Europe has five major data center markets which include the cities of Frankfurt, London, Amsterdam, Paris, and Dublin. Indeed, these five cities are known as the “Tier 1” markets of Europe. Additionally, the cities of Frankfurt, London, Amsterdam, and Paris are commonly referred to as the “FLAP” data center markets. Below we outline the supply and demand metrics for each of these booming European data center markets. Notably, this European update follows our prior article on the top 5 data center companies, in the largest 7 markets across the United States.
Frankfurt, Germany – Data Center Market
Frankfurt is an attractive market for data center users given its position as one of Europe’s major financial and commercial hubs. Additionally, Frankfurt offers a strong power supply market and network connectivity. In turn, this has caused higher levels of data center demand and investment in the market. Overall, Frankfurt has 425 megawatts of supply, and availability of 55 megawatts, equating to a vacancy rate of 13%.
Digital Realty, Equinix, CyrusOne, and Iron Mountain contribute to Frankfurt’s 235 megawatts of data center capacity under construction. Furthermore, the Frankfurt market has the potential to develop another 585 megawatts of power capacity over the coming years.
In 2020, absorption (or leasing) in Frankfurt has been 75 megawatts of power capacity. Indeed, this leasing has been led by demand from hyperscale companies such as Amazon Web Services (AWS), Microsoft Azure, Google Cloud, Oracle Cloud, IBM Cloud, SAP, and Alibaba Cloud. Beneficiaries of this leasing demand include data center providers Digital Realty, Equinix, CyrusOne, and Iron Mountain, as well as private operators NTT and Global Switch. For example, in June 2020, Iron Mountain pre-leased a 27 megawatt facility to Google Cloud on a 10-year lease term.
London, United Kingdom – Data Center Market
London is the largest data center market in Europe and is supported by the London Internet Exchange (LINX), which is one of the largest internet exchange points (IXPs) in the world, connecting ~900 members from over 80 countries around the globe. Overall, London has 710 megawatts of supply, and availability of 175 megawatts, equating to a vacancy rate of 25%.
Digital Realty, Equinix, CyrusOne, VIRTUS, and NTT contribute to London’s 170 megawatts of data center capacity under construction. Furthermore, the London market has the potential to develop another 400 megawatts of power capacity over the coming years.
In 2020, absorption (or leasing) in London has been 60 megawatts of power capacity. Indeed, this leasing has been led by demand from U.S. hyperscalers such as Amazon Web Services (AWS), Microsoft Azure, Google Cloud, Oracle Cloud, IBM Cloud, and Alibaba Cloud. Beneficiaries of this leasing demand include data center providers Digital Realty, Equinix, CyrusOne, as well as private operators VIRTUS, NTT, and Vantage Data Centers.
Amsterdam, Netherlands – Data Center Market
Amsterdam has one of the world’s leading internet exchanges points (IXPs), known as the Amsterdam Internet Exchange (AMS-IX). Additionally, the Netherlands, as a country, is a landing point for over 10 trans-Atlantic subsea cables.
Amsterdam has established an interconnection-rich ecosystem of data center providers, as well as users in financial services, content, and cloud service providers. Indeed, these users connect through Amsterdam to provide their services across Europe. Overall, Amsterdam has 390 megawatts of supply, and availability of 105 megawatts, equating to a vacancy rate of 27%.
Digital Realty, Equinix, and Iron Mountain contribute to Amsterdam’s 70 megawatts of data center capacity under construction. Furthermore, the Amsterdam market has the potential to develop another 395 megawatts of power capacity over the coming years.
In 2020, absorption (or leasing) in Amsterdam has been 25 megawatts of power capacity. Indeed, this leasing, has been led by Microsoft Azure and IBM Cloud. Beneficiaries of this leasing demand include data center provider Digital Realty, as well as private operator EdgeConneX.
Paris, France – Data Center Market
Paris is a market that is continuing to have higher demand from cloud service providers. However, historically, this has not always been the case for Paris. Indeed, Paris has lost out on data center demand in prior years to the other “FLAP” cities in Europe, including Frankfurt, London, and Amsterdam. Overall, Paris has 210 megawatts of supply, and availability of 25 megawatts, equating to a vacancy rate of 12%.
Digital Realty, Equinix, and CyrusOne contribute to Paris’ 75 megawatts of data center capacity under construction. Furthermore, the Paris market has the potential to develop another 85 megawatts of power capacity over the coming years.
In 2020, absorption (or leasing) in Paris has been 18 megawatts of power capacity. Indeed, this leasing has been led by cloud service providers such as Amazon Web Services (AWS), Microsoft Azure, IBM Cloud, and internet companies such as Apple. Beneficiaries of this leasing demand include data center providers CyrusOne, Digital Realty, and Equinix, as well as private operators Colt, DATA4, and Global Switch.
Dublin, Ireland – Data Center Market
Dublin’s data center market is largely dependent on American companies. Specifically, IT & internet companies, financial institutions, and pharmaceutical companies drive Dublin’s data center demand.
Different from other cities in Europe, Dublin has a significant amount of data centers being self-built by their end users. Indeed, these include data center self-builds from Amazon Web Services, Facebook, and TikTok (owned by ByteDance). Overall, Dublin has 125 megawatts of supply, and availability of 10 megawatts, equating to a vacancy rate of 8%.
CyrusOne and EdgeConneX contribute to Dublin’s 55 megawatts of data center capacity under construction. Furthermore, the Dublin market has the potential to develop another 135 megawatts of power capacity over the coming years.
In 2020, absorption (or leasing) in Dublin has been 15 megawatts of power capacity. Indeed, this leasing has been led by Microsoft Azure. Beneficiaries of this leasing demand include data center provider Keppel DC REIT, as well as private operators EdgeConneX and K2 Data Centres.
