Demand for AI and cloud computing led the global data center capacity under construction to reach 31.7GW in 2025, more than double the 2024 figure, according to the 2026 Global Data Center Market Comparison report by real estate firm Cushman and Wakefield.

Around 80 percent of this development activity is concentrated in the Americas, where some 25.3GW of data center capacity is under construction.

But the firm posits that the industry’s dynamics are better characterized as “managed growth,” where intense demand is matched by regulation, calls for financial and operational clarity from investors, and largely negative community sentiment.

The previous iteration of the report described the industry as experiencing a period of “accelerated growth.”

The report also ranked Dallas, Texas, as the number one primary data center market in the world. This is the first time Cushman and Wakefield has given top spot to Dallas, a position usually taken by traditional data center heartland Northern Virginia.

The firm’s methodology for determining the ranking of markets gives the highest weighting to factors including power availability, land availability, operational market size, and capacity under construction.

Mid-weight factors include grid stability, power generation, capacity under construction pre-lease rate, land price, fiber connectivity, vacancy and absorption, regulations and incentives, power cost, general and cloud operator presence, and clean power options.

Low-weight factors include environmental risk, taxes, water availability, political stability, planned capacity, pre-lease rate, and temperature and humidity.

Virginia still leads the pack globally when it comes to operational IT load, offering around 11GW of capacity.

Vacancy rates are lowest in the Americas (4.2 percent), followed by EMEA (7.8 percent) and APAC (10.9 percent).

APAC

APAC currently offers 13.8GW in operational capacity, according to the firm.

Of the ten primary markets, only Johor, Malaysia, and Sydney, Australia, are located in APAC. The rest are in North America.

Bangkok leads the region in capacity under construction, and Johor recorded one of the world’s fastest global growth rates, growing by 124 percent year-on-year.

But Beijing is still the largest market in the region, and it is the only APAC market with more than 2GW of operational capacity.

Global power delivery timelines for large-load requests now average around four and a half years, but the average time in APAC is lower, at around two years, eight months.