Data Center Cooling Market Size, Share, Trends Analysis Report by Infrastructure (Cooling Infrastructure & Other Infrastructure); Systems (CRAC & CRAH, Chiller Units, Cooling Towers & Dry Coolers, Economizer & Evaporative Coolers, and Other Units); Technique (Air-based & Liquid-based); Liquid Cooling Technique (Water-based, Direct-to-chip, & Liquid Immersion); Tier Standards (Tier I & II, Tier III, and Tier IV); and Geography (APAC, North America, Western Europe, Nordic, Central & Eastern Europe, Middle East, Africa, and Latin America); Industry Analysis Report, Regional Outlook, Growth Potential, Price Trends, Competitive Market Share & Forecast, 2021–2026
| REPORT ATTRIBUTE | DETAILS |
| MARKET SIZE (REVENUE) | USD 9.5 BILLION (2026) |
| CAGR | 4% (2021–2026) |
| BASE YEAR | 2020 |
| FORECAST YEAR | 2021–2026 |
| MARKET SEGMENTS | Infrastructure (Cooling Infrastructure & Other Infrastructure); Systems (CRAC & CRAH, Chiller Units, Cooling Towers & Dry Coolers, Economizer & Evaporative Coolers, and Other Units); Technique (Air-based & Liquid-based); Liquid Cooling Technique (Water-based, Direct-to-chip, & Liquid Immersion); Tier Standards (Tier I & II, Tier III, and Tier IV) |
| GEOGRAPHIC ANALYSIS | APAC, North America, Western Europe, Nordic, Central Eastern Europe, Middle East, Africa, and Latin America |
| COUNTRIES COVERED | US, Canada, Brazil, UK, Germany, France, Netherlands, Ireland, Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Finland & Iceland, Russia & Czech Republic, Poland & Austria, GCC, South Africa, Kenya, China & Hong Kong, Australia & New Zealand, India, Japan, Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, Indonesia, Other Latin American Countries, Other Western European Countries, Other CEE Countries, Other Middle Eastern Countries, Other African Countries, Rest of APAC, and Other Southeast Asian Countries |
INDUSTRY INSIGHTS
The global data center cooling market size was valued at USD 7.5 billion in 2020 and is expected to reach USD 9.6 billion by 2026, growing at a CAGR of 4% during the forecast period. The global market is witnessing growth due to the high utilization of IT infrastructure, which is increasing the rack density to an average of 6–8 kW across the world. Several developed countries are operating racks at a density of 10–12 kW, whereas developing economies are slowly moving toward rack capacities of over 7 kW. Hence, the growing rack power density has increased the need for efficient cooling systems. The majority of the data centers deploy artificial intelligence and machine learning workloads, which have further increased the rack power density over the past two years. The deployment of AI and ML workloads has also grown the market for liquid-immersion and direct-to-chip techniques. Servers consume more power due to increased data traffic load; therefore, the demand for highly efficient cooling down solutions is growing. Hot/cold aisle containment, adiabatic, liquid, and free cooling are the primary techniques that observe high adoption in the market.
SNIPPETS
- The use of free cooling techniques increases the demand for evaporative/adiabatic coolers, free chillers, air-side economizers, and water-side economizers.
- Most data centers are equipped with N+N redundancy for cooling systems with a minimum of N+1 redundancy in other infrastructure.
- The cumulative investments in liquid immersion and direct-to-chip cooling solutions will be over USD 3 billion during 2021–2026, owing to the increase in deployment of artificial intelligence and machine learning workloads.
- Edge data center deployment will significantly grow the market for in-rack/in-row cooling solutions, with most facilities deploying a power density of lesser than 500 kVA.
- Increased investments in tier III and tier IV facilities are projected to increase, with tier III facilities likely to witness the adoption of CRAC or CRAH units with 2N redundancy.
DATA CENTER COOLING MARKET SEGMENTATION
This research report includes a detailed segmentation by:
- Infrastructure (Cooling Systems & Other Infrastructure)
- Systems
- Technique
- Liquid Cooling Technique
- Tier Standards
- Geography
INSIGHTS BY INFRASTRUCTURE
In 2020, data center cooling systems witnessed over 14% YOY investment compared to 2019 due to the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic. The deployment of artificial intelligence and machine learning workloads increases the demand for liquid immersion and direct-to-chip solutions. Most data centers in developed regions, North America, Europe, China, Japan, and Australia are likely to continue to use air-based solutions, with free chillers, evaporative/adiabatic coolers, and CRAC/CRAH units observing investment. Metrics such as power usage effectiveness (PUE), water-usage effectiveness (WUE), and carbon usage effectiveness (CUE) have gained higher importance in the past few years. Most modern facilities are being built based on the ASHRAE cooling guidelines and the Uptime Institute’s tier standards for redundant designs, which is expected to influence market growth.
