As artificial intelligence (AI), cloud computing, and digital transformation scale globally, enterprises are increasingly looking beyond U.S. borders to build and deploy infrastructure. Expanding into international data center markets has become a strategic imperative, not just a cost-driven decision.
This guide breaks down which global regions are scaling data center capacity, the benefits of international colocation, and the risks that CIOs, CTOs, and infrastructure leaders must consider when building a global IT infrastructure strategy.
Enterprise and hyperscale providers are investing billions in new global data center campuses to meet rising demand from AI and cloud workloads. Key growth markets include:
Sweden
Brookfield Asset Management recently announced a $10 billion investment in a hyperscale data center campus in Strängnäs, Sweden¹. The country’s abundant renewable energy, stable grid, and cool climate make it an ideal location for AI-ready data centers.
India
Mumbai now ranks among the top 10 cities globally for data center capacity under construction, outpacing even traditional European hubs like London and Dublin². Local demand for cloud services and increasing compliance mandates are driving growth.
Malaysia
Microsoft is investing $2 billion in Johor to build advanced data centers³. Malaysia is emerging as a hub for Southeast Asia due to its strategic proximity to Singapore, lower energy costs, and attractive regulatory environment.
Brazil
Brazil is positioning itself as a green data center leader. With nearly 90% of electricity generated from renewable sources⁴, it offers sustainability-focused enterprises an opportunity to meet ESG goals while scaling compute capacity.
Establishing a global data center footprint provides competitive and operational advantages that go beyond cost savings.
Improved Latency and Performance
Deploying workloads closer to end-users minimizes latency, which is critical for customer-facing platforms, AI model responsiveness, and real-time data processing.
Regulatory Compliance and Data Sovereignty
As data privacy laws tighten worldwide (e.g., GDPR, India's DPDP Act, Brazil's LGPD), having infrastructure inside specific jurisdictions is essential for compliance.
Energy and Cost Efficiency
Emerging markets often provide more favorable power rates and land costs. Additionally, many are investing heavily in green energy infrastructure, aligning with enterprise sustainability goals.
Risk Mitigation and Redundancy
A distributed global presence helps minimize risk from geopolitical events, natural disasters, or regional outages. It also supports disaster recovery and business continuity planning.
While international expansion has its advantages, global IT leaders must navigate a range of challenges when choosing data center locations outside the U.S.
Power Infrastructure Limitations
In fast-scaling regions, utility grids may struggle to meet growing demand for AI workloads, which can lead to project delays or limited capacity availability⁵.
Local Regulatory and Legal Complexity
Each region has its own laws regarding data handling, compliance, and operational permits. Missteps can result in costly delays or fines.
Supply Chain and Equipment Delays
Ongoing global supply chain disruptions have extended lead times for essential data center infrastructure components⁶.
Cultural and Operational Variability
From language and labor to logistics and climate, operational norms vary across markets and can impact deployment schedules and uptime commitments.
Successful global infrastructure strategies rely on smart sourcing and experienced execution.
Colocapacity.com for Global Colocation Sourcing
Colocapacity.com enables IT leaders to identify data centers that meet precise technical and geographic needs. Use advanced filters to find high-density colocation, liquid cooling-ready, or low-latency regions quickly—vital when demand spikes.
Arkitech Group for Infrastructure Strategy and Execution
Arkitech Group partners with enterprises to manage the end-to-end lifecycle of international deployments. From site selection and vendor coordination to energy modeling and migration strategy, their team ensures IT leaders can scale confidently into new markets.
AI and cloud workloads are going global—and so must your infrastructure. Whether you’re planning to enter Europe, Latin America, or Southeast Asia, understanding the regional dynamics of data center markets is essential.
By leveraging data-driven sourcing tools like Colocapacity.com and partnering with infrastructure experts like Arkitech Group, enterprises can minimize risk, improve performance, and future-proof their global data center strategy.
Reuters – Brookfield to invest $10 billion in Swedish AI data center campus
Knight Frank – India among top 10 global data center markets under construction
Microsoft News – Microsoft announces $2 billion investment in Malaysia data centers
International Energy Agency – Brazil’s electricity generation is 87% renewable
DataCenterDynamics – Power grid stress affecting global data center development
Uptime Institute – Global data center supply chain disruptions and lead times