, storage systems, and high-speed networking equipment, is supporting the growth of the Europe data center market. The rising deployment of AI, cloud computing, machine learning, and other data-intensive workloads is driving demand for higher computing capacity and advanced IT infrastructure across data centers.
Based on IT infrastructure, the server infrastructure accounted for the largest Europe data center market share of around 53% in 2025. Rapid digitalization across Europe is significantly increasing the demand for cloud computing and artificial intelligence services, driving data center operators to deploy advanced servers to support growing computational requirements. Government initiatives supporting digital transformation, the expansion of 5G connectivity, and increasing internet penetration across European countries are expected to further accelerate the adoption of cloud and AI services. The growing deployment of AI and HPC workloads is consequently increasing the demand for high-performance and high-density servers, supporting investments in data center IT infrastructure and overall market expansion across Europe.
INSIGHTS BY ELECTRICAL INFRASTRUCTURE
Based on the electrical infrastructure, the generators segment shows significant growth, with the fastest-growing CAGR of 24.45% during the forecast period. The increasing need for reliable and uninterrupted power supply is encouraging data center operators across Europe to deploy N+1 and 2N redundant backup generators, supporting higher data center uptime and operational resilience. In addition, the growing focus on reducing carbon emissions is expected to drive the adoption of HVO-powered generators across the European data center market.
For instance, in October 2025, Telehouse started the development of a new data center in London equipped with HVO-powered backup generators. The deployment of sustainable backup power solutions is expected to support the expansion of data center infrastructure while helping operators meet Europe's increasing sustainability requirements.
INSIGHTS BY MECHANICAL INFRASTRUCTURE
The cooling systems segment dominated the mechanical infrastructure of the Europe data center market in 2025, owing to the increasing adoption of efficient cooling solutions across data center facilities. In Europe, data center facilities adopt both water-based and air-based cooling systems. In terms of redundancy, most data center operators adopt N+1 and 2N redundancy for Tier III facilities to ensure reliable cooling operations. The demand for liquid-based cooling systems has increased in recent years, driven by the growing deployment of high-density computing and AI workloads.
Green Mountain has invested in installing chilled-water cooling systems, as well as free cooling systems, in its LON-East data center in London, the UK. The adoption of advanced cooling systems is expected to support the growing data center capacity while improving energy efficiency and cooling performance across Europe.
INSIGHTS BY COOLING TECHNIQUES
The liquid-based cooling technique is expected to witness the highest growth during the forecast period. In data centers, liquid-based cooling techniques include chilled-water-based cooling, direct liquid cooling, and immersion cooling techniques. The adoption of chilled water systems is likely to grow over the next few years due to the rise in rack power density, which requires water-based cooling to efficiently manage heat generated by high-density workloads.
In October 2025, Telehouse started the construction of its Telehouse West Two data center campus in the UK, which will be equipped with advanced liquid cooling technologies. The adoption of liquid-based cooling solutions is expected to support the deployment of high-density computing infrastructure and improve cooling efficiency across the Europe data center market.
INSIGHTS BY GENERAL CONSTRUCTION
In terms of general construction, the core & shell development segment contributes around 43% of the market share in 2025. The European data center market is witnessing the development of both greenfield and brownfield data centers, along with several large-scale AI-ready facilities across European countries. Owing to severe power constraints across the region, data center operators are prioritizing the installation of on-site power substations and renewable energy power plants, which is expected to increase construction requirements and create additional opportunities for construction contractors.
In July 2024, Digital Realty announced the completion of the structure and roof construction of its PAR11 data center facility in Paris. The ongoing development of new data center facilities and supporting power infrastructure is expected to drive demand for general construction services across Europe.
INSIGHTS BY TIER STANDARDS
Based on tier standards, Tier III dominates the Europe data center market with the largest share. A Tier III data center is constructed with a higher level of reliability and a minimum redundancy of N+1 in both power and cooling systems. This design results in approximately 1.6 hours of downtime annually, providing operational availability of around 99.982%. The strong preference for Tier III facilities across Europe is driven by the need for reliable and continuously available infrastructure to support critical workloads and business operations.
The Uptime Institute certified China Mobile International with Tier III accreditation for the design documents and constructed facility of the first phase of China Mobile International’s data center in Slough, the UK. The company also received the Uptime Institute’s Tier III Silver certification for operational sustainability at its Slough data center. The growing adoption of Tier III-certified facilities is supporting the development of reliable and resilient data center infrastructure across Europe.
Geography Analysis
United Kingdom
Western Europe
Nordics
Sweden
Emerging Markets
France
Switzerland
Denmark
Netherlands
Austria
Russia
Italy
Competitive Landscape
In the Europe data center market, most of the data center investments come from colocation firms. The prominent colocation service providers in Europe include Equinix, Vantage Data Centers, atNorth, Digital Realty, Green Mountain, CyrusOne, AtlasEdge, NTT DATA, Data4, Telehouse, Pure Data Centres Group, Bulk Infrastructure, Iron Mountain, VIRTUS Data Centres, Colt Data Centre Services, Yondr Group, Keppel Data Centres, Global Switch, Borealis Data Center, QTS Data Centers, STACK Infrastructure, maincubes SECURE DATACENTERS, Ark Data Centres, EdgeConneX, and others.
