UK Data Centres Market Report 2023
“Demand for data centres has grown rapidly along with the digitisation of both business and consumer behaviour.
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Overview
- Key issues covered in this Report
- Products covered in this Report
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Executive Summary
- The five-year outlook for data centres
- Figure 1: Category outlook for data centres, 2023-27
- The market
- Market size and forecast
- Figure 2: Market size of data centres, 2017-27 (£ billion)
- Market segmentation
- Figure 3: Segmentation of the UK data centre market, 2022 (£ billion)
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- Figure 4: Industry segmentation of core data centre usage, 2020 (number of cabinets)
- Market drivers
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- Figure 5: Market size for cloud computing, 2017-22 (£ billion)
- Figure 6: Global number of IoT devices, 2017-27 (billions)
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- Figure 7: Global market for AI, 2022-27 (US$ billion)
- Companies and brands
- Global leaders
- Figure 8: Leading global data centre companies, 2023
- M&A activity
- The UK sector
- Figure 9: Role of the UK in the European data centre industry, 2023 (number)
- Figure 10: Development of the London market for data centres, 2016-22 (MW)
- The five-year outlook for data centres
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Issues and Insights
- A recession proof market?
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- Figure 11: Global social media users, 2017-27 (billion)
- Figure 12: Monthly unique visitors to streaming sites, by operator, 2023
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- Figure 13: Leading ecommerce markets, by number of users, 2023 (number)
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- Figure 14: Global projection of the generation of data, 2010-2025 (Zettabytes)
- A major private equity sector
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Market Size and Performance
- A rapidly developing sector
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- Figure 15: Market size for data centres, 2017-22 (£ billion)
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Market Forecast
- So much more demand developing
- Figure 16: Category outlook for data centres, 2023-27
- Digitisation has a long way to go
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- Figure 17: Market forecast for data centres, 2022-27 (£ billion)
- ESG will continue to be critical
- So much more demand developing
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Market Segmentation
- Use of centre
- Figure 18: Segmentation of the UK data centre market, 2022 (£ billion)
- Industrial segmentation
- Figure 19: Industry segmentation of core data centre usage, 2020 (number of cabinets)
- Figure 20: Industry segmentation of edge data centre usage, 2020 (number of cabinets)
- Use of centre
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Market Drivers
- The economy
- Inflation will continue to eat into consumer spending power over the course of 2023
- Further interest rate increases will hit mortgage-holders
- High inflation and rising interest rates will compound the impact of the slowing recovery
- Consumer spending power will be curbed
- Low unemployment is helping underpin
- Consumers’ financial wellbeing has fallen from the highs of 2021…
- Figure 21: Household financial wellbeing index, 2016-23
- …and most people are feeling the effects of price rises
- Digitisation continues to grow
- Overview
- Global expansion
- Figure 22: Worldwide internet usage, by region, 2022 (millions and %)
- UK expansion
- Figure 23: Number of social media users in the UK, by media, 2023 (millions)
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- Figure 24: The future of digital banking, by age, 2022-27 (% of people)
- Figure 25: Proportion of people in business with internet access for work, by size of business, 2017-2021 (%)
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- Figure 26: Percentage of companies and charities with digital services, 2022 (% of companies and % of charities)
- eCommerce
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- Figure 27: Market size of ecommerce, 2017-22 (£ billion)
- Technological drivers
- Cloud, edge and quantum computing
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- Figure 28: Market size for cloud computing, 2017-22 (£ billion)
- Web3
- Internet of Things
- Figure 29: Global number of IoT devices, 2017-27 (billions)
- AI
- Figure 30: Global market for AI, 2022-27 (US$ billion)
- VR. AR, MR and the metaverse
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Industry Structure
- Global structure
- Figure 31: Leading global data centre companies, 2023
- M&A activity
