Forecast 2026-2035

Wholesale Colocation Market Size, Share & Forecast to 2035

Market at a glance

The Wholesale Colocation market was worth USD 38.88 billion in 2025 and is forecast to reach USD 158.10 billion by 2035, growing at a 15.06% CAGR.

$38.88BMarket size, 2025
$158.10BForecast, 2035
15.06%CAGR, 2025–2035
$12.96BMarket size, 2020
Market size, USD million
12,960.0 2020 38,880.0 2025 158,100.0 2035F

Key findings

Driver

Meta's USD 355.73 Billion of Leases Not Yet Commenced

Trend

Hyperscaler Credit Backstops Behind Neocloud Leases

Challenge

Grid Queues: 438,000 MW of Large Loads in Texas

Opportunity

Liquid-Cooled AI Campuses Above 100 MW: USD 55.34 billion by 2035

What is inside the report

  1. 01Introduction
  2. 02Executive Summary
  3. 03Market Scope and Estimate Comparison
  4. 04Market Dynamics
  5. 05Pricing Analysis
  6. 06Standards and Regulation
  7. 07Market Segmentation by Lease Type
  8. 08Market Segmentation by End User
  9. 09Market Segmentation by Lease Size
  10. 10Market Segmentation by Cooling Design
  • 16chapters
  • 2020-2024Historical period
  • 2026-2035Forecast period
  • —Companies profiled

Full table of contents

Segmentation

Lease Type
Turnkey Data HallsBuild-to-Suit CampusesPowered Shells
End User
Hyperscale Cloud ProvidersAI and GPU Cloud ProvidersLarge EnterprisesInternet and Content Platforms
Lease Size
1 to 5 MW5 to 20 MW20 to 100 MWAbove 100 MW
Cooling Design
Air-Cooled HallsLiquid-Cooled AI Halls

Recent developments

October 2026

Digital Realty signed USD 855 million of annualized rental revenue at 100% share, including 143.6 MW of leases above 1 MW (Source: Digital Realty).

October 2026

Meta reported about USD 355.73 billion of leases not yet commenced (Source: Meta Form 10-Q).

October 2026

Keppel DC REIT completed Tokyo DC 4 and 5 for JPY 168.4 billion (Source: Keppel DC REIT).

August 2026

Singapore provisionally allocated 200 MW to four operators under DC-CFA2 (Source: Singapore EDB).

August 2026

Galaxy Digital delivered 133 MW of critical IT at Helios to CoreWeave (Source: Galaxy Digital).

July 2026

Applied Digital reported about 1,410 MW of contracted critical IT and a 300 MW, 15-year Delta Forge 1 lease (Source: Applied Digital).

Full analysis

The Wholesale Colocation Market is valued at USD 51.12 billion in 2026 and is projected to reach USD 158.10 billion by 2035, up from USD 38.88 billion in 2025, a CAGR of 15.06% from 2025 to 2035 (DC Market Insights estimate). Wholesale colocation money now moves on pre-leasing: cloud and artificial intelligence (AI) tenants sign 10- to 25-year leases for whole halls and campuses before the shell is finished, and Meta Platforms alone reported about USD 355.73 billion of leases that had not yet commenced on 30 September 2026 (Source: Meta Form 10-Q, Q3 2026). On the supply side, Digital Realty signed 143.6 MW of leases above 1 MW in the third quarter of 2026 at USD 275 of base rent per kilowatt (kW) per month (Source: Digital Realty, 29 October 2026). The 2025 receipt is 24,000 MW of leased wholesale capacity in billing × USD 135 per kW-month × 12 months = USD 38.88 billion; liquid-cooled AI halls grow fastest at 27.62% a year, and the Middle East and Africa is the fastest region at 25.23% because gigawatt campuses in Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) start from a small leased base.

Key Market Statistics: How Big Is the Wholesale Colocation Market in 2026?

The Wholesale Colocation Market is worth USD 51.12 billion in 2026, 31.48% above USD 38.88 billion in 2025, DC Market Insights estimates.

  • Market size 2025: USD 38.88 billion
  • Market size 2026: USD 51.12 billion
  • Market size 2030: USD 104.40 billion
  • Market size 2035: USD 158.10 billion
  • CAGR 2025-2035: 15.06% (low case USD 124.32 billion, high case USD 194.40 billion in 2035)
  • Largest lease type: Turnkey Data Halls, 52.00% of 2025 value
  • Fastest end user: AI and GPU Cloud Providers, 24.78% a year
  • Leading region: North America, 52.00% of 2025 value; fastest region: Middle East and Africa, 25.23%
  • Largest country: United States, USD 18.27 billion in 2025
  • Market leader: Digital Realty, with about 3 GW of in-place IT capacity (DC Market Insights assessment)

Key Takeaways: What Drives Wholesale Colocation Revenue?

