Overview
EMEA SUMMARY
We are pleased to present our Q1 2021 review of the EMEA data centre market where the overriding factor of influence on market activity remains Covid 19. Over the past 15 months, the pandemic has highlighted to all businesses types the importance of robust IT infrastructure. Local and national lockdowns have forced an unprecedented upturn in demand for digital services to maintain some sort of business operation and in some cases ensure business survival.
For data centres, this has translated into magnification of the traditional “buy” cycle and initiated a record level of development. Although, the first quarter has registered a slight slowing in some markets, digital resilience and agility will undoubtedly be a key area of businesses investment moving forward as ‘Just in Case’ strategies emerge. Absorption of new capacity readied in 2020 therefore, we expect to be swift, thus prompting continued commitments to bring new facilities online in 2022 and beyond.
Of the leading markets in the first quarter, development has been most notable in Dublin (108 MW added in Q1), London (40 MW), and Zurich (33 MW added).
Dublin continues to be a leading target for hyperscale cloud providers and other segments, with 17 percent share of aggregate supply across EMEA. Dublin added 108 MW of new supply in Q1, a significant expansion exceeding the total registered in Q1 2020. Additional new supply is expected in 2021, as Amazon has approval for two data centres in Clonshaugh totaling 48 MW, while Microsoft has approval for two data centres next to its existing campus totaling 60 MW. At the wholesale level, Equinix has begun construction on DB5x.
London registered 40 MW of new supply in Q1 2021, with Equinix, Virtus, and Ark opening facilities. Pure began construction on a data centre additionally. Furthermore, Ark Data Centres and Vantage have plans for 130 MW and 40 MW respectively although construction is yet to begin.
Zurich, meanwhile, has seen rapid growth. In Q1 2021 just over 30 MW was added to market capacity, following on from the 100 MW added in 2020. The highlights include, Green Datacenter investing £400m into a second data center campus. Equinix is also planning two expansions of its ZH5 site, two existing sites will also grow in capacity in 2021.
Added to the EMEA market profiles is Nairobi, a market that is undergoing a transformation from retail to wholesale. New data regulations for enterprise electronic records has amplified demand in the past three years and the city is also poised to be a significant hyperscale region. Current capacity is small at 8 MW of live power and 5 MW under construction, but Nairobi will soon see a shift to wholesale (and likely) hyperscale as IX Africa adds 12 MW of power in three phases.
The trend toward expansion across EMEA outside of FLAPD is also expected to continue. On the hyperscale horizon, 2021 will see facilities in seven markets come online (Spain, Sweden Denmark Belgium and Finland adding capacity in addition to the core markets of Amsterdam and Dublin). This is a record for a single year. Istanbul and Warsaw are other “edge” markets to keep an eye on in the coming years.
MARKET COVERAGE
Knight Frank has extensive coverage of data centre activity across the EMEA region. If there is a market that is not in this report that you would like to learn more about, or if you would like to understand any of the reported markets in more detail, we would love to hear from you.
THE APAC MARKETS
The Q1 2021 Knight Frank Data Centre Report continues our coverage of the APAC region. Market analysis includes both established data centre hubs such as Singapore, Hong Kong, Mumbai, Sydney, Seoul and Tokyo and fast growth markets including Hanoi, Bangkok, Shanghai and Kuala Lumpur to provide the best view of the region.
APAC MARKET SUMMARY, Q1 2021
In the first quarter, take-up across the region was 92 MW, on par with the quarterly average recorded in 2020. Supply remains on a steep upward trajectory, increasing by 200 MW. This means that aggregate supply is now 5,800 MW across the region.
Mumbai registered the sharpest increase, with 56 MW added in Q1. Notable announcements were that NTT have plans to double capacity in India, with three parks already under construction in the Mumbai area. Web Werks also announced its intentions to build a 12.5MW data center in Navi Mumbai and Princeton Digital Group said it would build a 48MW multi-story data center campus also in Navi Mumbai. Expansion in other Tier II markets in India, notably Chennai, are also gaining attention of WebWerks as well as AdaniConneX (a joint venture of Adani Group and US-based EdgeConneX).
Strong demand in Sydney has meant that the take-up in the city has already risen to more than half of the total recorded in all of 2020, (17 MW in Q1). On the supply side, Fujitsu is to go live with another 20 MW in Western Sydney, along with 20 MW by AirTrunk. Further expansion are underway at Equinix, DCI and NextDC which will continue supply growth momentum.
In other markets, Hong Kong grew capacity significantly in Q1, with 50 MW (compared with 80 added in all of 2020). Take-up also was above average levels at 10MW. This total is more than a third of the full total recorded in 2020. Kuala Lumpur, a third tier market, also made significant gains in 2021. Total capacity expanded by 23 MW. This is a 28 percent increase, bringing the total aggregate supply to 205 MW.
One factor that may slow data centre expansions though is the steps countries are taking to address the global climate emergency. Singapore is a good example of this, with the country imposing a moratorium through 2021 on new data centres as it reassesses sustainable power solutions to balance projected growth. Across the region, similar challenges will undoubtedly be countered with additional regulation. This means that 2021 could see examples of markets of low supply rise and development completion targets extended.
MARKET COVERAGE
Knight Frank has extensive coverage of data centre activity across the APAC region. If there is a market that is not in this report that you would like to learn more about, or if you would like to understand any of the reported markets in more detail, we would love to hear from you.
