The US and Canada spend the most money.
Credit: iStock
New data centers are being built around the world in connection with AI initiatives.
According to a compilation by S&P Global, spending will reach a record $61 billion in 2025, with the US and Canada accounting for the vast majority. Europe, on the other hand, accounts for only a small fraction of spending on data center construction. “In Europe, the buildout of data centers is expected to grow at a lower rate than other regions,” S&P Global Market Intelligence analyst Iuri Struta told CNBC. The biggest obstacle to the construction of new data centers is said to be the lack of cheap energy, which in turn has led to a renewed interest in nuclear power.
More data center news and insights:
- Data center spending to top $1 trillion by 2029 as AI transforms infrastructure: AI is driving an unprecedented transformation in data centers, with global data center CapEx spending projected to more than double from $430 billion in 2024 to $1.1 trillion by 2029.
- Microsoft will invest $80B in AI data centers in fiscal 2025: Microsoft is on track to invest around $80 billion this fiscal year to build out AI-enabled data centers, company president Brad Smith said. Those data centers, like the one the company is building in Mount Pleasant, Wisconsin, will be used to train AI models and deploy AI and cloud-based applications around the world — although more than half of the investment will be in the US, Smith said in a blog post highlighting the opportunities technology offers for building the country’s economy.
- Here’s what Oracle’s soaring infrastructure spend could mean for enterprises: Oracle’s aggressive AI-driven data center build-out has pushed its free cash flow from a modest deficit of $2 billion in the quarter ended August 31 to a staggering $10 billion shortfall in the quarter ended November 30, creating structural financial pressure that could translate into higher subscription costs and stricter contract terms for customers, analysts say.
- AI spending to reach $1.5 trillion this year, Gartner says: Companies can no more sit out the AI hype than they could the internet or cloud, according to the latest from Gartner. The market research firm expects global spending on AI to reach almost $1.5 trillion this year. By 2026, Gartner expects global AI spending to exceed $2 trillion, largely driven by the integration of AI into products such as smartphones and PCs as well as the underlying infrastructure.
- AI driving a 165% rise in data center power demand by 2030: Global power demand from data centers will increase 50% by 2027 and by as much as 165% by the end of the decade compared with 2023, according to a recent report from Goldman Sachs Research.
