Summary
- CBRE expects European data centre capacity to reach 13GW by the end of 2026, 20% above last year.
- Hyperscaler self-build capacity is forecast to rise 22%, while colocation supply is expected to expand 18%.
- AI-related colocation signings more than quadrupled in the first half as grid constraints continue to suppress vacancy and complicate delivery.
European data centre capacity is on course to reach 13GW by the end of 2026, with AI demand driving another year of rapid expansion despite continuing grid and construction constraints.
CBRE expects total capacity across the European market to increase by about 20% this year. Hyperscaler self-build capacity is forecast to grow 22%, while colocation capacity is expected to rise 18%.
The scale of the expansion reflects both the growth of existing cloud workloads and the additional infrastructure being commissioned for AI training and inference. CBRE said new European colocation capacity signings intended for AI use more than quadrupled during the first half of 2026 compared with the same period last year.
The headline growth rate does not mean new supply is arriving easily. Europe continues to combine strong customer demand with grid bottlenecks, long connection lead times, planning pressure, and increasingly difficult site selection.
The new capacity is entering a market where available space remains tight in major European hubs, while grid availability and connection lead times continue to govern how quickly planned supply can become operational.
The tension between demand and buildability is changing the market geographically as well as increasing its overall size. Established hubs such as Frankfurt, London, Amsterdam, Paris, and Dublin continue to dominate installed capacity, but secondary markets are absorbing a growing share of development as operators look for power and land outside the most congested locations.
Milan has been among the European markets gaining momentum, while Nordic and southern European locations are also attracting projects that would have been harder to place in the traditional hubs at comparable scale.
That expansion is not simply a real-estate shift. Moving into a new market requires adequate transmission and distribution infrastructure, fibre connectivity, a suitable planning environment, engineering capacity, and enough confidence in future demand to justify large upfront capital expenditure.
AI makes that calculation more demanding. New high-density deployments can increase electrical loads per rack sharply and require different cooling, power distribution, and mechanical designs from conventional enterprise or cloud facilities. Large projects may also require dedicated substations or significant network reinforcement before the first IT equipment is energised.
The result is a European pipeline that can be large on paper while remaining difficult to convert into operational megawatts. A site with planning permission but no viable grid date cannot meet immediate demand, while a site with electrical capacity but weak connectivity or an uncertain consent pathway may not be commercially attractive.
DataCentral has previously reported that Europe risks losing share in the global capacity race as grid delays, energy costs, permitting, and constrained sites slow deployment. CBRE’s 13GW forecast shows that absolute European supply is nevertheless expanding quickly.
The distinction between absolute growth and competitive position is important. Europe can add several gigawatts of new capacity while still growing more slowly than markets where generation, grid connections, permitting, and land assembly can be secured on shorter timescales.
For operators, that means development strategy is increasingly shaped by access to infrastructure before customer contracts are signed. Land banking, early grid applications, phased campus designs, and expansion into secondary markets are becoming part of the effort to secure future delivery capacity.
It is also increasing the strategic value of existing powered sites. When replacement capacity takes years to connect, operational campuses with expansion rights or secured additional power become harder to reproduce.
CBRE’s forecast therefore describes a market that is growing rapidly but not freely. Europe is adding capacity because demand is strong enough to support investment, while the pace and location of that investment remain governed by the physical limits of grids, sites, planning systems, and construction supply chains.
