Intelligent Investment
Montreal
North America Data Center Trends H2 2023
March 6, 2024 4 Minute Read
Colocation Insights
- The average power capacity requirement is increasing because there is less available space that can meet end users’ minimum deployment requirements. Power prices are rising in line with this capacity scarcity.
- Operators are seeking incremental expansion capacity in and around existing collocation sites.
Market Trends
- AI demand is leading to a new “as-a-service” category. This presents challenges for existing data centers regarding density and variances in power utilization standards.
- Regulatory approval for power procurement is increasingly contingent on data centers’ addressing ESG issues that can include curtailment, district energy and economic development such as job creation.
- Industrial master planning featuring data centers as net heat providers is being studied more.
Notable Activity
- The second phase of Qscale’s new facility development should complete by mid-year.
- Equinix became the sole owner of 9300 Trans-Canada.
- Vantage Data Centers announced it will seek investment opportunities outside of Quebec due to power procurement issues.
- Microsoft announced a $500 million investment to expand its hyperscale cloud computing and AI infrastructure in Quebec over the next two years.
Figure 1: Market Development Information
Figure 2: Market Inventory and Vacancy
Figure 3: Market Fuel Mix
Figure 4: Average Asking Rates
Explore Markets
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Publicly traded operators are seeking higher per kW pricing, due to rising capital costs and limited supply.
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Public cloud providers and AI companies leased most of this market’s available space.
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Leasing was relatively muted in H2 2023.
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