The Europe data center market consists of a wide range of companies that deliver IT infrastructure for data centers. Some of the important IT infrastructure providers in the European market include Arista Networks, Atos, Broadcom, Cisco, Dell Technologies, Extreme Networks, Fujitsu, Hewlett Packard Enterprise, Hitachi Vantara, Huawei Technologies, IBM, Inspur Group, Lenovo, MiTAC International, NEC Corporation, NetApp, Everpure, Quanta Cloud Technology, Supermicro, Wiwynn, and NVIDIA.
Numerous new entrants are expanding their presence in the European data center sector to meet the increasing requirement for data center services throughout European nations. Some of the recent new entrants in the market include Prime Data Centers, Latos Data Centres, DAMAC Digital, GARBE Data Centers, Deep Green, DayOne, Sierra DC, Prologis, Ada Infrastructure, Digital Reef, NXN Datacenters, Compass Datacenters, Portland Trust, Art Data Centres, GreenScale Data Centres, Apto, Corscale Data Centers, Blue Star, EdgeNebula, Apatura, Form8tion Data Centers, Data Center Partners, Asia Pacific Land, FCDC Corp, Greystoke, and others.
Various cloud and hyperscale data center service providers, including Amazon Web Services (AWS), Alibaba Group, Apple, Google, Meta, Microsoft, and others, are expanding their cloud, Artificial Intelligence, and hyperscale data center service offerings throughout European nations. In March 2026, Amazon Web Services announced its intention to invest about $39.5 billion to expand its service offerings.
The market comprises various construction firms that focus on providing construction, installation, commissioning, architectural, and engineering services for building data centers throughout European nations. Notable construction contractors in the Europe data center market include Mercury, Arup, Turner & Townsend, Collen Construction, Ramboll, AECOM, PM Group, AtkinsRéalis, DPR Construction, RED Engineering Design, Ethos Engineering, Kirby Group Engineering, Linesight, Fluor Corporation, Bouygues Construction, CapIngelec, Skanska, Eiffage, Designer Group, Gleeds, HDR, McLaren Construction Group, Deerns UK, COWI, Dornan, Sudlows, Future-tech, Hill International, Granlund Group, Colliers, ACS Group, Basler & Hofmann, AEON Engineering, ARC:MC, Ariatta, Astron Buildings, BladeRoom Data Centres, Elecnor Group, Haka Moscow, LPI Group, NORMA Engineering, APL Data Center, 2bm, and others.
The Europe data center market houses numerous local and international support infrastructure providers, including Schneider Electric, Vertiv, Cummins, ABB, STULZ, Legrand, Carrier, Siemens, Alfa Laval, Eaton, Rolls-Royce, Munters, Rittal, Delta Electronics, Trane, Caterpillar, Socomec Group, Airedale, Hitachi Energy, GE Vernova, Cyber Power Systems, Honeywell, Daikin Applied, Toshiba, Aggreko, ENGIE, Baudouin, INNIO Group, Condair Group, Saft, Mitsubishi Electric, GESAB, Systemair Group, Rehlko, DEIF, HITEC Power Protection, AVK, 3M, Submer, and others that provide power, cooling, and general infrastructure for data centers.
Europe Data Center Industry Leaders
Disclaimer: Major players sorted in no particular order.
Recent Industry Developments
TABLE OF CONTENTS FOR EUROPE DATA CENTER INDUSTRY REPORT
EUROPE DATA CENTER MARKET REPORT SCOPE
Market Definition
| Term | Definition |
|---|---|
| PUE | Power Usage Effectiveness — total facility energy divided by IT equipment energy; values closer to 1.0 indicate higher efficiency. |
| Redundancy (N, N+1, 2N) | Design standards describing backup capacity for power and cooling components, ranging from no redundancy (N) to fully duplicated systems (2N). |
| CRAC / CRAH | Computer Room Air Conditioner / Air Handler — equipment used to regulate temperature and humidity in the server environment. |
| Hot Aisle / Cold Aisle | Rack layout convention that separates cool air intake from hot air exhaust to improve cooling efficiency. |
| Colocation (Retail / Wholesale) | Retail colocation serves capacity needs under roughly 250 kW; wholesale colocation serves capacity needs between 250 kW and 4 MW. |
Research Methodology
Identify Key Variables
Variables and factors are tested against historical facility-level market data through an iterative process.
Build a Market Model
Market-size estimations are built in nominal terms with a consistent average selling price across the forecast period.
Validate & Finalize
Market numbers and analyst calls are validated through an extensive primary research network across levels and functions.
Research Outputs
Syndicated reports, custom consulting assignments, and facility-level databases.
Facility-level depth
existing and upcoming facilities tracked across Europe.
Exclusive research
80% of Arizton reports are exclusive and first-to-market.
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200+ Fortune 500 companies rely on Arizton research.
24x7 availability
Continuous analyst and post-sale support.
Free customization
15–20% free customization on every license tier.
Key Questions Answered in the Report
How big is the Europe data center market?
What is the growth rate of the Europe data center market?
What is the estimated market size in terms of area in the Europe data center market by 2030?
What are the key trends in the Europe data center market?
How much MW of power capacity is expected to reach the Europe data center market by 2030?
Last Refreshed on : September 2026
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