The report, published in partnership with research firm DC Byte, shows EMEA markets have seen a take-up rise of 4% in the last quarter to 120MW, with a 10% increase in new supply overall - totalling more than 180MW.
In APAC, total supply increased by just under 200MW, reflecting a similar pace to 2020 take up - recorded at just over 800MW - making total supply 5800MW across the region.
The data shows whilst some markets have kept up with this pace, others though - mostly Tier II cities - have reported little supply growth in early 2021.
In EMEA, the core (FLAPD) markets of Amsterdam, Frankfurt, London, Paris and Dublin continued their momentum, yet the trend is towards expansion outside of these markets.
Africa is poised to become a significant hyperscale region, highlighted by the level of supply coming online in South Africa and Kenya.
Istanbul and Warsaw are also noted as “edge markets to watch”, said Knight Frank.
Development in EMEA’s leading markets has been most notable in Q1 in Dublin, with 108MW added, which represents 75% of 2020’s new supply. London and Moscow both saw 40MW added, whilst Zurich added 33MW.
In APAC, the total IT MW consumed increased by 5% to just over 90MW in the first quarter, which is on track to meet the 2020 take up levels of 385MW.
Among the top performing markets, Mumbai is expected to match last year’s increase, with 56MW added in Q1 2021. Sydney reached half of last year’s take up in the first quarter alone, and has already more than tripled last year’s new supply.
Stephen Beard, partner and co-head of global data centres at Knight Frank, said: “The increase in data centre facilities is becoming more widely distributed, as providers expand into new territories to add political and geographic diversity, as well as meeting new data protection legislation requirements.
“Belgium, Denmark, Spain, Zurich and Warsaw, for example, have been recent targets for cloud availability zones.”
He added: “Meanwhile, there is industry consolidation to also consider. New investors looking to maximise facility value to serve the 5G data economy will likely target sites for upgrades rather than decommissioning.”