  • Wholesale colocation revenue rises from USD 38.88 billion to USD 158.10 billion because leased capacity in billing grows from 24,000 MW to 85,000 MW.
  • Average in-place rent rises from USD 135 to USD 155 per kW-month because renewals reprice older leases upwards, as Digital Realty’s 11.8% cash renewal spread shows.
  • Leases above 100 MW reach 35.00% of value in 2035 because AI tenants now contract whole campuses, such as Applied Digital’s 300 MW Delta Forge 1 lease.
  • Liquid-cooled AI halls grow from 22.00% to 62.00% of value because new accelerator racks exceed what air cooling can remove.

Executive Summary: How Much Do Tenants Pay for Wholesale Colocation?

The Global Wholesale Colocation Market size was valued at USD 12.96 billion in 2020, reached USD 38.88 billion in 2025, and is anticipated to reach USD 158.10 billion by 2035, at a CAGR of 15.06% during the forecast period.

Report Attribute Details
Historical Data 2020-2024
Base Year 2025
Forecast Period 2026-2035
Market Size 2025 USD 38.88 billion
Market Size 2026 USD 51.12 billion
CAGR 2025-2035 15.06%
Market Size 2035 USD 158.10 billion
Segments Covered Lease Type, End User, Lease Size, Cooling Design
Regions Covered North America, Europe, Asia Pacific, Latin America, Middle East and Africa

Wholesale colocation grew 24.57% a year from 2020 to 2025 as leased wholesale capacity in billing rose from 9,000 MW to 24,000 MW, led by hyperscale cloud expansions in Northern Virginia, Dallas, Phoenix, Frankfurt, Tokyo and Johor. Growth eases to 15.06% after 2025 because grid connections, not tenant demand, set the pace: Texas alone had more than 438,000 MW of large loads asking for a connection in June 2026, nearly 90% of them data centers (Source: Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT), June 2026).

Wholesale Colocation Market size 2020-2035: USD 12.96 billion in 2020, USD 38.88 billion in 2025, USD 158.10 billion by 2035, CAGR 15.06% from 2025 (DC Market Insights)

Market Scope: What Counts as Wholesale Colocation?

Wholesale colocation covers USD 38.88 billion of rent paid in 2025 for leases of 1 MW or more of critical IT capacity in third-party data centers.

Included

  • Turnkey data halls leased in blocks of 1 MW and more, with power and cooling delivered by the landlord
  • Build-to-suit campuses developed for one tenant under a long lease
  • Powered shells, where the landlord delivers the building and grid power and the tenant fits out the hall
  • AI campus leases signed by GPU (graphics processing unit) cloud providers and model developers

Excluded

  • Retail colocation by the rack or cage below 1 MW and interconnection fees, covered in the Data Center Colocation Market
  • Electricity passed through to tenants at cost, which can add 40% to 60% to a tenant’s bill
  • Data centers that hyperscalers build and own themselves, and the sale or leaseback of whole buildings
  • GPU cloud services sold by the hour or by contract, such as IREN’s AI cloud contracts

How the Segments Fit Together

Each dimension sums to the same total every year: lease type describes what the landlord delivers, end user describes the tenant, lease size describes the contract block and cooling design describes the hall. Hyperscale cloud providers pay 62.00% of 2025 rent.

Why Do Wholesale Colocation Market Estimates Differ?

DC Market Insights puts wholesale colocation at USD 51.12 billion in 2026, and estimates that count power pass-through, retail colocation or hyperscale self-build come out far larger.

Wider definitions add the electricity that tenants pay through the landlord, the rack-and-cage retail market, interconnection fees, or the capital cost of new campuses. Others count only the hyperscale segment and leave out enterprise and AI cloud tenants. This edition counts rent on leases of 1 MW or more, so a large enterprise or a mid-size AI developer taking 2 MW is in scope; large enterprises paid 14.00% of 2025 rent.

Element In this report Why
Base rent on 1 MW-plus leases Yes, USD 38.88 billion in 2025 Core wholesale revenue
Retail racks and cages below 1 MW No Priced per rack, sold with interconnection
Power pass-through No Billed at cost, not landlord revenue margin
Hyperscale self-build No No lease and no rent
GPU cloud services No Sold as compute, not as space and power

Market Drivers: Why Are Wholesale Colocation Leases Getting Bigger?

Three forces push wholesale colocation rent from USD 38.88 billion in 2025 to USD 104.40 billion in 2030: hyperscale lease commitments, AI campus contracts and repricing of older leases.

Meta’s USD 355.73 Billion of Leases Not Yet Commenced

Hyperscalers sign wholesale leases years before move-in. Meta Platforms reported about USD 355.73 billion of operating and finance leases that had not yet commenced on 30 September 2026, starting between late 2026 and 2036 with terms up to 30 years (Source: Meta Form 10-Q, Q3 2026). Meta also narrowed its 2026 capital spending outlook to USD 135 to 145 billion (Source: Meta, 21 October 2026), and Amazon expects about USD 220 billion of cash capital spending in 2026 (Source: Amazon, 29 October 2026). DC Market Insights estimates hyperscale cloud providers pay USD 24.11 billion of wholesale rent in 2025.

