Chile Data Center Market Size and Share
Market Overview
| Study Period | 2019 - 2030 |
|---|---|
| Base Year For Estimation | 2024 |
| Forecast Data Period | 2025 - 2030 |
| Market Size (2025) | USD 0.82 Billion |
| Market Size (2030) | USD 1.24 Billion |
| Growth Rate (2025 - 2030) | 8.62% CAGR |
| Market Concentration | Medium |
Major Players
*Disclaimer: Major Players sorted in no particular order Image © Mordor Intelligence. Reuse requires attribution under CC BY 4.0. |
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Chile Data Center Market Analysis by Mordor Intelligence
The Chile Data Center Market size is estimated at USD 0.82 billion in 2025, and is expected to reach USD 1.24 billion by 2030, at a CAGR of 8.62% during the forecast period (2025-2030). In terms of installed base, the market is expected to grow from 385.5 megawatt in 2025 to 552.30 megawatt by 2030, at a CAGR of 7.46% during the forecast period (2025-2030). All capacity metrics, including segment estimates, are stated in megawatts. Aggressive capital deployments by hyperscalers, the build-out of a trans-Pacific subsea cable network, and Chile's 69.9% low-carbon power mix combine to reinforce the country's role as a regional connectivity bridge between Latin America and the Asia-Pacific. The IT load capacity is expected to expand from 385 MW in 2025 to 552 MW by 2030, underscoring the infrastructure-intensive nature of this growth wave. Meanwhile, sub-5% vacancy rates in Santiago signal persistent supply constraints that drive up land and power prices, prompting operators to shift toward secondary hubs and innovative cooling technologies. Large allocations to renewable power purchase agreements protect operators from electricity-price volatility, while a new cybersecurity law raises the technical bar for compliance and favors certified Tier 3 and Tier 4 facilities.
Key Report Takeaways
- By data center size, medium facilities held 30.56% of the Chile data center market share in 2024, while large-scale facilities are forecast to register an 8.20% CAGR to 2030.
- By tier type, Tier 3 infrastructure accounted for 72.42% of the Chile data center market size in 2024, whereas Tier 4 led growth with a 9.20% CAGR through 2030.
- By data center type, colocation services captured 56.13% share of the Chile data center market size in 2024, and hyperscale/self-built projects are expected to expand at a 9.50% CAGR to 2030.
- By end user, IT and telecom accounted for 48.50% share of the Chile data center market size in 2024, while banking and financial services are projected to accelerate at an 8.39% CAGR between 2025 and 2030.
- By hotspot, Santiago retained the largest share of the Chilean data center market in 2024, yet the Rest of Chile segment is on track to post the fastest growth, at an 8.59% CAGR, through 2030.
Chile Data Center Market Trends and Insights
Drivers Impact Analysis
| Driver | (~) % Impact on CAGR Forecast | Geographic Relevance | Impact Timeline |
|---|---|---|---|
| Surge in hyperscaler capital inflows | +2.1% | National - focus on Santiago and Quilicura | Medium term (2-4 years) |
| Strengthening subsea cable ecosystem | +1.8% | Valparaíso landing and prospective Arica link | Long term (≥ 4 years) |
| Renewable-energy cost advantage | +1.5% | Strongest in Antofagasta and northern zones | Long term (≥ 4 years) |
| Rapid growth in mobile and internet traffic | +1.3% | Urban clusters, chiefly Santiago | Short term (≤ 2 years) |
| Deregulated environmental permitting for DCs | +0.9% | Immediate relief for Santiago and new hubs | Short term (≤ 2 years) |
| Government Digital Investment Platform roll-out | +0.6% | Coordinated across all regions | Medium term (2-4 years) |
| Source: Mordor Intelligence | |||
Surge in Hyperscaler Capital Inflows
Amazon’s USD 4 billion, 15-year “Proyecto Pablo” exemplifies unprecedented confidence in the Chilean data center market and signals a structural commitment to regional data sovereignty. [1]Blanca Dulanto, “Amazon Web Services invertirá USD 4 billion en Santiago,” Diario Financiero, df.cl Microsoft has pledged USD 3.3 billion for three renewable-powered campuses, deepening competition for skilled labor and power interconnection slots. These long-dated allocations crowd in secondary investments from contractors, network providers, and specialized construction firms, catalyzing a multiplier effect across Chile’s digital economy. Capital concentration in Santiago highlights the city’s fiber density and skilled workforce, yet new policy incentives are nudging future builds northward toward Antofagasta’s solar-rich desert corridors. The extended investment horizon diminishes boom-and-bust cycles and provides clarity for municipal infrastructure planning. As self-builds eclipse lease models, landlords must recalibrate portfolios toward wholesale colocation and edge formats.
