Forecasted data center capacity through 2030 will require $3 trillion in total investment, the largest investment “supercycle” in modern history, a report from real estate services firm JLL has said.

In its 2026 Global Data Center Outlook report, which covers market data, regional forecasts, and strategic implications in the data center industry, JLL said nearly 100GW of new data centers will be added between now and 2030, doubling global capacity, and requiring significant investment.

JLL said this significant growth would result in $1.2 trillion in real estate asset value creation and a need for roughly $870 billion of new debt financing. Additionally, JLL expects data center tenants to spend between $1 trillion and $2 trillion to upgrade GPUs and networking infrastructure. Combined, this investment will reach around $3 trillion by 2030, according to JLL’s forecasts.

Under this forecast, the global data center sector is expected to expand at a CAGR of 14 percent through 2030.

Other research firms, such as Omdia, have provided more conservative estimates through 2030.

Ready to pop?

Despite the ever-growing list of challenges in achieving such significant growth, and mounting concerns that the industry could be experiencing a bubble driven by AI, JLL argued that current property metrics “do not indicate a bubble.”

“Analysis indicates the sector maintains healthy fundamentals with 97 percent global occupancy and 77 percent of the construction pipeline pre-committed to tenants,” JLL explained.

However, the real estate services firm conceded that there are a number of issues that are impacting data center construction and capacity worldwide.

For example, the report identifies the supply chain constraints affecting equipment lead times globally. JLL reported that average equipment lead times are reaching 33 weeks, a 50 percent increase from comparative 2020 lead times.

Supply chain issues are also being reflected in construction costs, which have grown at a seven percent CAGR, according to the report. JLL forecasts that average global construction costs will increase by six percent in 2026, to $11.3 million per megawatt.

However, JLL analysts argued that increased lead times worldwide “demonstrate continued confidence in the market,” rather than a potential upcoming downturn.

Inferencing to become majority of workloads, but grid constraints remain a key issue

The significant growth volume predicted for the industry will be driven by continued demand brought by AI services. According to the JLL, AI workloads could represent half of all data center capacity by 2030, doubling the share of AI workloads recorded last year.

The report also predicted that, by 2027, AI inferencing will overtake training workloads as the dominant use of AI data centers. This will likely redistribute demand from centralized clusters to distributed regional demand centers.

This AI-driven growth will see all regions worldwide expand significantly. However, the Americas will maintain its dominant position through 2030, representing around half of global capacity and securing the fastest overall growth rate. Asia-Pacific is expected to nearly double its capacity, from 32GW to 57GW by 2030, while EMEA will add a modest 13GW of new supply, according to JLL’s forecasts.

Outside of supply chain issues, there are more critical blockers to growth momentum in the industry, for example, energy generation and grid constraints.

According to the real estate services firm, energy sourcing remains a “critical challenge,” with grid connection lead times exceeding four years in primary markets. JLL noted that these issues would need to be alleviated via what it describes abstractly as “energy innovations." The report added that some operators are moving to directly fund their own energy generation.

JLL expects natural gas to play a “major role” in relieving energy issues in the US, both as a temporary power solution and for long-term on-site power generation. However, the report noted that, in the Asia-Pacific and EMEA regions, these solutions are less attractive as they are unsustainable.

Nuclear power was also noted as a potential crutch for reliable energy, but JLL said it was unlikely that significant new nuclear capacity would be deployed before 2030.

Market maturation

In its report, JLL also analyzed the effect of rapid growth on the sector's capital markets, noting that core investment strategies are now making up nearly a quarter (24 percent) of data center fundraising activity.

In the last five years, global mergers and acquisitions have represented more than $300 billion of activity, with future investment expected to shift to recapitalization and joint ventures.

“The rapid emergence of AI and neocloud deals at scale has defined 2025 as a transformative year for the data center and infrastructure sector,” said Carl Beardsley, US data center leader, JLL Capital Markets.

“Structuring the capital stack for these newer entities can be complex, as lenders and equity partners need proper security frameworks to protect their multi-billion-dollar investments. The scale and specialized infrastructure requirements of these deals demand innovative financing approaches that balance the growth potential of AI and neocloud technologies with appropriate risk mitigation,” he added.