AI Campus Leases from Applied Digital, Cipher Mining and TeraWulf

Former bitcoin-mining sites with large grid connections now lease whole campuses to AI tenants. Applied Digital reported about 1,410 MW of contracted critical IT across five campuses on 31 May 2026, worth about USD 36 billion over 15-year base terms, including a 300 MW Delta Forge 1 lease to an investment-grade hyperscaler for about USD 7.5 billion (Source: Applied Digital, 27 July 2026). Cipher Mining signed about USD 5.5 billion over 15 years with Amazon Web Services (AWS) for 300 MW (Source: Cipher Mining, 3 November 2025). AI and GPU cloud providers grow from USD 4.67 billion of wholesale rent in 2025 to USD 42.69 billion by 2035, DC Market Insights estimates.

Renewal Spreads of 11.8% and Record Backlogs

Older wholesale leases signed at lower rents are repricing. Digital Realty raised cash rents on renewals signed in the third quarter of 2026 by 11.8% and reported a record backlog of USD 2.5 billion of annualized base rent at 100% share (Source: Digital Realty, 29 October 2026). Iron Mountain priced new and expansion data center leases at USD 205 per kW-month in the second quarter of 2026 with an 11.8% cash mark-to-market (Source: Iron Mountain, 5 August 2026). DC Market Insights lifts the average in-place wholesale rent from USD 135 per kW-month in 2025 to USD 150 in 2030.

Wholesale colocation is moving to bigger blocks and denser halls, with liquid-cooled AI halls rising from USD 8.55 billion in 2025 to USD 98.02 billion by 2035.

Hyperscaler Credit Backstops Behind Neocloud Leases

Landlords now lease to AI clouds with a hyperscaler guarantee behind the rent. Google backstopped USD 1.4 billion of Fluidstack’s lease obligations at Cipher Mining’s 168 MW Barber Lake site, a roughly USD 3 billion 10-year contract (Source: Cipher Mining, 25 September 2025), and USD 1.8 billion at TeraWulf’s Lake Mariner site (Source: TeraWulf, 14 August 2025). The backstop lets a 2- or 3-year-old tenant sign a 10-year lease, which explains why AI and GPU cloud providers rise from 12.00% to 27.00% of wholesale rent by 2035.

Gigawatt Land Banks: Digital Realty’s 1 GW Indianapolis Site

Wholesale landlords are buying land for campuses of a size that only hyperscalers built before. Digital Realty reported about 1.5 GW under construction and land near Indianapolis for more than 1 GW and near Charlotte for up to 600 MW of IT capacity (Source: Digital Realty, 29 October 2026). Iron Mountain held 684.2 MW for development beside 160.2 MW under development that was 71.2% pre-leased (Source: Iron Mountain, 5 August 2026). Leases above 100 MW grow at 22.97% a year, the fastest lease-size band.

Wholesale REITs Move Capital Through Joint Ventures

Real estate investment trusts (REITs) fund campuses with partners to keep debt low. Equinix agreed a joint venture of more than USD 15 billion with GIC and the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board for over 1.5 GW of new United States xScale capacity (Source: Equinix, 1 October 2024), and Keppel DC REIT completed Tokyo DC 4 and 5 for JPY 168.4 billion on 1 October 2026 (Source: Keppel DC REIT, 23 October 2026). DC Market Insights expects build-to-suit campuses to rise from 33.00% to 48.00% of wholesale rent.

Market Challenges: What Holds Back Wholesale Colocation Supply?

Grid queues and local permit rules limit how fast wholesale colocation capacity can reach billing, which is why DC Market Insights grows billed capacity by 13.48% a year rather than at the pace of tenant requests.

Grid Queues: 438,000 MW of Large Loads in Texas

ERCOT reported more than 438,000 MW of proposed large-load demand in June 2026, nearly 90% of it from data centers, and moved loads above 75 MW to batch studies (Source: ERCOT, June 2026). Texas Senate Bill 6 of 2025 set a 75 MW large-load threshold and a study fee of at least USD 100,000 (Source: Texas Legislature, 2025). Campuses that cannot show a confirmed connection date cannot sign take-or-pay leases, so DC Market Insights holds 2026 billed capacity at 30,000 MW.

Permit Pauses: Loudoun County and Ireland

The largest wholesale hub has tightened its rules. Loudoun County, Virginia, made data centers a conditional use in former by-right zones in March 2025 and voted 7-1-1 in September 2026 for a pause on new legislative data center applications while it writes Phase 2 rules (Source: Loudoun County, 16 September 2026). Ireland’s Commission for Regulation of Utilities (CRU) requires new data centers to bring on-site or nearby generation or storage matching their import capacity (Source: CRU, December 2025). Europe grows at 12.98% a year, below the global rate.

