Data centre crunch must be addressed, DE-CIX says

Author: Simon Rowley

According to investment company, KKR, AI and cloud computing will boost demand for data centres and spending in the sector could reach $250 billion (£192bn) a year. The organisation also confirmed that the US is the biggest developer of data centres, with its infrastructure consuming 16 to 18 gigawatts of power in the country – compared with around 6 gigawatts in Europe and Asia.

Responding to this news, Ivo Ivanov, CEO of DE-CIX, comments, “With applications like generative AI and cloud computing now firmly on the roadmap for businesses, it’s little wonder that demand for data – and data centres – is booming. We know from our own research that data centre planning and construction is increasing – currently, there is 11,200 megawatts of installed data centre capacity across the US, with a further 5,500MW being built and 12,600MW being planned for development. That’s an increase of 160% in the US that we can expect in the near-term future, with places like Northern Virginia and Dallas experiencing the sharpest growth.”

“However, to meet the challenges of the data centre boom sustainably, we need to think beyond simply adding capacity and consider the nature of connectivity itself. Deployment of Internet Exchanges (IXs) in the country has surged by 600% in the past decade, allowing for the strategic interconnection of data centre facilities across regions. These IXs allow different networks, organisations, and enterprises of all sizes to connect and exchange data directly, reducing latency and improving performance by bypassing third-party networks. More than 80% of these Internet Exchanges in the US are now data-centre and carrier-neutral, paving the way for high-speed, low-latency data traffic with built-in redundancy for added resilience.”

“The answer to the data centre crunch lies not just in capacity, but how that capacity is used. By optimising the flow of data through the intelligent deployment of Internet Exchanges, a more streamlined and sustainable data ecosystem can be achieved, alleviating the cost and energy burden placed on our data centres.”

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