# Telecom Data Center Market

> Telecom Data Center Market: USD 20.04 billion in 2026, USD 38.51 billion by 2035, a 7.58% CAGR from 2025, as operators turn copper sites into AI compute.

Publisher: DC Market Insights  
Author: Amit Jain, DC Market Insights  
Published: 2026-10-29  
Last updated: 2026-10-29  
Next review: Apr 2027  
Page: https://www.dcmarketinsights.com/report/telecom-data-center-market

## Key takeaways

- Chinese Operators Shift Capital Expenditure to Computing Power
- Saudi Arabia's stc and HUMAIN Joint Venture

**Frequently Asked Questions**

**What is the size of the Telecom Data Center Market in 2026?**

USD 20.04 billion in 2026, up 8.09% from USD 18.54 billion in 2025, according to DC Market Insights estimates. The market is projected to reach USD 38.51 billion by 2035, a CAGR of 7.58% from 2025.

**How fast is the telecom data center market growing?**

7.58% a year from 2025 to 2035, after 5.59% a year from 2020 to 2025, as operator IT load in use rises from 5,100 MW to 8,350 MW and GPU racks climb from 3.5% to 21% of it.

**What is a telecom data center?**

USD 18.54 billion in 2025 was spent on data center capacity that carriers own or lease for their own networks and services: 5G and voice cores, central offices rebuilt as data centers, MEC edge sites, OSS/BSS systems and operator-run GPU clouds. Colocation sold to outside customers is not counted.

**Why are telecom operators turning central offices into data centers?**

More than 100 AT&T wire centers have no customers left on legacy services, and AT&T targets copper discontinuation in 50% of wire centers outside California. Freed space and power become network cloud and edge sites, worth USD 12.71 billion by 2035.

**Which telecom operators are building AI data centers?**

1,200 MW is disclosed across 9 programs in the DC Market Insights tracker: China Unicom's seven 100 MW-class campuses, stc's 250 MW first phase with HUMAIN, SoftBank's 150 MW Sakai site and SK Telecom's 100 MW Ulsan campus; Deutsche Telekom runs up to 10,000 GPUs in Munich.

**Which telecom data center segment grows fastest?**

Telco AI and GPU cloud grows fastest at 20.48% a year to USD 11.82 billion by 2035; among facility types, colocation and hosted cloud leads at 12.61%, while core and central office sites grow 3.59%.

**Which region leads the telecom data center market?**

Asia Pacific, with USD 7.42 billion or 40.0% of 2025 value. Middle East and Africa grows fastest at 9.56% a year, and India is the fastest large country at 12.03%.

**How much computing do China's telecom operators run?**

92.5 EFLOPS at China Mobile, 91 EFLOPS self-owned and accessed at China Telecom and 45 EFLOPS at China Unicom at the end of 2025, per their annual results. China Telecom also reported more than 3.2 GW of rack power capacity.

**How much does a telecom operator spend per MW of data center capacity?**

USD 3.64 million per MW in use in 2025, DC Market Insights estimates, rising to USD 4.61 million by 2035. A telco AI rack costs USD 8.20 million per MW-year of servers against USD 2.45 million for network cloud.

**Why do telecom data center market estimates differ?**

USD 20.04 billion in 2026 counts only capacity operators use for their own networks and services. Estimates that add colocation sold to outside customers, radio and transmission equipment or network software come out several times larger.

## Dataset

| Series | Value | Unit |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Market size 2025 | 18,540 | USD million |
| Revenue CAGR | 7.58 | % |
| Market size 2035 | 38,510 | USD million |

## Frequently asked questions

### What is the size of the Telecom Data Center Market in 2026?

USD 20.04 billion in 2026, up 8.09% from USD 18.54 billion in 2025, according to DC Market Insights estimates. The market is projected to reach USD 38.51 billion by 2035, a CAGR of 7.58% from 2025.

### How fast is the telecom data center market growing?

7.58% a year from 2025 to 2035, after 5.59% a year from 2020 to 2025, as operator IT load in use rises from 5,100 MW to 8,350 MW and GPU racks climb from 3.5% to 21% of it.

### What is a telecom data center?

USD 18.54 billion in 2025 was spent on data center capacity that carriers own or lease for their own networks and services: 5G and voice cores, central offices rebuilt as data centers, MEC edge sites, OSS/BSS systems and operator-run GPU clouds. Colocation sold to outside customers is not counted.

### Why are telecom operators turning central offices into data centers?

More than 100 AT&T wire centers have no customers left on legacy services, and AT&T targets copper discontinuation in 50% of wire centers outside California. Freed space and power become network cloud and edge sites, worth USD 12.71 billion by 2035.

### Which telecom operators are building AI data centers?

1,200 MW is disclosed across 9 programs in the DC Market Insights tracker: China Unicom's seven 100 MW-class campuses, stc's 250 MW first phase with HUMAIN, SoftBank's 150 MW Sakai site and SK Telecom's 100 MW Ulsan campus; Deutsche Telekom runs up to 10,000 GPUs in Munich.

### Which telecom data center segment grows fastest?

Telco AI and GPU cloud grows fastest at 20.48% a year to USD 11.82 billion by 2035; among facility types, colocation and hosted cloud leads at 12.61%, while core and central office sites grow 3.59%.

### Which region leads the telecom data center market?

Asia Pacific, with USD 7.42 billion or 40.0% of 2025 value. Middle East and Africa grows fastest at 9.56% a year, and India is the fastest large country at 12.03%.

### How much computing do China's telecom operators run?

92.5 EFLOPS at China Mobile, 91 EFLOPS self-owned and accessed at China Telecom and 45 EFLOPS at China Unicom at the end of 2025, per their annual results. China Telecom also reported more than 3.2 GW of rack power capacity.

### How much does a telecom operator spend per MW of data center capacity?

USD 3.64 million per MW in use in 2025, DC Market Insights estimates, rising to USD 4.61 million by 2035. A telco AI rack costs USD 8.20 million per MW-year of servers against USD 2.45 million for network cloud.

### Why do telecom data center market estimates differ?

USD 20.04 billion in 2026 counts only capacity operators use for their own networks and services. Estimates that add colocation sold to outside customers, radio and transmission equipment or network software come out several times larger.

## How to cite

Data Center Market Research & Consulting | DC Market Insights, "Telecom Data Center Market", updated 2026-10-29, https://www.dcmarketinsights.com/report/telecom-data-center-market