Market Opportunities: Where Will New Wholesale Colocation Rent Come From?

The largest new wholesale colocation rent pools are AI campuses above 100 MW, worth USD 55.34 billion by 2035, and new hubs in the Middle East and India.

Liquid-Cooled AI Campuses Above 100 MW: USD 55.34 billion by 2035

Leases above 100 MW rise from USD 7.00 billion in 2025 to USD 55.34 billion by 2035. Galaxy Digital delivered 133 MW of critical IT at its Helios campus to CoreWeave under a 15-year lease, within 526 MW contracted and more than USD 1.2 billion of expected average annual revenue (Source: Galaxy Digital, 5 August 2026). Landlords with grid power in hand can sign such leases at USD 140 to 190 per kW-month, DC Market Insights estimates.

Saudi Arabia, the UAE and India: USD 9.80 billion by 2035

Saudi Arabia grows 27.94% a year and India 22.65% a year, the two fastest countries in the top 12. In Abu Dhabi, G42 announced a 5 GW UAE-US AI campus (Source: G42, 15 May 2025), and in Malaysia the Malaysian Investment Development Authority (MIDA) recorded RM385.7 billion of data-center-related investment from 2021 to the first half of 2026 (Source: MIDA, 14 September 2026). Together Saudi Arabia and India add USD 8.71 billion of wholesale rent between 2025 and 2035.

Pricing Analysis: How Much Does Wholesale Colocation Cost per kW?

Wholesale colocation averaged USD 135 per kW-month of in-place rent in 2025, power excluded, rising to USD 155 by 2035 (DC Market Insights estimate).

Year Average in-place rent (USD per kW-month) Leased capacity in billing (MW) Market size (USD million)
2020 120.00 9,000 12,960.00
2025 135.00 24,000 38,880.00
2030 150.00 58,000 104,400.00
2035 155.00 85,000 158,100.00

Public anchors bracket the average: Digital Realty’s leases above 1 MW signed in the third quarter of 2026 carried USD 275 of base rent per kW-month, Iron Mountain priced new leases at USD 205, and long AI campus leases disclosed in Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) filings imply USD 102 to 190 per kW-month. The average sits lower than new-lease prices because most rent in billing comes from leases signed between 2018 and 2023 at USD 100 to 130.

Standards and Regulation: Which Rules Shape Wholesale Colocation Leases?

At least eight rules shape where wholesale colocation can be built and leased in 2026, from Texas grid rules to Singapore’s capacity allocation.

  • Texas Senate Bill 6 (2025): 75 MW large-load threshold, study fee of at least USD 100,000, curtailment during firm load shed (Source: Texas Legislature)
  • ERCOT batch study process for loads above 75 MW, from July 2026 (Source: ERCOT)
  • Loudoun County Phase 1 zoning (March 2025) and application pause (September 2026) (Source: Loudoun County)
  • EU Delegated Regulation 2024/1364 on data center reporting, and the EU rating scheme for data centers above 500 kW adopted in September 2026 (Source: European Commission)
  • Germany’s Energy Efficiency Act (EnEfG) section 11: power usage effectiveness (PUE) of 1.2 or less for new data centers and 100% renewable power from 1 January 2027 (Source: German Federal Ministry of Justice)
  • Ireland CRU connection policy for data centers (December 2025): matching on-site generation or storage and 80% additional Irish renewables (Source: CRU)
  • Singapore’s second data center call for application (DC-CFA2): 200 MW provisionally allocated to four operators in August 2026 (Source: Singapore Economic Development Board (EDB))
  • Malaysia’s guideline for sustainable data centers: design PUE of 1.4 or less for hyperscale sites (Source: MIDA)

Market Segmentation: Which Lease Types and Tenants Lead Wholesale Colocation?

Turnkey data halls lead wholesale colocation with USD 20.22 billion in 2025, while build-to-suit campuses grow fastest at 19.45% a year.

By Lease Type

Turnkey halls stay the largest type because most hyperscale expansions add 2 to 20 MW at existing campuses; build-to-suit gains as AI tenants contract whole sites.

Lease Type 2025 (USD million) Share 2025 2035 (USD million) CAGR 2025-2035
Turnkey Data Halls 20,217.60 52.00% 63,240.00 12.08%
Build-to-Suit Campuses 12,830.40 33.00% 75,888.00 19.45%
Powered Shells 5,832.00 15.00% 18,972.00 12.52%

By End User

Hyperscale cloud providers pay most of the rent, and AI and GPU cloud providers grow fastest at 24.78% a year.

End User 2025 (USD million) Share 2025 2035 (USD million) CAGR 2025-2035
Hyperscale Cloud Providers 24,105.60 62.00% 86,955.00 13.69%
Large Enterprises 5,443.20 14.00% 15,810.00 11.25%
AI and GPU Cloud Providers 4,665.60 12.00% 42,687.00 24.78%
Internet and Content Platforms 4,665.60 12.00% 12,648.00 10.49%

By Lease Size

Leases above 100 MW rise from 18.00% to 35.00% of rent as AI tenants sign campus-scale contracts.

