The more money pours into AI, then the more datacentres will need building.
Training and running AI requires a lot of computing power, and works best with the latest computer chips and servers.
Over the next five years as much as $1tn could be invested in datacentres by the biggest data users, including Google, Microsoft and Meta, according to CCS Insight.
In Europe alone, between 2024 and 2028, data centre capacity is expected to grow by an average of 9% annually, according to property services company Savills.
But those new facilities are unlikely to be built in the current datacentre hubs like London, Frankfurt, and Amsterdam.
High property prices in those cities – Savills says that in London land prices can be as much as £17m per acre – plus tight electricity supply means developers will be looking elsewhere.
In the UK cities like Cambridge, Manchester and Birmingham could well be home to the next wave of datacentre construction.
Elsewhere, Prague, Genoa, Munich, Dusseldorf and Milan are likely to be considered in Europe.
At the heart of some of those new datacentres will be the latest computer chip from Nvidia, the company that dominates the market for chips used for AI.
Unveiled in March 2024, the Blackwell chip is expected to start shipping in significant number in 2025.
The new chip should allow tech firms to train AI four times faster and see AI operate 30 times faster than current computer chips, according to Vivek Arya, senior semiconductors analyst, at Bank of America Securities.
Nvidia’s biggest customers, Microsoft, Amazon, Meta and Coreweave are likely to get the tech first, according to reports.
But other customers might struggle to get their hands on the super chip, with “supply constrained in 2025”, according to Mr Arya.
BBC
