Global Data Center Report (2026)

The latest IDCA Data Center Report provides a comprehensive view of the global data center landscape, covering energy consumption, connectivity, security, and the rise of AI-driven infrastructure.

Discover how digital infrastructure is evolving, where the world’s capacity is concentrated, and what this means for future investments, operations, and national strategies.

Data centers have a global footprint of 67.7GW. This is a growth of 36 percent over the past two years. Data centers now consume 2 percent of the world’s electricity, up from 1.7 percent in 2024 and 1.9 percent in mid-year 2025.

The US is by far the world’s largest data center location, with 43 percent of global consumption. Data centers consume 29.2GW of electricity in the US, and now consume 6 percent of the nation’s electricity.

The world’s other Top Five data center consumers are:

• China, at 8.5GW, consuming 0.8 percent of nation’s electricity.
• Germany, at 5.5GW, consuming 9.5 percent of the nation’s electricity.
• UK at 2.0GW, consuming 5.8 percent of the nation’s electricity.
• Japan at 1.7GW, consuming 1.5 percent of the nation’s electricity.

The following figure provides an overview of global energy use and its consumption by data centers.

World’s Top 10 Data Center Grids (TWh)

Data Center Security

Historically, physical security was sometimes subjugated to cybersecurity rules, but today, industry leaders recognize both domains as co-equal pillars of a unified, comprehensive security strategy. The modern reality is that the cloud has a physical street address, and adversaries now utilize highly asymmetric tactics that completely blur the lines between digital and kinetic attacks. Whether a threat actor deploys a destructive malware payload to breach network defenses or utilizes an armed drone to physically disable a critical power substation, the ultimate goal is identical: to completely destroy or disrupt the data center’s core mission execution.

AI Data Centers

AI appears set to fundamentally transform data centers, adding substantial new capacity and making them more efficient, secure, and sustainable. As the strategic importance of AI-driven data centers grows, they will continue to play a critical role in supporting the demands of AI and the broader Digital Economy.

Almost all data center developers at the moment need to think about creating what they would think of as AI centers. The question arises is whether a new AI center needs to have a gigawatt-plus vision, accompanied by tens or hundreds of billions of dollars of investment.

Digital infrastructure is entering a new phase driven by AI, energy constraints, and geopolitical shifts.

This report delivers a clear view of global capacity, connectivity, and risk, equipping decision-makers to align strategy, strengthen resilience, and scale with confidence.