Lease Size 2025 (USD million) Share 2025 2035 (USD million) CAGR 2025-2035
5 to 20 MW 11,664.00 30.00% 31,620.00 10.49%
20 to 100 MW 11,664.00 30.00% 52,173.00 16.16%
1 to 5 MW 8,553.60 22.00% 18,972.00 8.29%
Above 100 MW 6,998.40 18.00% 55,335.00 22.97%

By Cooling Design

Liquid-cooled AI halls overtake air-cooled halls in wholesale rent around 2032, because new accelerator racks need direct liquid cooling.

Cooling Design 2025 (USD million) Share 2025 2035 (USD million) CAGR 2025-2035
Air-Cooled Halls 30,326.40 78.00% 60,078.00 7.08%
Liquid-Cooled AI Halls 8,553.60 22.00% 98,022.00 27.62%

DC Exclusive: Wholesale AI Lease Ledger, 9 Contracts, 2,712 MW and USD 102 to 190 per kW-Month

The Wholesale AI Lease Ledger is a DC Market Insights model built on 9 inputs: nine wholesale AI leases disclosed in SEC filings between February 2025 and July 2026 cover 2,712 MW of critical IT and imply USD 102 to 190 per kW-month.

DC Market Insights derives each implied rent as contract value divided by critical IT kW and months of term; the totals can include escalators, so the figures are an estimate, not a quoted rent. Shorter 10-year contracts price higher per month than 15-year ones, and the AWS lease at USD 102 is the lowest because the tenant carries the best credit.

Campus Landlord / tenant Critical IT (MW) Term Contract value Implied USD per kW-month Disclosed
Polaris Forge 1, North Dakota Applied Digital / CoreWeave 250 15 years USD 7.0 billion 156 May 2025
Delta Forge 1, Louisiana Applied Digital / investment-grade hyperscaler 300 15 years USD 7.5 billion 139 Jul 2026
Delta Forge 2, Louisiana Applied Digital / undisclosed 210 15 years USD 5.2 billion 138 Jul 2026
Barber Lake, Texas Cipher Mining / Fluidstack (Google backstop) 168 10 years USD 3.0 billion 149 Sep 2025
AWS lease Cipher Mining / Amazon Web Services 300 15 years USD 5.5 billion 102 Nov 2025
Lake Mariner, New York TeraWulf / Fluidstack (Google backstop) 200 10 years USD 3.7 billion 154 Aug 2025
Abernathy, Texas TeraWulf joint venture / Fluidstack 168 25 years USD 9.5 billion 188 Oct 2025
Helios, Texas Galaxy Digital / CoreWeave 526 15 years USD 1.2 billion a year 190 Aug 2026
Six sites incl. Denton, Texas Core Scientific / CoreWeave 590 12 years USD 10.0 billion 118 Feb 2025

The ledger’s capacity-weighted midpoint of about USD 150 per kW-month is the rent DC Market Insights applies to new AI campus leases from 2026, above the USD 135 average of all wholesale rent in billing in 2025.

Regional Insights: Which Region Leads Wholesale Colocation?

North America leads wholesale colocation with USD 20.22 billion in 2025, and the Middle East and Africa grows fastest at 25.23% a year.

Region 2025 (USD million) Share 2025 2035 (USD million) CAGR 2025-2035
North America 20,217.60 52.00% 75,888.00 14.14%
Asia Pacific 9,331.20 24.00% 41,106.00 15.98%
Europe 6,998.40 18.00% 23,715.00 12.98%
Latin America 1,166.40 3.00% 6,324.00 18.42%
Middle East and Africa 1,166.40 3.00% 11,067.00 25.23%

North America

North America pays 52.00% of 2025 wholesale rent, led by Northern Virginia, Dallas, Phoenix and new AI campuses in Texas, North Dakota and Louisiana; Digital Realty’s Americas leases above 1 MW priced at USD 267 per kW-month in the third quarter of 2026.

Europe

Europe pays USD 7.00 billion in 2025 and grows 12.98% a year, held back by grid limits in Frankfurt, Amsterdam and Dublin; the European Commission aims to triple EU data center capacity in five to seven years (Source: European Commission, 21 September 2026).

Asia Pacific

Asia Pacific pays USD 9.33 billion in 2025 and grows 15.98% a year; NEXTDC raised contracted utilisation by 495.3 MW to 740.1 MW in its 2026 financial year (Source: NEXTDC, 27 August 2026).

Latin America

Latin America grows from USD 1.17 billion to USD 6.32 billion at 18.42% a year, led by Querétaro in Mexico and São Paulo in Brazil, where hyperscale cloud regions lease from local wholesale operators.