Strengthening Subsea Cable Ecosystem
Google’s 14,800-kilometer Humboldt cable will deliver 144 Tbps of capacity between Valparaíso and Sydney by 2027, establishing Chile as Latin America’s first direct gateway to Asia-Pacific. [2]Deutsche Welle Staff, “Chile and Google sign first-of-its-kind deal for undersea cable,” dw.com The system, paired with Curie and exploratory Antarctica links, reduces latency for cloud, fintech, and telehealth workloads routed through California today. Domestic carriers, such as Entel, have upgraded to 800G backbones, raising the technical ceiling for inter-data center traffic. Diversified landing points enhance route resiliency and reduce exposure to U.S. coastal disruptions, thereby increasing Chile’s attractiveness as a disaster-recovery node. Government co-investment through Desarrollo País illustrates rare alignment between public policy and hyperscaler roadmaps. As capacity scales, wholesale IP transit costs should edge downward, reinforcing Santiago’s role as a regional internet exchange and fueling further colocation uptake.
Renewable-Energy Cost Advantage
Low-carbon sources accounted for 69.9% of Chile’s grid mix in 2024, led by solar and wind, providing operators with a pricing hedge against fossil fuel volatility. [3]ClimateScope Analysts, “Climatescope 2024 – Chile,” global-climatescope.org Hyperscalers secure multi-decade power purchase agreements at predictable tariffs, an edge that reduces the total cost of ownership and supports corporate ESG mandates. The northern desert’s daytime solar surplus provides an attractive load-matching profile for large-scale facilities, while emerging battery energy-storage projects promise to smooth diurnal fluctuations. Microsoft’s full-renewable commitment through AES Andes sets a competitive benchmark that local operators emulate when courting global tenants. However, grid-connection queues and transmission bottlenecks can delay energization; hence, vertically integrated models, such as Scala Data Centers’ stake in Serena Energía, are gaining currency. Consistent policy trajectories toward an 80% renewable grid by 2030 further de-risk long-haul investment models.
Rapid Growth in Mobile and Internet Traffic
5G roll-out plans anticipate USD 3 billion in capex over five years, doubling antenna density to roughly 30,000 sites and triggering data-consumption spikes that land squarely in the Chile data center market. Edge-computing nodes for mining automation and low-latency trading support shift workloads closer to user clusters, intensifying demand for suburban and regional colocation footprints. Chile’s time-zone parity with New York promotes follow-the-sun DevOps workloads, enlarging nighttime traffic windows for backup and analytics tasks. Banking digitization, evidenced by Banco Itaú’s pledge to run fully in the cloud by 2028, adds heavy transactional loads that require stringent uptime and compliance assurances. As IoT sensors proliferate across mining, agriculture, and logistics, distributed inference workloads heighten the value of agile interconnect fabrics spanning major and minor Chilean metros.
Restraints Impact Analysis
| Restraint | (~) % Impact on CAGR Forecast | Geographic Relevance | Impact Timeline |
|---|---|---|---|
| Chronic water scarcity and drought risk | -1.7% | Central zones, mainly Santiago | Long term (≥ 4 years) |
| Limited land and power capacity in Santiago hub | -1.2% | Santiago and Quilicura | Medium term (2-4 years) |
| Rising construction costs for seismic resilient builds | -0.9% | Nationwide | Long term (≥ 4 years) |
| Skilled-labor shortages for specialized trades | -0.5% | Nationwide | Short term (≤ 2 years) |
| Source: Mordor Intelligence | |||
Chronic Water Scarcity and Drought Risk
Chile’s central region has faced cumulative precipitation losses of 26 millimeters per decade since 1961, imposing structural constraints on water-cooled data center designs. Google’s 2024 pause to redesign its Cerrillos project illustrates the capital and schedule penalties associated with retrofitting toward air cooling. Public activism, organized through groups such as Mosacat, has successfully petitioned regulators to revoke or amend environmental permits, adding headline risk and uncertainty to social license. Operators now submit water-usage-effectiveness metrics to the National Cybersecurity Agency, embedding reporting costs and stricter compliance gates into project pipelines. While closed-loop and direct-to-chip cooling promise significant water savings, they require higher upfront costs and specialized maintenance skill sets. Over time, these dynamics encourage the development of new capacity in northern desert regions, where atmospheric conditions favor air cooling and community water concerns are less acute.
