Introduction

Covid-19 definitely was a tipping point for the data centre sector. The pandemic propelled the world online whilst changing our way of living, consuming, working and learning for good. Consequently, the demand for data storage has been growing massively since 2020, and the data boom is expected to continue for the next five years (and beyond).

In the current lacklustre economic context, the industry stands out as a beacon of light, notably for investors and operators. That said, the sector is facing some significant challenges, of which securing power has recently become a critical one. Additionally, whilst data centre operators have generally been proactive in “greening” their portfolio, the gap to fully embracing ESG standards remains significant, most notably for older data centres. Finally, the undersupply of equipment due to supply chain disruption and the labour shortage is causing some extended lead time.

_{Read the articles within Spotlight: European Data Centres below.}