Data centers can justifiably be considered the beating heart of the digital economy, and their importance is set to expand in 2025 and beyond. For data center operators, this presents both opportunities and challenges.
Thanks to rapid acceleration in the capabilities of AI and machine learning (ML)—especially the emergence of generative AI (GenAI) powered by large language models (LLMs)—data centers face accelerating demand for high-performance, resilient and low-latency compute. That demand is proliferating across existing and new venues, from cloud to on-premises data centers to the edge, leading operators to upgrade existing facilities and build new ones, forging a path to significant growth as they capture these new workloads and revenues.
In this whitepaper, we look at five trends that will transform data centers in 2025, including indicators of how quickly they will arrive, the likely scope of their impact, and how data center operators and owners can prepare now for an ever-changing future.