Limited Land and Power Capacity in the Santiago Hub
In Santiago, vacancy rates below 5% and premium land valuations indicate a tight development window. Suitable parcels must satisfy fiber proximity, seismic codes, and grid access; competition among hyperscalers has multiplied land prices two- to four-fold since mid-2024. Grid-interconnection timelines stretch 18-24 months, obliging developers to finance dedicated substations, thereby raising pre-operational carrying costs. Transmission congestion in central Chile forces utility curtailments, complicating guarantee-of-supply clauses embedded in service-level agreements. Municipal permitting backlogs and citizen consultations further extend time-to-market, pushing expansion toward Quilicura, Antofagasta, and other zones offering cheaper land and abundant renewable power. These constraints collectively temper the headline CAGR translation into realized megawatt deployments within greater Santiago.
Segment Analysis
By Data Center Size: Medium Facilities Anchor Market Maturation
Medium-scale facilities controlled 30.56% of the Chile data center market share in 2024, attracting enterprises that require fault-tolerant environments without the capital burden of hyperscale footprints. Their balanced density profiles accommodate typical enterprise rack loads, supporting gradual cloud migration strategies. Large-scale facilities, however, are on course to register an 8.20% CAGR and will account for the largest incremental share of the Chile data center market size this decade as hyperscalers prefer fewer but denser complexes. Investors view the consolidation toward larger footprints as a hedge against rising land and power prices, because economies of scale improve power-usage effectiveness and spread fixed costs across bigger IT loads. Mega- and massive-scale categories garner outsized media attention yet remain niche, primarily driven by AI-centric deployments that require liquid cooling and very high rack densities. Small facilities persist in edge and latency-sensitive mining operations, offering localized compute near extraction sites where fiber reach is limited. Across tiers, the operating-expense advantage of larger halls, combined with improved airflow management, continues to erode the viability of stand-alone enterprise server rooms, funneling demand into professionally managed campuses.
The Chile data center market benefits from a regulatory backdrop that supports phased expansions, allowing operators to commission medium halls first and scale into large footprints once power and fiber upgrades are approved. Flexible zoning statutes in Quilicura and Antofagasta allow owners to append prefabricated modules to existing shells, thereby compressing deployment timelines compared to greenfield options in Santiago. Corporate occupiers are increasingly requesting contiguous growth rights in colocation contracts, a trend that aligns with the trend toward large facilities. Financial sponsors, such as private equity funds, favor these plug-ready parcels because they minimize entitlement risk, a key differentiator in a jurisdiction facing heightened community scrutiny over water use. Although medium facilities will retain their relevance in hybrid-cloud topologies, asset valuations now factor in optionality for future megawatt additions, reinforcing the premium commanded by sites with landbank headroom.
Note: Segment shares of all individual segments available upon report purchase
By Tier Type: Tier 3 Reigns, While Tier 4 Accelerates
Tier 3 facilities supplied 72.42% of 2024 deployments, solidifying their status as the default enterprise standard that strikes a balance between cost and resilience. The Chile data center market size associated with Tier 3 offerings benefits from concurrent maintainability, enabling operators to perform scheduled work without incurring downtime penalties. Tier 4’s 9.20% CAGR, however, highlights a structural shift among banking, fintech, and public-sector clients that cannot tolerate even the short maintenance windows acceptable under Tier 3. Chile’s recently enacted cybersecurity framework intensifies audit requirements and incident disclosure, nudging risk-averse tenants toward the extra redundancy delivered by Tier 4 architectures.
