Global data center investment continues to surge, driven by explosive demand for cloud computing and artificial intelligence (AI) applications. According to Synergy Research Group, hyperscale operators — major cloud and internet service firms — have significantly reshaped the global data center industry.
At the end of Q1 2025, hyperscale companies operated 1,189 large data centers, accounting for 44 percent of global data center capacity. This marks a major shift from six years ago, when on-premise enterprise data centers dominated with a 56 percent share.
Today, only 34 percent of capacity remains on-premise, while colocation accounts for 22 percent. The momentum is clearly behind hyperscale operators, who are projected to control 61 percent of global data center capacity by 2030. Their growth is fueled by both owned facilities and leased infrastructure, although over half of current hyperscale capacity is now in company-owned sites.
The total capacity of data centers is expected to rise rapidly, primarily due to hyperscale expansion, which is forecast to triple by 2030. Colocation facilities — though losing share — are also set to grow steadily at near double-digit annual rates. In contrast, on-premise data center growth has largely stagnated, with only a temporary lift driven by demand for GenAI applications and GPU-based systems. Even with this uptick, on-premise capacity share is projected to fall by about two percentage points each year through 2030.
Regionally, the U.S. leads in hyperscale owned capacity, far outpacing EMEA and APAC. However, all regions are expected to witness double-digit annual growth in total data center capacity, with hyperscale growth topping 20 percent per year globally.
Major hyperscale investments
Here is a summary of major hyperscale investments announced or ongoing in 2024–2025 across key regions:
United States
Amazon Web Services (AWS): Investing $35 billion in Virginia by 2040 for multiple data center campuses.
Microsoft: Announced $10 billion+ in AI and cloud infrastructure expansion, especially in Iowa, Wisconsin, and Georgia.
Google: Committed $4 billion to expand its U.S. data center footprint, including facilities in Kansas, Nebraska, and Texas.
Meta: Expanding data centers in Indiana and Alabama, focused on AI workloads.
Europe
Microsoft: Pledged €3.2 billion ($3.5 billion) in Germany for AI-focused data centers and training.
Google: Investing €1 billion in expanding its data center and cloud region in the Netherlands.
Amazon: Committing €7.8 billion to expand cloud infrastructure in Germany by 2040.
Oracle: Building multiple sovereign cloud regions across Spain, Germany, and Italy.
Asia-Pacific
Amazon: Planning a $9 billion investment in Singapore data centers by 2028.
Microsoft: Expanding cloud regions in India, Japan, and Australia — notably in Hyderabad and Osaka.
Google: Investing $2 billion in data centers in Malaysia and Thailand.
Tencent and Alibaba Cloud: Expanding hyperscale capacity in Indonesia and South Korea.
Middle East
Oracle: Launched new cloud regions in Saudi Arabia and UAE.
Google Cloud: Opening its first cloud region in Saudi Arabia in partnership with Aramco.
Microsoft: Data center developments in Qatar and UAE, focusing on digital transformation in the Gulf.
Latin America
AWS: Ongoing investment in Sao Paulo, Brazil, as its main hub in the region.
Google Cloud: Expanding services in Chile and Mexico.
Microsoft: Upgrading infrastructure in Brazil with AI-focused capacity.
Synergy’s Chief Analyst John Dinsdale says AI and other digital services are accelerating data center investment trends that were gaining momentum through cloud adoption. The mix of infrastructure — shifting from on-premise to hyperscale and colocation — signals a long-term transformation in how digital workloads are deployed and scaled across the world.
InfotechLead.com News Desk