Middle East and Africa

The Middle East and Africa rises from USD 1.17 billion to USD 11.07 billion; OpenAI said 200 MW of the 1 GW Stargate UAE cluster is expected to go live in 2026 (Source: OpenAI, May 2025).

Country Analysis: Which Countries Pay the Most Wholesale Colocation Rent?

The United States pays USD 18.27 billion of wholesale colocation rent in 2025, 47.00% of the world total, and India is the fastest large country at 22.65% a year.

Rank Country Region 2025 (USD million) 2035 (USD million) CAGR 2025-2035
1 United States North America 18,273.60 67,983.00 14.04%
2 China Asia Pacific 3,499.20 13,438.50 14.40%
3 United Kingdom Europe 1,749.60 5,375.40 11.88%
4 Japan Asia Pacific 1,555.20 6,324.00 15.06%
5 Germany Europe 1,555.20 5,059.20 12.52%
6 Australia Asia Pacific 1,088.64 4,426.80 15.06%
7 Malaysia Asia Pacific 1,010.88 5,059.20 17.47%
8 Canada North America 972.00 4,110.60 15.51%
9 India Asia Pacific 738.72 5,691.60 22.65%
10 France Europe 738.72 2,529.60 13.10%
11 Singapore Asia Pacific 699.84 1,897.20 10.49%
12 Saudi Arabia Middle East and Africa 349.92 4,110.60 27.94%

Malaysia ranks seventh with USD 1.01 billion in 2025, above Singapore, because Johor campuses lease the capacity Singapore cannot allocate; Singapore’s DC-CFA2 released only 200 MW in August 2026.

Forecast Scenarios: How Big Could Wholesale Colocation Be by 2035?

Wholesale colocation reaches USD 158.10 billion by 2035 in the base case, with a range of USD 124.32 billion to USD 194.40 billion.

Scenario 2035 (USD million) Leased capacity in billing 2035 (MW) Average rent 2035 (USD per kW-month) CAGR 2025-2035
Low 124,320.00 70,000 148.00 12.33%
Base 158,100.00 85,000 155.00 15.06%
High 194,400.00 100,000 162.00 17.46%

The low case assumes grid queues hold billed capacity to 70,000 MW; the high case assumes AI campuses keep signing above 100 MW and grid connections speed up after the ERCOT batch process.

Key Players and Market Share: Who Leads Wholesale Colocation?

The five largest landlords hold about 38% of 2025 wholesale colocation rent (DC Market Insights estimate, based on disclosed in-place capacity), led by Digital Realty.

  • Digital Realty
  • Equinix (xScale)
  • QTS Data Centers
  • Vantage Data Centers
  • CyrusOne
  • STACK Infrastructure
  • Aligned Data Centers
  • NTT DATA
  • Iron Mountain
  • AirTrunk
  • NEXTDC
  • GDS Holdings
  • Keppel DC REIT
  • Applied Digital
  • Core Scientific
  • Galaxy Digital

Digital Realty reported about 3 GW of in-place IT capacity and about 1.5 GW under construction at the end of the third quarter of 2026 (Source: Digital Realty). NTT DATA had about 1,500 MW of data center capacity at the end of March 2025 (Source: NTT DATA, 14 July 2025). Iron Mountain had 528.5 MW of leasable data center capacity, 97.1% leased, at the end of the second quarter of 2026 (Source: Iron Mountain). Blackstone agreed to buy AirTrunk at an implied enterprise value above AUD 24 billion, when AirTrunk had more than 800 MW committed to customers (Source: AirTrunk, 4 September 2024). Core Scientific reported about 1.1 GW of customer-contracted power and more than USD 24 billion of contracted revenue (Source: Core Scientific, 28 July 2026).

Recent Developments in Wholesale Colocation

Six dated events between July and October 2026 show wholesale colocation leases growing in size and term.

  • In October 2026, Digital Realty signed USD 855 million of annualized rental revenue at 100% share, including 143.6 MW of leases above 1 MW (Source: Digital Realty).
  • In October 2026, Meta reported about USD 355.73 billion of leases not yet commenced (Source: Meta Form 10-Q).
  • In October 2026, Keppel DC REIT completed Tokyo DC 4 and 5 for JPY 168.4 billion (Source: Keppel DC REIT).
  • In August 2026, Singapore provisionally allocated 200 MW to four operators under DC-CFA2 (Source: Singapore EDB).
  • In August 2026, Galaxy Digital delivered 133 MW of critical IT at Helios to CoreWeave (Source: Galaxy Digital).
  • In July 2026, Applied Digital reported about 1,410 MW of contracted critical IT and a 300 MW, 15-year Delta Forge 1 lease (Source: Applied Digital).

Research Methodology: How the Wholesale Colocation Model Works

DC Market Insights sizes wholesale colocation bottom-up as leased capacity in billing × average in-place rent × 12 months: 24,000 MW × USD 135 per kW-month × 12 = USD 38.88 billion in 2025.