Lower-tier designs remain relevant for development and test environments where price sensitivity outweighs uptime assurances, yet their share continues to decline as cloud adoption expands. Differential pricing between Tier 3 and Tier 4 keeps narrowing because modular electrical designs and advances in switchgear reduce incremental CapEx. Vendors now market Tier 4 “lite” modules that can be bolted onto existing Tier 3 shells, offering step-up migration paths for colocation customers. In parallel, insurers factor tier certifications into cyber-risk underwriting, providing indirect financial incentives that elevate Tier 4’s total addressable demand pool. Over the forecast horizon, Tier 3 is expected to remain dominant in absolute megawatts; however, the highest rent premiums will concentrate in Tier 4 halls, which are tethered to sovereign cloud and regulated-industry workloads.
By Data Center Type: Colocation Democratizes Access
Colocation captured 56.13% of the 2024 value, providing enterprises with a capital-light route into the Chilean data center market. Wholesale suites dominate take-up as corporations seek entire rooms or cages to satisfy audit trails and comply with segregation requirements. Retail cabinet demand persists among start-ups and SaaS firms that prefer the flexibility of month-to-month contracts. The Chile data center market size associated with colocation will continue to expand, albeit at a slower pace than hyperscale/self-built projects, which are projected to grow at a 9.50% CAGR through 2030.
Hyperscalers now design customized campuses to integrate on-site substations and renewable arrays, a model that strengthens their bargaining power with utilities and contractors. Edge and enterprise on-premise nodes serve niche latency demands in mining and connected-vehicle pilots; however, their cumulative load remains modest compared with Santiago’s multi-availability-zone builds. Equinix’s 2022 acquisition of four Entel sites signaled the entrance of global platform operators eager to aggregate regional traffic and extend interconnection fabrics. As integration matures, cross-connect marketplaces deepen, improving stickiness and driving ancillary revenue streams such as managed firewalls and hybrid-cloud on-ramps. In the future, colocation landlords must differentiate via sustainability credentials, diverse carrier ecosystems, and transparent water stewardship to keep pace with the evolving procurement scorecards of multinational tenants.
By End User: IT and Telecom Hold Sway, BFSI Roars Ahead
IT and telecom firms accounted for 48.50% of the 2024 pie, reflecting their intrinsic dependency on low-latency interconnection and scalable compute. Network service providers anchor core routing infrastructure inside neutral facilities, turning data centers into de facto meet-me points for Chile’s internet backbone. The banking and financial services sector is poised for growth at an 8.39% CAGR, driven by cloud-native transformation initiatives focused on mobile banking, real-time payments, and AI-driven fraud analytics. Framework Law 21663 tightens data-residency and breach-notification rules, compelling banks to migrate into audited environments and spurring demand for Tier 4 capacity.
Government digitalization rides on the National Data Centers Plan’s multi-cloud state architecture, which favors regionally redundant footprints to bolster sovereign resilience. E-commerce growth since 2024 has persisted even as pandemic tailwinds faded, keeping content-delivery cache nodes humming and elevating seasonal load variability that colocation suppliers must now engineer into power reservations. Manufacturing adoption linked to Industry 4.0 initiatives places new sensors and analytics at the network edge, stimulating the deployment of micro-data centers near industrial parks. Media and entertainment firms are leveraging improved Asia-Pacific links for collaborative post-production workflows, further diversifying the tenant base within Chile’s largest carrier-neutral hubs.
Note: Segment shares of all individual segments available upon report purchase
By Hotspot: Santiago Dominates but Diversification Gains Traction
Santiago remains the epicenter of the Chilean data center market, with 148 MW of live inventory at the end of 2024 and a tight vacancy rate of below 5%, reflecting entrenched fiber density and enterprise clustering. Yet chronic drought, high land premiums, and complex permit pathways are redirecting incremental capacity to adjacent Quilicura and to resource-rich northern corridors. Quilicura enjoys favorable industrial zoning, shorter utility queues, and proximity to Google's existing campus, generating ecosystem externalities that lower new-entrant barriers.
The Rest of Chile segment will expand at an 8.59% CAGR, bolstered by Antofagasta's AI campus blueprint under the National Data Center Plan. Transmission schemes to evacuate solar surplus southward concurrently facilitate high-density computing parks co-located with renewable generation. Regional incentives include streamlined environmental appraisals and tax abatements that offset logistical overheads associated with less mature vendor ecosystems. For operators, geographic diversification hedges against seismic, water, and land-use risks while aligning with tenants' disaster-recovery architectures that require multi-region failover within national borders.
