Jon Hjembo

Recently, we’ve been closely monitoring the intensifying pressures of insatiable demand and supply constraints in key data center markets.

Supply constraints have come in the form of both short-term and long-term challenges.

In the short term, supply chain disruptions have hindered development timelines. On the long-term side, regulators and utility providers have begun taking a hard look at the data center sector and how to grow it sustainably going forward. In some cases, these entities have severely disrupted development during the interim period.

None of these challenges have been resolved. And as we move through 2023, another major disruptive component has been added to the mix—the accelerated growth of generative Artificial Intelligence (AI).

In our research, we think a lot about the nature of interconnection.

And in our ongoing effort to gauge the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on global networks, we wanted to highlight what’s happening in the nodes where interconnection takes place—data centers. 

We spoke with experts across the market to get a sense of how they’re working through the crisis. They gave us insight on how the situation is affecting demand, operations, supply, and new construction.