Subscribe to the Data Center Knowledge Newsletter
Get analysis and expert insight on the latest in data center business and technology delivered to your inbox daily.
New Data Center Developments: January 2025
We look at some of the latest data center developments announced over the past month.
7 Min Read
A rendering of the newly announced Meta data center in Louisiana’s Richland Parish.Image: Meta Platforms
The demand for new data centers isn’t showing any sign of slowing. With new projects being announced each week, keeping track of the latest data center developments is not always easy.
To keep you informed about the latest data center news involving design, construction, and related developments, we bring you the highlights from the past month.
This curated selection will help you stay on top of the latest data center development news with ease.
North American Data Center Deals
Analysts’ forecasts of hundreds of billions in data center investment are materializing, with Microsoft planning an $80 billion buildout in 2025.
The company said the funds would be used to create new data centers, mainly in the US but also further afield, underscoring the intense capital requirements of AI systems.
More than half of this projected spending through June 2025 will be in the US, Microsoft President Brad Smith wrote in a New Year blog post. Recent AI progress is thanks to “large-scale infrastructure investments that serve as the essential foundation of AI innovation and use,” Smith wrote.
While the news was welcomed by many as an indication of things to come in 2025, it was tempered by the announcement that Microsoft had paused construction of portions of its multibillion-dollar data center campus in Mount Pleasant, Wisconsin. The tech giant received approval for the campus in November 2023.
Meta announced a $10 billion data center near the city of Monroe in northeast Louisiana (see featured image above). The four million square foot facility in Richland Parish will be Meta’s largest data center in the world. Construction is expected to continue through 2030.
Meta also said it is seeking up to 4 GW of new nuclear energy as the tech giant looks for a reliable electricity source for its data centers.
In other hyperscale news, Google is investing in mega energy parks that will generate renewable power as the company races to fuel its data centers.
The company entered into a partnership with Intersect Power, an independent power producer, and investment firm TPG Rise Climate to design and build big energy plants next to data center campuses, the companies said.
Amazon Web Services (AWS) will invest $10 billion to expand its data center infrastructure in Ohio, creating hundreds of jobs by 2030. This builds on the company’s previous $7.8 billion investment plan and over $6 billion spent through 2022, bringing its total announced commitment in Ohio to $23 billion since 2015.
The new facilities will support cloud computing, AI, and machine learning, apparently marking the second-largest private sector investment in Ohio’s history.
The Canadian government is investing C$240 million ($169 million) to help Toronto-based AI startup Cohere to expand its data center AI compute capacity.
The investment is intended to help drive the construction of a state-of-the-art AI data center on Canadian soil, with operations scheduled to begin in 2025.
On December 27, Bit Digital acquired a site for a 5 MW Tier-3 data center expansion project in Montreal. The New York-based HPC infrastructure company paid C$33.5 million for the 160,000 sq ft MTL2 site and expects to spend an additional C$27.6 million to complete a retrofit by May 2025.
On New Years Eve, Atlas Development proposed a $17 billion 13-building data center campus in Coweta County, 45 miles south of Atlanta, Georgia. As reported by The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, each building of the so-called ‘Project Sail’ campus will span 378,000 sq ft – a total footprint of 4.9 million sq ft across 832 acres of land.
Elsewhere, St. Louis-based World Wide Technology (WWT) announced plans to acquire Canadian IT services provider Softchoice for $1.25 billion.
More North American data center news:
Oklo, a developer of advanced nuclear technology backed by billionaire Sam Altman, agreed to supply up to 12 GW of electricity to data center operator Switch.
Northern Data Group announced plans for a 120 MW high performance computing data center in Maysville, Georgia, about 70 miles northeast of Atlanta. The 63-acre campus is expected to be fully operational in Q1 2027.
AVAIO Digital announced plans to purchase and develop a 452-acre site in Appomattox County, Virginia. The $3 billion Appomattox Data Hub will host a 300 MW data center campus with “substantial” onsite green power.
Yondr Group launched the first 20 MW of its 40 MW data center project in Bischofsheim, just south of Frankfurt, Germany. IMAGE: YONDR
European Data Center Developments
In Europe, Yondr Group launched the first 20 MW of its 40 MW data center project in Bischofsheim, just south of Frankfurt, Germany. The milestone marks Yondr’s second handover in Europe over recent months, following the opening of its first building at the company’s 100 MW London campus in July.
Yondr also secured a 4.5-acre site in Toronto to develop its first Canadian data center.
NorthC, provider of regional data center services in the Benelux and DACH region, is set to expand its European operations further in 2025 and 2026. The company said it would establish new data centers in Frankfurt and Berlin.
UK data center operator Latos Data Centres said it would develop a 90 MW data center in Cardiff, Wales, and a total of 40 new data centers across the UK by 2030.
Staying in the UK, previously reported plans for a multibillion-dollar data center in Northumberland have advanced following the submission of a planning application from QTS. According to local reports, the operator’s proposed outline will see the construction of up to ten data center buildings spanning a total area of up to 540,000 sq m.
On December 23, Equinix announced plans to acquire BT Group's Irish data center business, including data centers in CityWest and Ballycoolin, Dublin, for €59 million. Equinix currently operates six data centers in the Dublin area.
More European Data Center News this month:
Schwarz Group, owner of the European supermarket chain Lidl, is developing a new data center campus in Lübbenau, Germany.
atNorth secured land in Långsele in central Sweden for a future data center “mega site.”
Verne announced plans to develop a 70 MW Data Center campus in Mäntsälä, Finland.
Vantage Data Centers and MEAG, the asset manager of Munich Re Group, will invest a combined €1.4 billion ($1.5 billion) into Vantage’s EMEA data center platform.
Asia-Pacific Data Centers Builds
In Asia-Pacific data center news this past month, Nvidia Corporation’s founder and Chief Executive Officer Jensen Huang agreed to open an AI research and development center in Vietnam as the company steps up its presence in Southeast Asia.
The project, along with a Viettel Group data center that uses Nvidia technology, will help develop advanced AI in the country, Vietnam’s Investment Minister Nguyen Chi Dung said at a signing ceremony in Hanoi this week.
Elsewhere, NTT Data announced its proposed acquisition of nearly 70 acres of land in Johor Bahru, Malaysia. If approved, the site will become one of the largest data center campuses in the Asia-Pacific region, featuring six dedicated buildings and 290 MW of capacity.
“Johor Bahru is an increasingly important cross-border economic zone due to its proximity to Singapore,” said Doug Adams, CEO and President of Global Data Centers, NTT DATA.
BDx Indonesia, a joint venture between Indosat Ooredoo Hutchison, Lintasarta, and BDx Data Centers, deployed the first phase of an AI data center in Jatiluhur, Indonesia. The new CGK4 facility is Indonesia’s first renewables-powered AI data center campus.
Edgnex Data Centers, an arm of the Dubai-based Damac Group conglomerate, plans to invest approximately $3 billion in data centers across Southeast Asia, including Indonesia, Thailand, and Malaysia.
“Today, we have over 550 MW of projected capacity towards Southeast Asia, which effectively means that this could be a $5 billion market for us,” said Danish Nayar, senior vice president of investments and acquisitions at Damac Group.
More Asia-Pacific data center news this month:
Digital Edge DC, a company backed by private equity fund Stonepeak Infrastructure Partners, secured $1 billion in debt to fund its data center expansion across Asia.
Microsoft opened its first hyperscale cloud region in New Zealand.
Taiwanese hardware developer Foxconn is on track to become the world’s largest server vendor, according to Omdia.
About the Author
You May Also Like
