

The US accounts for 45% of major cloud and internet data centre sites.
The number of hyper scale data centers is expected to reach 300 mark in December, with the sudden spurt in year-end data centre openings by Amazon, Google and Alibaba.
(Main picture is a google hyperscale data centre in Oklahoma, US)
New data from Synergy Research Group has revealed that despite the ongoing push to locate new operations in countries across the world, the US still accounts for 45% of major cloud and internet data centre sites.
China and Japan are in second and third places, with 8% and 7% respectively, followed by the UK, Australia, Canada, Singapore, Germany and India, each of which accounts for 3% to 5% of the total.
Synergy Research analysed the data centre footprint of 24 of the world’s major cloud and internet service companies, including the largest operators in SaaS, IaaS, PaaS, search, social networking and e-commerce.
On average each of the 24 firms had 13 data centre sites. Synergy said the companies with the broadest data centre footprint were the leading cloud providers such as AWS, Microsoft and IBM.
Each company has 40 or more data centre locations with nearly two in North America, APAC, EMEA and Latin America.
Google and Oracle also have a notable data centre presence. The remaining firms plan to have their data centres focused primarily in either the US (Apple, Twitter, Salesforce, Facebook, eBay, LinkedIn, Yahoo) or China (Tencent, Baidu).
Alibaba, which earlier focused mainly in China, has now opened data centres in the US, Hong Kong, Singapore, Japan and the UAE.
Chief analyst and research director John Dinsdale said hyperscale operators are expected to pass the 400 data centre mark by the end of 2018.

Dinsdale said: “What is remarkable is that the US still accounts for nearly half of all hyperscale data centers, reflecting the US dominance of cloud and internet technologies.


“While other countries are now featuring more prominently due to either their scale or the unique characteristics of their local markets, the major players continue to invest heavily in US data center operations.”