New data from Synergy Research Group shows that the number of large data centers operated by hyperscale providers increased to 1,136 at the end of 2024, having doubled over the last five years.
Meanwhile it has taken less than four years for the total capacity of operational hyperscale data centers to double, as the average capacity of newly opened facilities continues to climb. Synergy’s data shows that the United States still accounts for well over half of total worldwide capacity, measured by MW of critical IT load, with Europe and China each accounting for about a third of the balance. Looking ahead, Synergy forecasts that it will take less than four years for total hyperscale data center capacity to double once again. Each year will see a reasonably steady 130-140 additional hyperscale data centers coming online, but overall capacity growth will be driven more by the ever-larger scale of those newly opened data centers.
Generative AI technology is a prime reason for that increased scale.
The research is based on an analysis of the data center footprint of 19 of the world’s major cloud and internet service firms, including the largest operators in SaaS, IaaS, PaaS, search, social networking, e-commerce and gaming. The companies with the broadest data center footprint are the leading cloud providers – Amazon, Microsoft and Google. In addition to a huge data center footprint in their home US market, each also has multiple data centers in many other countries around the world. In aggregate the three now account for 59% of all hyperscale data center capacity. They are followed in the ranking by Meta, Alibaba, Tencent, Apple, ByteDance and then other relatively smaller hyperscale operators. Synergy’s forecast growth numbers are based in large part on its tracking of hyperscale operators’ pipeline of future data centers. Synergy’s known pipeline of future hyperscale data centers currently stands at 504 facilities which are at various stages of being planned, constructed or fitted out.