CW Data Center Global Market Comparison 2020

REAL ESTATE & PHYSICAL CONSIDERATIONS

TOP FIVE BY LAND PRICE Low cost land removes one of the barriers to development, particularly as land in dense urban areas becomes scarce. Less dense markets offer the potential for larger data center campuses, as large sites in these areas cost a fraction of sites in more constricted areas.

COLUMBUS This emerging Midwest connectivity point is drawing considerable interest from hyperscalers.

SALT LAKE CITY This growing market in the Western U.S. has lower geographic restrictions than other regional competitors.

ATLANTA A national hub for many industries, Atlanta has abundant land at an affordable price.

JOHANNESBURG Land costs remain very low in Johannesburg due to recent economic struggles, though this could lead to long-term opportunity.

DENVER The hometown of many key data center operators has lower overall land costs than other large markets in the Western U.S.

With land cost becoming increasingly unaffordable in key markets around the world, multi-level data center construction has become commonplace in Singapore, Hong Kong, Silicon Valley, and even in less constrained areas like Northern Virginia or Montreal. Multi-level deployments will likely become the norm in further markets in the future, leading to differing construction and cooling concerns. WHAT TO WATCH