- Figure 32: Typical components of building cost for a data centre, 2022 (%)
- The UK role in Europe
- Figure 33: Role of the UK in the European data centre industry, 2023 (number)
- The UK industry
- Figure 34: Development of the London market for data centres, 2016-22 (MW)
- Global structure
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Company Profiles
- Digital Realty
- Activity
- Performance
- Figure 35: Revenue development of Digital Realty, 2017-22 (US$ million)
- Strategy
- Figure 36: Geographic diversity of Digital Realty rental income, by metropolitan area, 2022 (% annualised rent)
- Equinix
- Activity
- Performance
- Figure 37: Equinix global revenues, 2017-22 (US$ million)
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- Figure 38: Equinix revenues, by region, 2022 (US$ million)
- Figure 39: Financial performance of Equinix (UK), 2017-21 (£ million)
- Strategy
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- Figure 40: Financial development of Equinix (UK), 2016-20 (£ million)
- Strategy
- iomart Group
- Activity
- Performance
- Figure 41: Financial performance of iomart Group, 2019-20 (£ million)
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- Figure 42: Segmentation of iomart Group revenues, 2022 (£ 000)
- Strategy
- Pulsant Group
- Activity
- Performance
- Figure 43: Financial performance of Pulsant Group, 2018-22 (£ million)
- Strategy
- Telehouse International Corporation of Europe/KDDI
- Activity
- Performance
- Figure 44: Financial performance of Telehouse International Corporation of Europe, 2018-22 (£ million)
- Strategy
- Vantage Data Centers (including Next Generation Data)
- Activity
- Performance
- Figure 45: Financial development of Next Generation Data, 2015-19 (£ million)
- Figure 46: Financial performance of Vantage Data Centers UK, 2017-21 (£ million)
- Strategy
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Appendix – Data Sources, Abbreviations and Supporting Information
- Abbreviations
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Appendix – Forecast Methodology
- Market forecast and prediction intervals
- Figure 47: Forecast market for data centres, 2022-27 (£ billion)
- Market drivers and assumptions
- Market forecast and prediction intervals
Mintel’s UK Data Centres Market Report 2023 analyses the current and future landscape of the UK Datacentre market, including market size, forecast, and industry structure.
Key Issues Covered in this Report
- How market demand is changing after the extreme COVID-19 related growth.
- How colocation coexists with hyper scale development.
- How the high number of market drivers will impact the sector.
- Why the sector is so attractive to third party investment and the high levels of M&A activity.
- How the industry structure is changing.
UK Data Centres Market Landscape
Demand for data centre was in strong growth before the pandemic, largely driven by a continued and almost ubiquitous move to digital processes itself supporting the growth of cloud computing. The pandemic served to accelerate the already strong growth. As businesses looked to sustain business under new circumstances of social distancing and remote working, the trend to digital processes was accelerated. Notwithstanding the wider challenges to the economy from geopolitical forces and the cost-of-living crisis the generation of data looks to gain a specific growth from the introduction of generative AI.
Purchase our full report to learn more about the growing UK data centre market, packed with market-leading analysis of the industry, granular data, and detailed information on industry structure and company profiles.
Expert Analysis from a B2B Specialist
This report, written by Terry Leggett, a leading B2B analyst, delivers in-depth commentary and analysis to highlight current trends in the UK data centre market and add expert context to the numbers.
Demand for data centres has grown rapidly along with the digitisation of both business and consumer behaviour. Even though 90% of the world’s data was created in the last two years, and every two years the volume of data is doubling, the development remains in its infancy when the transformational technologies being introduced become mainstream. Volume demand is accelerating, while locational requirements are also extending beyond London and the main metropolitan areas. The myriad of technologies contributing to these changes are all at various stages of integration and include cloud computing; 5G; web 3; AI; IoT; AR; VR; MR; the metaverse, blockchain, edge computing. With such growth prospects, and strong recurring income, the sector has become a magnet for private equity and third party finance while data centre development is very expensive.
Terry Leggett
Principal Analyst
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