EMEA​ year end data centre report 2025

The EMEA data centre market stands at a pivotal moment, shaped by unprecedented demand, artificial intelligence adoption, and a fundamental geographical rebalancing.
 

• FLAP-D vacancy hits record low of 6.3%, pipeline is 83% pre-let. Capacity is being absorbed faster than it can be replaced. Pre-commitment is now the only viable route to securing meaningful capacity across Europe.
• Middle East under construction pipeline is double the existing capacity. Nine metros in the Middle East have 1 GW of total capacity, with 2.2 GW under construction and a further 12 GW planned. 
• AI could represent half of all data centre workloads by 2030. Neocloud signings for AI capacity almost tripled in 2025 across Europe. Inference is expected to overtake training by late 2026, driving distributed demand into new markets.
• Powered land cost gap widens, accelerating shift to secondary markets. Primary markets command on average up to 3.1x premiums over tertiary or regional locations. With grid lead times of up to ten years, over half of AI growth is expected in Tier 2 and emerging markets.

The FLAP-D markets (Frankfurt, London, Amsterdam, Paris and Dublin) have grown from 1.8 GW of combined live capacity in 2019 to 3.6 GW by 2025, representing more than a doubling of capacity in six years. This growth is more remarkable given that most of these markets have operated under significant development constraints.

Frankfurt and London have been the primary beneficiaries of constrained supply elsewhere, absorbing a significant share of demand that may otherwise have been directed elsewhere.

In December 2025, Ireland's Commission for Regulation of Utilities lifted the moratorium, subject to a requirement that any new data centre seeking a grid connection must install on-site generation or battery systems capable of meeting its full electricity demand.

Colocation vacancy rates have fallen sharply since 2021, with the weighted average across FLAP-D dropping from a high of 16.9% to a record low of 6.3% in Q4 2025. The direction of travel is unambiguous; capacity is being absorbed faster than it can be replaced.

The pre-leasing dynamic is now defining how occupiers must approach the market. London has 302 MW capacity in its pipeline, followed by Frankfurt with 279 MW, but operators seeking space cannot wait for new supply to arrive. With vacancy this tight, committing to space well ahead of requirements is no longer a strategy, it is a necessity.

Finding contiguous space of 10 MW or more has become increasingly difficult, with occupiers of that scale largely focused on the construction pipeline rather than existing availability.

The Middle East data centremarket is on the cusp of a significant expansion, with 2.2 GW currently under construction concentrated across ninemetros. This is more that double the current total capacity of 1 GW. A further 12 GW is in the planning stages, pointing to sustained growth well beyond the current development cycle.

This momentum reflects a broader structural shift, with the region’s total data centre capacity forecast to quadruple over the next five years, driven by AI adoption, cloud demand and substantial sovereign investment.

The UAE is the region’s most established market, with Abu Dhabi and Dubai accounting for 602 MW of total capacity. However, Saudi Arabia is closing the gap, with Riyadh having 1.4 GW currently under construction and a further 5.2 GW of planned capacity. This reflects the Kingdom’s growing ambition, underpinned by significant sovereign programmes.

Powered land costs vary significantly across Europe, reflecting the maturity and infrastructure density of each market. On average, primary markets command a 1.7x premium over secondary locations and 3.1x over tertiary. The spread is particularly pronounced when viewed within individual countries, reaching up to 8.8x in the UK. This variation is increasingly structural, driven by rising land values, grid constraints, and connection lead times stretching to 10 years in established hubs.

Cost is only one dimension of location strategy. Latency, connectivity and proximity to customers continue to anchor occupiers to primary markets. The landscape is beginning to shift. Vacancy rates are at record lows; several secondary markets now exceed 100 MW of capacity, and over half of forecast AI growth is expected to concentrate in the Nordics and Tier 2 markets. As project sizes scale with AI workloads, the cost differential between tiers will become an increasingly decisive factor in site selection.