“The current global data center expansion primarily focuses on previously underserved markets — the huge tier-one markets that never were,” says Dr. Glen Duncan, Data Center Research Lead, APAC, JLL.

Among the top cities with the highest completions expected this year are emerging hub markets such as Mumbai, Madrid, and Atlanta that have developed more recently than established data center hubs.

While the rise of artificial intelligence (AI) has accelerated development, exponential growth in data center infrastructure was already underway to support demand from legacy cloud-based applications and workloads, Duncan explains.

“The completions coming through this year were planned and approved prior to the AI boom, which means the market’s undersupply issue will likely persist regardless of recent AI advancements.”