America's data center dominance grows stronger
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The United States has tightened its grip on global hyperscale data center infrastructure, now accounting for 15 of the world's 20 largest markets.
Northern Virginia remains the largest single market, housing nearly 12% of global hyperscale capacity and approximately 250 data centers within Loudoun County.
However, rapid growth elsewhere suggests America's data center expansion is spreading beyond established hubs as power, land, incentives, and opposition influence investment.
The figures from Synergy Research Group show 20 state or metropolitan markets currently account for 60% of worldwide hyperscale data center capacity.
Northern Virginia and the Greater Beijing Area alone represent 17% of global capacity, followed by Oregon, Iowa, Ohio, Dallas-Fort Worth, Dublin, and Shanghai.
Fifteen of those 20 leading markets are located in America, while Asia-Pacific contains four and Europe has only one, in Dublin.
The balance has shifted further toward America during the past two years, reducing the number of non-US markets within the top 20.
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Tokyo and Sydney have fallen from the ranking since last year, alongside South Carolina, while Indiana, Tennessee, and Guangdong entered.
Synergy says America's advantage partly comes from corporate concentration, because 62% of the world's hyperscale operators are headquartered in the U.S.
The country's enormous cloud market also matters, with the US accounting for almost half of revenues across several important segments.
Amazon, Microsoft, and Google have the broadest infrastructure footprints and together control 57% of worldwide hyperscale data center capacity.
“A range of factors influence the choice of location for hyperscale infrastructure, including customers, real estate, power, networking infrastructure, incentives, and political stability,” said John Dinsdale, Chief Analyst at Synergy Research Group.