Geography Analysis
Santiago’s 148 MW installed base anchors the Chile data center market, but sub-5% vacancy and 23% year-over-year inventory growth strain power and land capacities. Operators navigate lengthy municipal approvals and rising water-efficiency mandates, increasing CapEx per delivered megawatt. Valleyed grid topology and population density nonetheless keep the capital indispensable for latency-sensitive national workloads. In response, developers employ prefabricated modules and commit to air cooling to accelerate time to market, despite resource constraints.
Quilicura serves as the primary spillover zone, offering lower plot prices, existing industrial permits, and robust roadway links that reduce the time required for heavy equipment transport. Google’s campus supplied the initial anchor tenant, catalyzing carrier presence and third-party managed-service clusters. Substation buildouts align with parallel industrial demand, facilitating capital outlays for shared infrastructure. Municipal outreach initiatives have streamlined citizen consultation requirements, reducing pre-construction timelines compared to central Santiago.
Beyond the capital, Antofagasta spearheads northern diversification, harnessing a solar capacity factor that exceeds 30% and offering ample desert land that meets seismic and flood-risk thresholds. Government classification of data centers as “strategic projects” expedites environmental evaluation and unlocks transmission credits for renewable co-location. The improved backbone fiber along the Pan-American Highway connects these remote campuses to Santiago’s exchange fabric, enabling active-active replication topologies. Regional universities provide STEM talent pools, while fiscal incentives counterbalance logistical premiums, ensuring that distributed capacity ramps align with national digital resilience objectives.
Competitive Landscape
International operators shape a moderately concentrated arena, where the top five players jointly control an estimated 66% of installed megawatts, resulting in a market concentration score of 6. Amazon’s self-built Santiago region exemplifies vertical control, integrating on-site substations and proprietary fiber spines that bypass carrier hotels. Microsoft adopts a similar model, pairing each campus with dedicated wind and solar procurement, which signals a sustainability-centric differentiation. Google’s focus on subsea cable origination positions its facilities as low-latency egress points to the Asia-Pacific region, adding a connectivity premium beyond plain colocation supply.
Global platform providers, such as Equinix and Digital Realty, expand through acquisition and greenfield builds to serve enterprises with high interconnection needs. Equinix’s USD 638 million purchase of Entel’s portfolio accelerated the depth of the cross-connect marketplace, while its forthcoming IBX in Santiago adds incremental capacity targeted at multi-cloud on-ramps. Scala Data Centers, backed by DigitalBridge, leverages standardized, modular designs to compress delivery cycles and has recently invested in wind generation to hedge its electricity exposure. Local incumbents, such as Entel, pivot toward managed services and edge deployments, preserving their relevance despite the momentum of hyperscalers building their own infrastructure.
Strategic moves in 2025 include Amazon’s purchase of reserve land parcels in Quilicura to secure future availability zones and Microsoft’s signing of a power-supply agreement that incorporates battery storage for peak shaving. Google partnered with the Chilean government to expedite the construction of the Humboldt cable, integrating public-private collaboration into its market strategy. Meanwhile, V.tal Tecto’s 200 MW land acquisition signals burgeoning interest from Brazilian-rooted players tapping cross-border digital flows. Competitive intensity now hinges on renewable procurement agility, water-neutral cooling designs, and local community engagement, reshaping the criteria by which tenants assess hosting partners.
Chile Data Center Industry Leaders
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Amazon Web Services, Inc.
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Google LLC
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Microsoft Corporation
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ODATA S.A.
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Equinix, Inc.
- *Disclaimer: Major Players sorted in no particular order
Recent Industry Developments
- June 2025: Google and the Chilean government signed an agreement to deploy the Humboldt Cable, a 14,800-kilometer trans-Pacific submarine fiber-optic system scheduled for Q4 2026 commercial service.
- May 2025: Amazon Web Services committed USD 4 billion over 15 years to establish an AWS South America (Chile) Region featuring three availability zones expected to go live in H2 2026.
- February 2025: Google confirmed its Quilicura data center expansion as part of the company’s ongoing global infrastructure program.
- January 2025: V.tal’s Tecto business unit bought land for a 200 MW hyperscale campus, marking its first Chilean footprint.
