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Demand for available capacities is reaching new highs – and energy demand is also increasing. Driven by artificial intelligence (AI), the electricity consumption of data centers is growing at an unprecedented pace. According to forecasts, demand could increase a hundredfold in the next ten years. But the power supply is reaching its limits: bottlenecks in the infrastructure, long approval procedures and delayed grid connections are slowing down growth.
New challenges
Data centers are booming, but the expansion of the energy infrastructure cannot keep up. Computing power used to double every two years, but today it is growing 256-fold. At the same time, the vacancy rates of large data center locations are falling to below three percent – a historic low. Experts warn that by 2027, nearly 40% of AI data centers could suffer from power shortages.
How the industry is reacting
To meet these challenges, developers are relying on various strategies: their own energy production, cooperation with suppliers, targeted location selection and expansion into new markets. On-site power generation – whether through gas, renewable energies or even mini-nuclear reactors – is gaining in importance. At the same time, partnerships with energy suppliers facilitate grid expansion, while locations with secure electricity connections are becoming sought-after investment targets.
Our conclusion
The data center industry is facing a "perfect storm": rapidly increasing demand meets extreme bottlenecks in the energy supply. The expansion of new capacities now takes twice as long as before. But not all developers are equally prepared for it. For investors, the key to success lies in a deep understanding of which players are able to deploy new data centers faster and more efficiently – and thus benefit from this megatrend.
