Top 10: Biggest Data Centre Projects

According to Data Centre Magazine, the data centre industry continues to grow at speed, with businesses striving to meet increased customer demands.

Making steps towards efficiency, optimisation and sustainability, companies investing in building and running data centre facilities must make a range of considerations in order to be responsible and successful. As demand for cloud and edge services grows, particularly in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, the data centre construction industry reached US$215bn in 2022 and continues to expand.

This has led the industry to scale faster in order to meet changing needs. A report conducted by Arizton in February 2024 that global sustainable data centre market investments will reach US$54.53bn by 2028, with more than 6,907MW of power capacity to be added in the next six years.

Data Centre Magazine examines some of the largest data centre projects in the world, past and present, and how they seek to impact the business landscape.

Quantum Loophole Project

Taking place in Maryland and expected to come online in 2024, the Quantum Loophole project will cover 2,000 acres and support 1,800 megawatts (MW) of power. The project is designed to create greater data centre capacity and is a first-of-its-kind plan to develop data centres to address the scalability, connectivity and cost-efficiency challenges of today’s large-scale deployments.

As part of the master-planned data centre communities, Quantum Loophole provides customers with a 10 year roadmap for future development that includes access to land, power and cooling water.

This project involves the expansion of eleven data centres with a total power capacity of (5MW in Paris, France. Construction work commenced at the start of 2024 and is expected to be completed by the end of 2029.

Run by French data centre operator Data4, the expansion aims to increase its number of data centres from 13 to 24 and represent a total power capacity of 200MW. The company is eager to expand in France and become a leading player within the sector, in addition to working with the community.

As the largest server room in the world, the Citadel is located in Reno, Nevada (US) and is one of the world’s most extensive data centre sites. Run by Switch Inc, its largest-build facility is known as TAHOE RENO 1 and comprises 1.4 million square feet and 130MW of power capacity.

The data centre campus has secured its place as the world’s largest colocation data centre and is fully powered by renewable energy, demonstrating Switch’s dedication to environmental responsibility. Its facilities have also been rated Tier IV.

Tech giant Google holds a large data centre in Iowa that it calls Council Bluffs, which is often described as one of the world’s largest data centre campuses. Overtime, the company has invested US$5bn into the site, establishing a long-term commitment to the region and the state of Iowa.

As a result of the site, Google has created jobs for more than 900 people and continues to support the communities in which they work. Since it was first announced in 2007, Council Bluffs has been expanded in 2012, 2015 and 2023, with more growth plans ongoing.

Microsoft has been continually committed to powering the future of AI via its data centre operations. Iowa is one such location that the company is invested in, with Microsoft building data centres across the state’s farmland.

Its largest data centre in the US at the time, Microsoft built a facility in West Des Moines and spent US$1.5bn-US$2.5bn on the large complex. The project consisted of four phases and occupied 1.7 million square feet.

Microsoft will commence construction on a sixth data centre in West Des Moines in 2025, which will run 100% on renewable energy.

The Utah Data Center, code-named Bumblehive, is the first Intelligence Community Comprehensive National Cyber-security Initiative (IC CNCI) data centre. It is designed to support the Intelligence Community's efforts to monitor, strengthen and protect the US.

Located in the west of the country, the data centre covers nearly 140,000 square metres and is part of the Comprehensive National Cybersecurity Initiative. The National Security Agency (NSA) leads operations at the facility as the executive agent for the Director of National Intelligence and it was completed in 2014 at a cost of US$1.5bn.

Tract is a data centre land acquisition and development company.

Tract is continuing to power ahead with its data centre land acquisition projects, which could include a new site in Phoenix, Arizona. Whilst details on the project aren’t clear, reports suggest Tract could be investing as much as US$20bn into the project, which is a significant sum.

The company is led by an experienced team of data centre experts. It claims to own or be under contact with more than 20,000 acres of land across the US, which are in various stages of rezoning, design or under construction. 

A significantly large facility in the People’s Republic of China, the Harbin Data Center covers 663,000 square metres. This makes it one of the largest data centres globally, in addition to being a benchmark within Asia and the rest of the world.

Located in Heilongjiang Province, the data centre facility is a crucial component of China Mobile’s vast network infrastructure, as it supports China Mobile’s telecommunications services. The data centre seeks to serve millions of users to meet demands for connectivity and communication.

Located in Hohhot, this data centre covers one million square metres and cost US$3bn to construct. It is one of the largest facilities in the world and provides services for major companies such as Alibaba, Tencent and Baidu.

The data centre covers 10.7 million square feet and consumes 150MW of energy across six data halls. It is run by China Telecom, a leading Chinese telecommunications company. It includes a range of facilities such as a cloud computing data centre, call centres and warehouses and offices to offer a seamless experience for its users.

One of the largest ongoing data centre projects, data centre company Start Campus’ Sines data centre has become Europe’s largest and most sustainable data centre campus. The site will boast a ground-breaking 1.2 gigawatt (GW) IT capacity, making it the largest colocation site in Europe with fully secured grid power.

Situated in Portugal’s largest industrial area (ZILS), the Sines campus will be adjacent to a decommissioned power plant, which provides access to unused seawater infrastructure. Portugal’s geographical position in Europe was a strategic decision for the site, as it is able to connect to Europe, Africa and the Americas.

This unique offering positions Start Campus at the forefront of the data centre market evolution to deliver large scale, AI-ready and sustainable data centre solutions.