Chile Data Center Market Report Scope
Santiago are covered as segments by Hotspot. Large, Massive, Medium, Small are covered as segments by Data Center Size. Tier 1 and 2, Tier 3, Tier 4 are covered as segments by Tier Type. Non-Utilized, Utilized are covered as segments by Absorption.| Large |
| Massive |
| Medium |
| Mega |
| Small |
| Tier 1 and 2 |
| Tier 3 |
| Tier 4 |
| Hyperscale/Self-built | ||
| Enterprise/Edge | ||
| Colocation | Non-Utilized | |
| Utilized | Retail Colocation | |
| Wholesale Colocation | ||
| BFSI |
| IT and ITES |
| E-Commerce |
| Government |
| Manufacturing |
| Media and Entertainment |
| Telecom |
| Other End Users |
| Quilicura |
| Santiago |
| Rest of Chile |
| By Data Center Size | Large | ||
| Massive | |||
| Medium | |||
| Mega | |||
| Small | |||
| By Tier Type | Tier 1 and 2 | ||
| Tier 3 | |||
| Tier 4 | |||
| By Data Center Type | Hyperscale/Self-built | ||
| Enterprise/Edge | |||
| Colocation | Non-Utilized | ||
| Utilized | Retail Colocation | ||
| Wholesale Colocation | |||
| By End User | BFSI | ||
| IT and ITES | |||
| E-Commerce | |||
| Government | |||
| Manufacturing | |||
| Media and Entertainment | |||
| Telecom | |||
| Other End Users | |||
| By Hotspot | Quilicura | ||
| Santiago | |||
| Rest of Chile | |||
Market Definition
- IT LOAD CAPACITY - The IT load capacity or installed capacity, refers to the amount of energy consumed by servers and network equipments placed in a rack installed. It is measured in megawatt (MW).
- ABSORPTION RATE - It denotes the extend to which the data center capacity has been leased out. For instance, a 100 MW DC has leased out 75 MW, then absorption rate would be 75%. It is also referred as utilization rate and leased-out capacity.
- RAISED FLOOR SPACE - It is an elevated space build over the floor. This gap between the original floor and the elevated floor is used to accommodate wiring, cooling, and other data center equipment. This arrangement assist in having proper wiring and cooling infrastructure. It is measured in square feet (ft^2).
- DATA CENTER SIZE - Data Center Size is segmented based on the raised floor space allocated to the data center facilities. Mega DC - # of Racks must be more than 9000 or RFS (raised floor space) must be more than 225001 Sq. ft; Massive DC - # of Racks must be in between 9000 and 3001 or RFS must be in between 225000 Sq. ft and 75001 Sq. ft; Large DC - # of Racks must be in between 3000 and 801 or RFS must be in between 75000 Sq. ft and 20001 Sq. ft; Medium DC # of Racks must be in between 800 and 201 or RFS must be in between 20000 Sq. ft and 5001 Sq. ft; Small DC - # of Racks must be less than 200 or RFS must be less than 5000 Sq. ft.
- TIER TYPE - According to Uptime Institute the data centers are classified into four tiers based on the proficiencies of redundant equipment of the data center infrastructure. In this segment the data center are segmented as Tier 1,Tier 2, Tier 3 and Tier 4.
- COLOCATION TYPE - The segment is segregated into 3 categories namely Retail, Wholesale and Hyperscale Colocation service. The categorization is done based on the amount of IT load leased out to potential customers. Retail colocation service has leased capacity less than 250 kW; Wholesale colocation services has leased capacity between 251 kW and 4 MW and Hyperscale colocation services has leased capacity more than 4 MW.
