A data centre construction boom is underway in Europe’s smaller secondary markets, according to new research from CBRE.
The company’s data shows 273MW of new supply is expected to be delivered in secondary European markets this year – including the 56MW already delivered in Q1 – which would set a new record for the secondary markets and a 45MW increase on the record 228MW of capacity delivered in 2022.
CBRE expects the data centre supply in eight of the 10 secondary European markets tracked to grow by double digits this year, with five of these markets expected to have more than 100MW of supply by year-end.
Despite the additional capacity, projected annual take-up of 714MW will outstrip the 551MW of new supply forecast for 2024 across the 15 markets tracked by CBRE.
Kevin Restivo, head of European data centre research at CBRE, said: “Growth of data centre supply in secondary markets is expected to almost triple the European growth rate this year, with Milan set to become the largest secondary market in Europe by year end with 211MW of data centre supply. Providers are looking to meet strong hyperscaler demand and grow relatively young data centre markets with greater returns in mind.”
Andrew Jay, head of data centre solutions at CBRE, added: “By year end, European supply will have more than doubled over the past five years. However, more data centres will be needed outside of metro markets to accommodate artificial intelligence workloads given the lack of available power and AI-ready facilities in densely populated cities of Europe.”
