Cloud Computing Power Trends in EMEA

Europe's data center market is functionally sold out. That's not hyperbole. It's what the numbers say. FLAP-D vacancy has fallen to a record low of 6.3%: down from 16.9% in 2021. And 83% of the entire construction pipeline is already pre-leased. The market hasn't just tightened. It has effectively closed to anyone who isn't already in the queue. Pre-commitment is no longer a strategy. It is the only route. What's accelerating this is clear. AI capacity signings from neocloud providers almost tripled across Europe in 2025 alone. And the demand profile is about to shift again. Inference workloads are expected to overtake training by late 2026, which means demand becomes more distributed, more latency-sensitive, and harder to consolidate into a handful of hyperscale campuses. The capacity question stops being just how much, and starts being where exactly. Finding contiguous space of 10 MW or more in the primary European markets has become extremely difficult through conventional channels. For requirements at that scale, the construction pipeline is the market now, and most of it is already spoken for. Knight Frank estimates EMEA alone will need £422 billion in capital investment to deliver what demand requires. That number reflects not just the scale of the opportunity, but the weight of the constraints, power, permits, supply chain, execution capacity. The platforms that have locked in grid connections, planning approvals, and anchor customer commitments are playing a completely different game from those still building their power story. Speed got you into this market. Execution is what keeps you in it. The real question now is not whether demand exists. It is whether your platform can actually deliver, and whether the capacity you're banking on will still be yours when the next wave arrives.

EMEA’s cloud story has hit a tipping point: maturity is on the rise, but differentiated value now depends on sovereignty, architecture and AI you can actually run.  PwC’s 2025 EMEA Cloud Business Survey captures how technology and business leaders across the region are using cloud to drive transformation, resilience and growth. The headline: progress is real, but the path to value is shifting from migration to optimisation and innovation. Some figures that stood out to me: ☁️ Maturity vs. execution gap: 80% report medium or high cloud maturity, yet only 5% have implemented all core initiatives.  ☁️ Reshaping design: 82% are refining cloud due to geopolitics and regulation - data residency, lawful access and exit strategies are now architectural choices, not afterthoughts.  ☁️ Architecting for scale and sovereignty: 94% plan to adjust architecture for scale, flexibility and sovereignty.  ☁️ Multi-cloud is default; discipline isn’t: 79% are multi‑cloud. 86% say AI drives provider choice, yet only 29% are scaling it. My take: cloud is no longer just technology - it’s the operating fabric for innovation, resilience and competitive growth. Build trust and sovereignty by design, make multi‑cloud work in practice, and move beyond migration to real business value with agentic AI. Explore the data, findings and benchmark your next moves: 🔗https://bit.ly/3JAk77U A huge congratulations to everyone involved in bringing this flagship report to life! Your valuable perspectives and efforts have helped share this truly impactful report Sebastian Paas ☁Kevin Doig Stephane Zema Claudius Meyer Rajat Chowdhary Nicola Sfondrini Florence Kuentz Tara Osborne and many more! #CloudTransformation #DigitalResilience #AI #DigitalSovereignty #PwC’s2025EMEACloudBusinessSurvey 

Knight Frank’s recently released 2025 Annual Global Data Centre Market Forecast report provides valuable data center market intelligence. Although DeepSeek and additional market disruptors have caused recent waves, the report rightly states that it is important to consider that the performance of the DC market is not wholly at the hands of AI/GPU chips. The overarching fact for nearly all markets is that known future cloud, enterprise & AI demand outstrips cumulative known future supply. The 2025 data centre industry looks set for unprecedented expansion, with some associated headwinds, including power availability with grid constraints and surging demand for power, which is the number one industry challenge. Sustainability is now moving beyond efficiency at varying rates around the globe. Regulation and investor pressure are accelerating the shift to net-zero operations. Technological advances such as AI, HPC, increased density workload computing, and hybrid cloud adoption are reshaping infrastructure demands. The report Forecasts Global Live IT Capacity (MW), including colocation, self-build, and built-to-suit capacities, from 2024 to 2026. The data shows Global capacity growing at a 20.7% CAGR to 66,504MW; Americas at 24.1% CAGR to 34,589MW; EMEA at 20% CAGR to 14,810MW; and APAC at 15% CAGR to 17,105MW. Four of the five top 2026 forecasted territories for Live IT Capacity (MW) are from North America, with Ashburn taking the top spot with 6,623MW (25.6% CAGR); London, UK, Europe break into that top five with 1,828MW (16.5% CAGR). It is clear to recognise that industry expansion continues to cause deep questions and some opposition, especially in the form of environment and sustainability. That pressure will likely call on developers and operators to be more transparent, collaborative, and sustainability-conscious, requiring better PR in the coming year to make its case or suffer. Climate change and sustainability will not go away; there is a significant level of investment in AI - without the exception of some Hyperscale, it has not yet really begun. The world needs to work out and reconcile - the significant challenges are yet to begin. Sooner or later, it will come down to individual decisions at individual sites. Grid demand will require active participation from DCs as utility providers feel they need to get ‘control’ of what is happening in the DC sector. Consequently, large campuses will continue to look to on-site power generation (renewables, gas turbines, small modular reactors (SMRs)) to drive self-sufficiency and load regulation with utility providers. Access the Knight-Frank report via https://lnkd.in/e2Sj2Wnb #GlobalDataCenters #GlobalDataCentres #DataCenters #DataCentres #DataCenterIndustry #DataCenterMaket #DataCenterIndustryNews #DataCenterMarketIntelligence #DataCenterForecastsReport #KnightFrank Stephen Beard Fred Fitzalan Howard