- END CONSUMERS - The Data Center Market operates on a B2B basis. BFSI, Government, Cloud Operators, Media and Entertainment, E-Commerce, Telecom and Manufacturing are the major end-consumers in the market studied. The scope only includes colocation service operators catering to the increasing digitalization of the end-user industries.
| Keyword | Definition |
|---|---|
| Rack Unit | Generally referred as U or RU, it is the unit of measurement for the server unit housed in the racks in the data center. 1U is equal to 1.75 inches. |
| Rack Density | It defines the amount of power consumed by the equipment and server housed in a rack. It is measured in kilowatt (kW). This factor plays a critical role in data center design and, cooling and power planning. |
| IT Load Capacity | The IT load capacity or installed capacity, refers to the amount of energy consumed by servers and network equipment placed in a rack installed. It is measured in megawatt (MW). |
| Absorption Rate | It denotes how much of the data center capacity has been leased out. For instance, if a 100 MW DC has leased out 75 MW, then the absorption rate would be 75%. It is also referred to as utilization rate and leased-out capacity. |
| Raised Floor Space | It is an elevated space built over the floor. This gap between the original floor and the elevated floor is used to accommodate wiring, cooling, and other data center equipment. This arrangement assists in having proper wiring and cooling infrastructure. It is measured in square feet/meter. |
| Computer Room Air Conditioner (CRAC) | It is a device used to monitor and maintain the temperature, air circulation, and humidity inside the server room in the data center. |
| Aisle | It is the open space between the rows of racks. This open space is critical for maintaining the optimal temperature (20-25 °C) in the server room. There are primarily two aisles inside the server room, a hot aisle and a cold aisle. |
| Cold Aisle | It is the aisle wherein the front of the rack faces the aisle. Here, chilled air is directed into the aisle so that it can enter the front of the racks and maintain the temperature. |
| Hot Aisle | It is the aisle where the back of the racks faces the aisle. Here, the heat dissipated from the equipment’s in the rack is directed to the outlet vent of the CRAC. |
| Critical Load | It includes the servers and other computer equipment whose uptime is critical for data center operation. |
| Power Usage Effectiveness (PUE) | It is a metric which defines the efficiency of a data center. It is calculated by: (𝑇𝑜𝑡𝑎𝑙 𝐷𝑎𝑡𝑎 𝐶𝑒𝑛𝑡𝑒𝑟 𝐸𝑛𝑒𝑟𝑔𝑦 𝐶𝑜𝑛𝑠𝑢𝑚𝑝𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛)/(𝑇𝑜𝑡𝑎𝑙 𝐼𝑇 𝐸𝑞𝑢𝑖𝑝𝑚𝑒𝑛𝑡 𝐸𝑛𝑒𝑟𝑔𝑦 𝐶𝑜𝑛𝑠𝑢𝑚𝑝𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛). Further, a data center with a PUE of 1.2-1.5 is considered highly efficient, whereas, a data center with a PUE >2 is considered highly inefficient. |
| Redundancy | It is defined as a system design wherein additional component (UPS, generators, CRAC) is added so that in case of power outage, equipment failure, the IT equipment should not be affected. |
| Uninterruptible Power Supply (UPS) | It is a device that is connected in series with the utility power supply, storing energy in batteries such that the supply from UPS is continuous to IT equipment even during utility power is snapped. The UPS primarily supports the IT equipment only. |
| Generators | Just like UPS, generators are placed in the data center to ensure an uninterrupted power supply, avoiding downtime. Data center facilities have diesel generators and commonly, 48-hour diesel is stored in the facility to prevent disruption. |
| N | It denotes the tools and equipment required for a data center to function at full load. Only "N" indicates that there is no backup to the equipment in the event of any failure. |
| N+1 | Referred to as 'Need plus one', it denotes the additional equipment setup available to avoid downtime in case of failure. A data center is considered N+1 when there is one additional unit for every 4 components. For instance, if a data center has 4 UPS systems, then for to achieve N+1, an additional UPS system would be required. |
| 2N | It refers to fully redundant design wherein two independent power distribution system is deployed. Therefore, in the event of a complete failure of one distribution system, the other system will still supply power to the data center. |
| In-Row Cooling | It is the cooling design system installed between racks in a row where it draws warm air from the hot aisle and supplies cool air to the cold aisle, thereby maintaining the temperature. |
| Tier 1 | Tier classification determines the preparedness of a data center facility to sustain data center operation. A data center is classified as Tier 1 data center when it has a non-redundant (N) power component (UPS, generators), cooling components, and power distribution system (from utility power grids). The Tier 1 data center has an uptime of 99.67% and an annual downtime of <28.8 hours. |