Leased capacity in billing rises from 9,000 MW in 2020 to 85,000 MW in 2035, about 20.7% of the 116 GW installed data center IT base in 2025 and 27.3% of 311 GW in 2035. Lease type, end user, lease size, cooling design, region and country splits are DC Market Insights shares that sum to the total every year. Three bound checks:

  • Ceiling 1: USD 51.12 billion of 2026 wholesale rent equals about 9% of the roughly USD 560 billion of 2026 capital spending guided by Amazon, Alphabet and Meta.
  • Ceiling 2: average in-place rent of USD 135 per kW-month sits below the USD 205 to 275 at which Iron Mountain and Digital Realty priced new leases in 2026.
  • Floor: disclosed annual wholesale revenue of Digital Realty’s above-1 MW bookings, Iron Mountain’s data center segment (about USD 1.05 billion a year), Core Scientific (about USD 1.8 billion annualized) and Galaxy Digital (USD 1.2 billion) is far below USD 38.88 billion, as expected for four of more than 30 landlords.

Sources are company filings, stock exchange releases and government documents listed in the fact ledger; the method is described in DC Market Insights research methodology. Related editions: Multi-Tenant Data Center Market, Internet Data Center (IDC) Market and Data Center Grid Infrastructure Interconnection Market.

Table of contents

  • 16 chapters
  • 1 figures
  • 11 data tables
  1. 01Introduction
    • 1.1Report Description
    • 1.2Market Definition and Scope
    • 1.3Research Methodology
  2. 02Executive Summary
    • 2.1Market Snapshot, 2025, 2026 and 2035
    • 2.2Key Market Statistics
    • 2.3Key Takeaways
  3. 03Market Scope and Estimate Comparison
    • 3.1Included and Excluded
    • 3.2How the Segments Fit Together
    • 3.3Why Estimates Differ
  4. 04Market Dynamics
    • 4.1Meta's USD 355.73 Billion of Leases Not Yet Commenced
    • 4.2AI Campus Leases from Applied Digital, Cipher Mining and TeraWulf
    • 4.3Renewal Spreads of 11.8% and Record Backlogs
    • 4.4Hyperscaler Credit Backstops Behind Neocloud Leases
    • 4.5Gigawatt Land Banks: Digital Realty's 1 GW Indianapolis Site
    • 4.6Wholesale REITs Move Capital Through Joint Ventures
    • 4.7Grid Queues: 438,000 MW of Large Loads in Texas
    • 4.8Permit Pauses: Loudoun County and Ireland
    • 4.9Liquid-Cooled AI Campuses Above 100 MW: USD 55.34 billion by 2035
    • 4.10Saudi Arabia, the UAE and India: USD 9.80 billion by 2035
  5. 05Pricing Analysis
    • 5.1Average In-Place Rent per kW-Month, 2020-2035
    • 5.2Public Price Anchors
  6. 06Standards and Regulation
    • 6.1Texas Senate Bill 6
    • 6.2ERCOT Batch Study Process
    • 6.3Loudoun County Zoning and Application Pause
    • 6.4EU Delegated Regulation 2024/1364 and EU Rating Scheme
    • 6.5Germany Energy Efficiency Act Section 11
    • 6.6Ireland CRU Data Centre Connection Policy
    • 6.7Singapore DC-CFA2
    • 6.8Malaysia Sustainable Data Centre Guideline
  7. 07Market Segmentation by Lease Type
    • 7.1Turnkey Data Halls
    • 7.2Build-to-Suit Campuses
    • 7.3Powered Shells
  8. 08Market Segmentation by End User
    • 8.1Hyperscale Cloud Providers
    • 8.2AI and GPU Cloud Providers
    • 8.3Large Enterprises
    • 8.4Internet and Content Platforms
  9. 09Market Segmentation by Lease Size
    • 9.11 to 5 MW
    • 9.25 to 20 MW
    • 9.320 to 100 MW
    • 9.4Above 100 MW
  10. 10Market Segmentation by Cooling Design
    • 10.1Air-Cooled Halls
    • 10.2Liquid-Cooled AI Halls
  11. 11DC Exclusive: Wholesale AI Lease Ledger
    • 11.1Nine Disclosed AI Campus Leases
    • 11.2Implied Rent per kW-Month
  12. 12Regional Insights
    • 12.1North America
    • 12.2Europe
    • 12.3Asia Pacific
    • 12.4Latin America
    • 12.5Middle East and Africa
  13. 13Country Analysis
    • 13.1United States
    • 13.2China
    • 13.3United Kingdom
    • 13.4Japan
    • 13.5Germany
    • 13.6Australia
    • 13.7Malaysia
    • 13.8Canada
    • 13.9India
    • 13.10France
    • 13.11Singapore
    • 13.12Saudi Arabia
  14. 14Forecast Scenarios
    • 14.1Low Scenario
    • 14.2Base Scenario
    • 14.3High Scenario
  15. 15Competitive Insights
    • 15.1Market Concentration
    • 15.2Digital Realty
    • 15.3Equinix (xScale)
    • 15.4QTS Data Centers
    • 15.5Vantage Data Centers
    • 15.6CyrusOne
    • 15.7STACK Infrastructure
    • 15.8Aligned Data Centers
    • 15.9NTT DATA
    • 15.10Iron Mountain
    • 15.11AirTrunk
    • 15.12NEXTDC
    • 15.13GDS Holdings
    • 15.14Keppel DC REIT
    • 15.15Applied Digital
    • 15.16Core Scientific
    • 15.17Galaxy Digital
  16. 16Recent Developments
    • 16.1Digital Realty Third-Quarter Bookings (October 2026)
    • 16.2Meta Leases Not Yet Commenced (October 2026)
    • 16.3Keppel DC REIT Tokyo DC 4 and 5 (October 2026)
    • 16.4Singapore DC-CFA2 Allocation (August 2026)
    • 16.5Galaxy Digital Helios Delivery (August 2026)
    • 16.6Applied Digital Delta Forge 1 Lease (July 2026)
  1. Fig. 1Wholesale Colocation Market Size, 2020-2035 (USD billion)
  1. Table 1Report Attributes
  2. Table 2Scope Comparison
  3. Table 3Average In-Place Rent and Leased Capacity, 2020-2035
  4. Table 4Market by Lease Type, 2025 and 2035
  5. Table 5Market by End User, 2025 and 2035
  6. Table 6Market by Lease Size, 2025 and 2035
  7. Table 7Market by Cooling Design, 2025 and 2035
  8. Table 8Wholesale AI Lease Ledger
  9. Table 9Market by Region, 2025 and 2035
  10. Table 10Top 12 Countries, 2025 and 2035
  11. Table 11Forecast Scenarios, 2035