INSIGHTS BY SYSTEMS
Data centers in Denmark offer 85% free cooling annually, which reduces electricity consumption by up to 50%. The data center market in Denmark is likely to witness the construction of facilities that are designed to transfer waste heat from the facility to nearby local communities under the district heating concept. CRAC and CRAH units are likely to emerge as the largest revenue contributors, followed by evaporative coolers and chillers. The high adoption of evaporative coolers and dry coolers is likely to grow during the forecast period. The US offers free cooling of over 3,000 hours per year, thereby decreasing the operational cost. The adoption of systems, namely, free chillers and water-based chillers, are likely to increase in the US during the forecast period. The market will witness an increase in the development of data centers with net-zero water consumption.
INSIGHTS BY TECHNIQUE
Free cooling solutions are gaining momentum over liquid-based solutions. However, chilled water systems have a high prevalence in the market, especially water-based ones. The US, Europe, Nordic, China, Australia, New Zealand, Canada, and Japan use free solutions. Free chillers with waterless cooling systems with indoor CRAC units are also catching upon among data centers.
Liquid-based techniques are highly popular in the APAC region. Although the growth of liquid-based techniques is higher with direct liquid and immersion solutions, the adoption of chilled water systems is likely to decline over the next few years due to the growing demand for waterless solutions.
INSIGHTS BY LIQUID COOLING TECHNIQUE
Water-based systems are observing high adoption among data centers located in tropical places. Microsoft has successfully experimented under the ocean data center, which will be a significant driver for the growth of water-based solutions. The number of vendors offering direct liquid and immersion solutions has increased in the market. Several operators have adopted these solutions to facilitate the cooling of high-density racks up to 200 kW, reduce data center cost and space, and increase these systems' efficiency through low power consumption and carbon emissions. China, the US, Japan, Germany, France, and the UK are the leading adopters of such systems. Developing countries gain increased traction for liquid-based solutions, adding investments to the data center cooling market share during the forecast period.
INSIGHTS BY TIER STANDARDS
Most UK data centers are either tier III or tier IV certified due to their high standard design and construction, including redundant configuration. The Netherlands data centers develop tier III and Tier IV design standards, with a minimum redundancy of N+1. Similarly, China and Hong Kong witnessed the construction of tier III and Tier IV facility. Data centers in Japan are likely to adopt tier III or tier IV design with a minimum of N+N redundancy across the infrastructure. In 2020, most facilities developed were Tier III and Tier IV standards.
INSIGHTS BY GEOGRAPHY
North America and APAC are expected to account for the highest investments during the forecast period. Owing to the COVID-19 pandemic, the adoption of cloud and other data center-related services witnessed increased investments in the colocation and hyperscale development in the APAC region. High stress on data confidentiality in the region has also led to investment by local enterprise data center operators operating in regulated industries such as banking and financial services. The increasing demand for cryptocurrency data centers in China boosts the development of facilities with high-performance computing infrastructure. This has increased the rack power density and is expected to increase the demand for energy-efficient cooling infrastructure.
The US market is expected to witness the adoption of modular in-rack solutions during the forecast period, dominated by hyperscale facility deployments. North American leads the overall data center industry with the availability and adoption of innovative technology and investments from colocation service providers, hyperscale operators, enterprises, and government agencies. Emergences of 5G network services have led to an increase in demand for edge data centers and corresponding rack/row-level cooling solutions. In North America, organizations are currently building high-performance-computing facilities to innovate in IoT, artificial intelligence, and connected reality.
INSIGHTS BY VENDORS
The global data center cooling market comprises global and local service providers. Over the past few years, the growing electricity consumption by data center cooling units has led to vendors' multiple innovations in the market. Innovations across infrastructure have led to the development of new products that have increased facilities operations' efficiency by 90% and reduce cooling OPEX up to 50%. The market will witness intense competition as the construction of a data center is growing. Service operators are continually looking out for energy-efficient systems that emit low carbon footprints to the atmosphere.