| Tier 2 | A data center is classified as Tier 2 data center when it has a redundant power and cooling components (N+1) and a single non-redundant distribution system. Redundant components include extra generators, UPS, chillers, heat rejection equipment, and fuel tanks. The Tier 2 data center has an uptime of 99.74% and an annual downtime of <22 hours. |
| Tier 3 | A data center having redundant power and cooling components and multiple power distribution systems is referred to as a Tier 3 data center. The facility is resistant to planned (facility maintenance) and unplanned (power outage, cooling failure) disruption. The Tier 3 data center has an uptime of 99.98% and an annual downtime of <1.6 hours. |
| Tier 4 | It is the most tolerant type of data center. A Tier 4 data center has multiple, independent redundant power and cooling components and multiple power distribution paths. All IT equipment are dual powered, making them fault tolerant in case of any disruption, thereby ensuring interrupted operation. The Tier 4 data center has an uptime of 99.74% and an annual downtime of <26.3 minutes. |
| Small Data Center | Data center that has floor space area of ≤ 5,000 Sq. ft or the number of racks that can be installed is ≤ 200 is classified as a small data center. |
| Medium Data Center | Data center which has floor space area between 5,001-20,000 Sq. ft, or the number of racks that can be installed is between 201-800, is classified as a medium data center. |
| Large Data Center | Data center which has floor space area between 20,001-75,000 Sq. ft, or the number of racks that can be installed is between 801-3,000, is classified as a large data center. |
| Massive Data Center | Data center which has floor space area between 75,001-225,000 Sq. ft, or the number of racks that can be installed is between 3001-9,000, is classified as a massive data center. |
| Mega Data Center | Data center that has a floor space area of ≥ 225,001 Sq. ft or the number of racks that can be installed is ≥ 9001 is classified as a mega data center. |
| Retail Colocation | It refers to those customers who have a capacity requirement of 250 kW or less. These services are majorly opted by small and medium enterprises (SMEs). |
| Wholesale Colocation | It refers to those customers who have a capacity requirement between 250 kW to 4 MW. These services are majorly opted by medium to large enterprises. |
| Hyperscale Colocation | It refers to those customers who have a capacity requirement greater than 4 MW. The hyperscale demand primarily originates from large-scale cloud players, IT companies, BFSI, and OTT players (like Netflix, Hulu, and HBO+). |
| Mobile Data Speed | It is the mobile internet speed a user experiences via their smartphones. This speed is primarily dependent on the carrier technology being used in the smartphone. The carrier technologies available in the market are 2G, 3G, 4G, and 5G, where 2G provides the slowest speed while 5G is the fastest. |
| Fiber Connectivity Network | It is a network of optical fiber cables deployed across the country, connecting rural and urban regions with high-speed internet connection. It is measured in kilometer (km). |
| Data Traffic per Smartphone | It is a measure of average data consumption by a smartphone user in a month. It is measured in gigabyte (GB). |
| Broadband Data Speed | It is the internet speed that is supplied over the fixed cable connection. Commonly, copper cable and optic fiber cable are used in both residential and commercial use. Here, optic cable fiber provides faster internet speed than copper cable. |
| Submarine Cable | A submarine cable is a fiber optic cable laid down at two or more landing points. Through this cable, communication and internet connectivity between countries across the globe is established. These cables can transmit 100-200 terabits per second (Tbps) from one point to another. |
| Carbon Footprint | It is the measure of carbon dioxide generated during the regular operation of a data center. Since, coal, and oil & gas are the primary source of power generation, consumption of this power contributes to carbon emissions. Data center operators are incorporating renewable energy sources to curb the carbon footprint emerging in their facilities. |
Research Methodology
Mordor Intelligence follows a four-step methodology in all our reports.
- Step-1: Identify Key Variables: In order to build a robust forecasting methodology, the variables and factors identified in Step-1 are tested against available historical market numbers. Through an iterative process, the variables required for market forecast are set and the model is built on the basis of these variables.
- Step-2: Build a Market Model: Market-size estimations for the forecast years are in nominal terms. Inflation is not a part of the pricing, and the average selling price (ASP) is kept constant throughout the forecast period for each country.
- Step-3: Validate and Finalize: In this important step, all market numbers, variables and analyst calls are validated through an extensive network of primary research experts from the market studied. The respondents are selected across levels and functions to generate a holistic picture of the market studied.
- Step-4: Research Outputs: Syndicated Reports, Custom Consulting Assignments, Databases & Subscription Platforms