AI to drive 160% increase in data centre power, European grid issues Summary: Data center power requirements are projected to nearly double by 2030, significantly straining the European power grid. According to Goldman Sachs Research, AI and cloud services will drive this surge, increasing data center power demand from 400 TWh (1-2% of overall power) to over 1000 TWh (3-4%). This represents a 160% increase. The European grid, already the oldest in the world, will require nearly €800 billion in spending on transmission and distribution, and an additional €850 billion on renewable energy sources like solar and wind. In the US, data centers are expected to consume 8% of power by 2030, up from 3% in 2022. US utilities will need to invest around $50 billion in new generation capacity to meet this demand. Despite Microsoft's use of 100% renewable power for its data centers, it may still struggle to meet its 2030 environmental targets due to the growing demand for AI. The analysis does not account for potential improvements in power supply efficiency, such as the use of gallium nitride switching at higher frequencies to reduce conversion losses. #DataCenters #AI #PowerGrid #EuropeEnergy #RenewableEnergy #Sustainability #TechGrowth #EnergyEfficiency #CloudComputing #Investment #GreenTech https://lnkd.in/gfNRpgtX

For years, the highway was the only way. Then it turned into a parking lot. The side roads became the opportunity. Datacentre space followed the same logic: - everyone wanted to be in Frankfurt, London or Dublin (FLAP-D) to host their precious compute. - then AI arrived. - the usual datacentre hubs ran out of space, power, and patience. Large deployments became out of the question. No availability. How did the markets evolved following this important constraint? I have spent the last 7 years advising datacentre customers looking to deploy their servers in different locations across EMEA. Here is my take on 2025 growth in datacentre strongest growth markets: 🏆Nordics Characteristics of the market: - abundant land & power - great natural conditions: cool weather - championing sovereign cloud for local customers Notable fact: Finland has the cheapest power in Europe and by far. 🏆Spain, Italy, Portugal Characteristics of the market: - catching up with the rest of West Europe in the number of the datacentre facilities - strong institutional support & drive - strategic locations with subsea cables (Lisbon, Genova) Notable fact: Sines giga campus in Portugal uses seawater for cooling achieving near-zero water consumption. 🏆Baltics Characteristics of the market: - space & power availability - affordable space rates (with power costs comparable to EU average) - Baltic Highway; high capacity fiber optics network Notable fact: network providers-driven market with local players & growing enterprise segment 🏆East Africa Characteristics of the market: - critical for improving intra-African latency - second largest datacentre market in Sub-Saharan Africa by capacity - natural energy power house (Kenya with geo-thermal) Notable fact: Microsoft among the investors in the massive Olkaria campus powered by geo-thermal (100 MW to 1 GW power planned) In short, growth is abundant & "other" regions are catching up, strengthening their position and offerings for global demand. This trend will likely continue in 2026. Stronger regions. Stronger and more diversified sector. P. S. Which region or country do you think, will grow the most in 2026?

Did you see what Oracle just did in EMEA? They have committed $2B to Frankfurt and $1B to Amsterdam over the next five years to expand their AI ready cloud infrastructure. This move follows the $5B committed to the UK and over $1B in Spain earlier in the year, showing us a coordinated pan European strategy targeting high value, highly regulated cloud markets. Germany and the Netherlands are among the most tightly regulated countries in Europe for physical data center deployments. Oracle aren’t avoiding these markets, they’re leaning in, why? ✅ infrastructure in these locations offer High density enterprise and government workloads ✅ Established interconnection hubs ✅ Sovereign cloud demand tied to EU and national data laws Building in these regions = complex long term operational and market access advantages = huge. watch this space… #AI #Oracle #datacenter #WeAreOverwatch