About this report

Amit JainDeepti Agrawal

Written by Amit Jain and reviewed by Deepti Agrawal, Senior Editor, Research. Figures are built top-down and bottom-up and reconciled before publication, with 2025 as the base year.

Read our methodology

How we built this

  • Historical period2020-2024
  • Base year2025
  • Forecast period2026-2035
  • Sizing approachTop-down + bottom-up

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Frequently asked questions

What is the size of the Wholesale Colocation Market in 2026?

USD 51.12 billion in 2026, up 31.48% from USD 38.88 billion in 2025, according to DC Market Insights estimates. The market is projected to reach USD 158.10 billion by 2035, a CAGR of 15.06% from 2025.

How fast is the Wholesale Colocation Market growing?

15.06% a year from 2025 to 2035, after 24.57% a year from 2020 to 2025, as leased wholesale capacity in billing rises from 24,000 MW to 85,000 MW and average rent from USD 135 to USD 155 per kW-month.

What is wholesale colocation?

USD 38.88 billion of rent was paid in 2025 for leases of 1 MW or more of critical IT capacity in third-party data centers: turnkey halls, build-to-suit campuses and powered shells. Retail racks, power pass-through and self-built hyperscale sites are excluded.

How much does wholesale colocation cost per kW?

USD 135 per kW-month of average in-place rent in 2025, power excluded, DC Market Insights estimates. Digital Realty priced leases above 1 MW at USD 275 in the third quarter of 2026, and AI campus leases imply USD 102 to 190.

What is the difference between wholesale and retail colocation?

Wholesale leases start at 1 MW and run 10 to 25 years, priced per kW-month, while retail colocation rents racks and cages below 1 MW with interconnection. In 2025 wholesale rent was USD 38.88 billion.

Who are the biggest wholesale colocation tenants?

Hyperscale cloud providers, paying USD 24.11 billion or 62.00% of 2025 rent. AI and GPU cloud providers grow fastest at 24.78% a year, often with a hyperscaler guarantee behind the lease.

Which segment of the Wholesale Colocation Market grows fastest?

Liquid-cooled AI halls grow fastest at 27.62% a year to USD 98.02 billion by 2035. By lease size, leases above 100 MW lead at 22.97%.

Which region leads the Wholesale Colocation Market?

North America, with USD 20.22 billion or 52.00% of 2025 value. The Middle East and Africa grows fastest at 25.23% a year, and India is the fastest large country at 22.65%.

Who are the leading wholesale colocation providers?

Digital Realty leads with about 3 GW of in-place IT capacity, and the top five landlords hold about 38% of 2025 rent (DC Market Insights estimate). Equinix xScale, QTS, Vantage, CyrusOne, STACK, NTT DATA, AirTrunk and Applied Digital also compete.

Why do Wholesale Colocation Market estimates differ?

USD 51.12 billion in 2026 counts only rent on leases of 1 MW or more. Estimates that add power pass-through, retail racks, interconnection or hyperscale self-built campuses come out much larger.

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