There are now more than 500 hyperscale data centers worldwide: Synergy Research
Synergy Research Group says the number of hyperscale data centers reached 504 during the third quarter of 2019. The number has tripled since the beginning of 2013, with the builds in the Europe/Middle East/Asia (EMEA) and Asia-Pacific regions showing the most current growth. However, the market research firm says the U.S. still accounts for almost 40% of the major cloud and internet data center sites (see graph above).
Other popular locations for large data centers include China, Japan, the UK, Germany, and Australia; those countries combine for another 32% of the total large data center count. Synergy Research says that over the past 12 months, hyperscale operators have opened new data centers in 15 countries, with the U.S., Hong Kong, Switzerland, and China leading the way. Amazon and Microsoft opened the most new data centers within the past 12 months, accounting for more than half of the total. Google and Alibaba were the next most active companies. Synergy suggests that more than 70% of all hyperscale data centers are located in facilities that are leased from data center operators or are owned by partners of the hyperscale operators.
“There were more new hyperscale data centers opened in the last four quarters than in the preceding four quarters, with activity being driven in particular by continued strong growth in cloud services and social networking,” commented John Dinsdale, a chief analyst and research director at Synergy Research Group. “This is good news for wholesale data center operators and for vendors supplying the hardware that goes into those data centers. In addition to the 504 current hyperscale data centers we have visibility of a further 151 that are at various stages of planning or building, showing that there is no end in sight to the data center building boom.”
Synergy Research Group says its information is based on an analysis of the data center footprint of 20 of the world’s major cloud and internet service firms, including what it asserts are the largest operators in SaaS, IaaS, PaaS, search, social networking, e-commerce, and gaming. Not surprisingly, the companies with the broadest data center footprint are Amazon, Microsoft, Google, and IBM. Each has 60 or more data center locations with at least three in each of the four major world regions – North America, APAC, EMEA, and Latin America. Synergy says that Oracle also has a broad data center presence, while the remaining hyperscale data center operators tend to focus their data center efforts primarily in either the U.S. (Apple, Facebook, Twitter, eBay, Yahoo) or China (Alibaba, Baidu, Tencent).
Synergy provides quarterly market size and segmentation data on cloud and related markets, including company revenues by segment and by region.
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Stephen Hardy | Editorial Director and Associate Publisher, Lightwave
Stephen Hardy is editorial director and associate publisher of Lightwave and Broadband Technology Report, part of the Lighting & Technology Group at Endeavor Business Media. Stephen is responsible for establishing and executing editorial strategy across the both brands’ websites, email newsletters, events, and other information products. He has covered the fiber-optics space for more than 20 years, and communications and technology for more than 35 years. During his tenure, Lightwave has received awards from Folio: and the American Society of Business Press Editors (ASBPE) for editorial excellence. Prior to joining Lightwave in 1997, Stephen worked for Telecommunications magazine and the Journal of Electronic Defense.
Stephen has moderated panels at numerous events, including the Optica Executive Forum, ECOC, and SCTE Cable-Tec Expo. He also is program director for the Lightwave Innovation Reviews and the Diamond Technology Reviews.
He has written numerous articles in all aspects of optical communications and fiber-optic networks, including fiber to the home (FTTH), PON, optical components, DWDM, fiber cables, packet optical transport, optical transceivers, lasers, fiber optic testing, and more.
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