Return to Azure Data Center (Microsoft Data Center), AWS Data Center (Amazon Data Center), GCP Data Center (Google Data Center, Facebook Data Center, IBM Cloud Data Center (IBM Data Center).
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A data center is a facility used to house computer systems and associated components, such as telecommunications and storage systems. Data centers are critical infrastructure for the storage and processing of information, and they support the global financial system, cloud services, machine learning, and artificial intelligence.
Data centers vary widely in terms of size, power requirements, and overall structure. Four common categories are onsite enterprise data centers used mainly by a company's employees and clients, colocation facilities where many companies rent space in a shared data center, hyperscale data centers owned by very large cloud service companies, and smaller edge data centers located close to end users. Hyperscale and colocation facilities collectively account for approximately 74% of U.S. server energy consumption as of 2023, a share that has grown significantly over the past decade as workloads have migrated away from enterprise on-premises infrastructure.
Since IT operations are crucial for business continuity, a data center generally includes redundant or backup components. Other important design considerations are power supply, network infrastructure, environmental controls (e.g., cooling, fire suppression), and various measures for physical and data security. Large data centers operate at an industrial scale, requiring significant energy. Estimated global data center electricity consumption in 2024 was around 415 terawatt hours (TWh), or about 1.5% of global electricity demand. The IEA projects that data center electricity consumption could double by 2030. The rapid growth of data center infrastructure has prompted regulatory debates in multiple jurisdictions regarding tax incentives, electricity grid impacts, water consumption, and compatibility with state and national climate commitments.
Rapid growth of the industry is leading to strain on electric grids and increased electricity costs for consumers. This in turn has drawn growing opposition to new data centers from local people who would bear the burdens of social and environmental impacts such as energy and water use, while faraway actors and institutions would receive the projects' benefits. These opposition movements have materialized especially in parts of Europe, the United States, and South America. Billions of dollars in projects were halted or delayed by data center resistances in the US between May 2024 and June 2025.