More than 300 new hyperscale datacentres in development globally

The number of hyperscale datacentre facilities in operation across the world is on course to hit the 1,200 mark by the end of 2026, according to forecast data shared by Synergy Research Group.

This prediction is based on the analyst house’s hyperscale market tracker service, which is designed to keep tabs on the activities of 19 cloud and internet service provider companies that meet its hyperscale definition criteria.

At the end of 2021, there was a total of 728 hyperscale facilities in operation around the world, its data shows. And – with a further 314 already in the pipeline – the installed base of large-scale server farms is on course to exceed the 1,000 mark in three years’ time, and will continue to grow rapidly in the years that follow.

“When added to the 728 hyperscale datacentres that were in operation at the end of 2021 and factoring in [the] many new datacentre plans that will be announced over the next two to three years, we forecast that by the end of 2026 there will be an installed base of nearly 1,200 hyperscale datacentres around the world,” said John Dinsdale, chief analyst at Synergy Research Group.

Almost 40% of the world’s operational hyperscale datacentres are located in the US, and the bulk of the developments in the pipeline will also be US-based, with China and Ireland name-checked as the second and third countries with the most new builds planned.

“Currently the US is the nexus of hyperscale activity and that will not change over the next five years, as it is by far the most common location for datacentres in the pipeline,” said Dinsdale. “The other countries that feature most prominently in the pipeline are China, Ireland, India, Spain, Israel, Canada, Italy, Australia and the UK.

“While some of the pipeline represents a continuation of past deployment patterns, there are also some changes. As an example, while the Middle East has not featured much in terms of past hyperscale datacentre activity, the pipeline shows much more focus on that region over the coming years.”

In line with past predictions and forecasts by Synergy, while the number of hyperscale facilities is set to soar, so will the average size of these super-sized server farms in the years ahead.

“The future looks bright for hyperscale operators, with double-digit annual growth in total revenues supported in large part by cloud revenues that will be growing in the 20-30% per year range,” said Dinsdale. “This in turn will drive strong growth in capital expenditure generally and in datacentre spending specifically.

“While we see the geographic distribution, build-versus-lease distribution, average datacentre size and spending mix by datacentre component all continuing to evolve, we predict continued rapid growth throughout the hyperscale datacentres ecosystem. Companies that can successfully target that ecosystem with their product offerings have plenty of reasons for optimism.”