In a new research piece from Synergy Research Group it is predicted that global hyperscaler data centres will increase to 541 at the end of the second quarter. This is more than double the mid-2015 count.
Aside from EMEA and APAC regions, which continue to dominate, the next most popular locations are China, Japan, the UK, Germany and Australia and it is no surprise to learn that the Amazon, Google, Microsoft and Oracle account for the most openings.
Where next?
In a recent webinar we hosted, in conjunction with Data Centre Dynamics [Evaluating the Impact of COVID19 on Data Centre Construction] we discussed the growth of new locations and according to Synergy in the last four quarters the largest number of additions of the new data centre builds were located in Switzerland, Italy, South Africa and Bahrain. And now that Amsterdam has lifted its moratorium on data centre development, it will be interesting to watch the appetite here.
With all this choice, resilience and reliability remains paramount for customers and we ask is price a close second?
Research & Markets released their updates on the Germany Data Center Market confirming that 25 new data centre projects were started in 2019 and that Germany’s data center market size is expected to grow at a CAGR of over 6% during the period 2019-2025.
Driving this growth in the market is innovation and an approach to automation to reduce operating costs - for example Data Center Infrastructure Management (DCIM) solutions. Approximately 80% of facilities in Germany have adopted DCIM solutions, reducing the need for human interference to handle critical tasks. Strategies like this is helping to reduce operational costs by 25%.
Of course reliance and resilience is the number one factor but with growth comes the need for competitive advantage. Keeping control of construction costs for data centres will protect margins and improve competitiveness. Innovation does not have to be expensive, just well thought through. With a significant part of data centre costs allocated to labour for construction and maintenance and 85% of costs allocated to the Mechanical and Electrical aspects of the initial capital investment (according to research stats released by Microsoft and Uptime) this is one area that data centre operators can steal a march. As specialist MEP quantity surveyors and project managers, we not only look at strategies to protect margins but support their competitive advantage by working with new and innovative product or construction solutions; undertake thorough cost research and modelling so no innovation stone is left unturned and collaborate on macro policies such as environmental targets - all of these aspects improve margins and increase return on investment for our clients.
