Data Centers: Where the Market is Headed and Why It Matters for GITEX GLOBAL 2025

Marrakech – Global data center demand is surging with hyperscalers now operating 1,189 large facilities worldwide. These tech giants account for 44% of global data center capacity, while on-premises solutions have declined to just a third of the total market.

Enterprise cloud spending is approaching $100 billion per quarter, growing at 24-25% year-over-year, keeping vacancy rates tight despite new construction.

According to CBRE, the global weighted vacancy for data centers sits at just 6.6% in Q1 2025. The primary constraint isn’t real estate but access to power. Europe alone is set to deploy a record 937 megawatts (MW) of new capacity in 2025, driven largely by AI infrastructure expansion.

Power consumption has become the industry’s defining challenge. The International Energy Agency (IEA) projects data center electricity use will more than double by 2030, reaching approximately 945 terawatt-hours (TWh) – roughly equivalent to Japan’s current total electricity consumption. AI-optimized facilities are the main driver of this increase.

Efficiency improvements have slowed across the industry, with average Power Usage Effectiveness (PUE) around 1.56, though top operators like Google report much better fleet performance with PUE near 1.09.

Reliability remains a critical concern at the board level. Uptime Institute’s 2024 survey reveals 54% of significant outages cost more than $100,000, with about one in five exceeding $1 million in damages.

Why the DC track at GITEX will matter for coverage

GITEX Global 2025 will run from October 13-17 at the Dubai World Trade Centre. The event spans multiple venues, including Al Multaqua Ballroom, Halls 1-8, Sheikh Maktoum, Sheikh Rashid, Sheikh Saeed 1-3, Trade Centre Arena, and Za’abeel 1-6. This year marks the event’s 45th edition and is promoted as the world’s largest tech and AI show.

Data centers are a headline focus under the “Super Data Centres × GITEX GLOBAL” program. The flagship theme – “The AI Data Paradox: Energy, Privacy, Compute Power” – will run Monday through Thursday (October 13-16) from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. in Hall 25. Programming will focus on resilient, green AI infrastructure.

Confirmed speakers include ByteDance’s global data center infrastructure head Mike Coleman, DigitalBridge CEO Marc Ganzi, German Datacenter Association chair Anna Klaft, O’Leary Ventures CEO Paul Palandjian, and Vertiv CEO Giordano Albertazzi.

The wider GITEX ecosystem this year also encompasses AI Semicon, AI for Developers, Quantum Expo, and Digi-Health & Biotech, creating strong connections to data center topics.

Three main threads are expected to dominate discussions: Power and sustainability (including PPAs, grid constraints, liquid cooling, PUE/WUE improvements, and siting near renewables); AI build-outs (including GPU density, interconnect fabrics, and capacity distribution between hyperscalers and colos); and Capital and geography (new hotspots, secondary markets, sovereign-cloud and data-residency demands).

UAE, Saudi Arabia lead the region

The UAE is establishing itself as a regional hub for AI infrastructure. Current estimates place existing UAE capacity above 350 MW, with approximately 500 MW more in development.

Earlier tallies this year cited 250+ MW already installed, while other sources, such as Mordor Intelligence, estimate the market size at about 496 MW in 2025, projected to grow to around 918 MW by 2030. Fresh investment is expected to reach $2.5 billion by 2026.

Dubai’s Moro Hub holds the Guinness World Record for the largest solar-powered data center, spanning 33,311 square meters. This achievement highlights how sustainability is becoming integrated into capacity growth.

Local operators are scaling up with global partners. Du announced a AED 2 billion hyperscale facility with Microsoft, while Khazna – which controls roughly 70-73% of UAE operational capacity and recently secured $2.62 billion to accelerate construction – is expanding both regionally and into Europe, including a 500-MW AI campus joint venture with Eni near Milan.

In Saudi Arabia, STC’s center3 is targeting 1 gigawatt (GW) of capacity by 2030 through a $10+ billion plan, positioning Saudi Arabia as the region’s largest future expansion. Across the MENA region, there is more than 1 GW installed and approximately 4.5 GW in the pipeline through 2027.

Technical challenges are evolving with AI demands. While typical data center racks still average 7-8 kW, AI racks now range from 40-120 kW depending on platform and cooling solutions.

NVIDIA’s GB200 NVL72 is engineered for liquid-cooled racks approaching 120 kW. Uptime’s 2024 Cooling Survey tracks accelerating adoption of direct-to-chip liquid cooling technologies.

Water usage is another critical concern. Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory estimates approximately 4.5 liters per kilowatt-hour average indirect water consumption tied to grid electricity in the US. Direct Water Usage Effectiveness (WUE) ranges from 0.30-1.8 liters per kilowatt-hour, depending on site and cooling technology.

Regulatory changes are also shaping the industry. The EU’s recast Energy Efficiency Directive requires annual data center reporting to the EU database for facilities with 500 kW IT load or greater. Germany’s Energy Efficiency Act is introducing heat-reuse quotas starting at 10% and increasing to 20% by 2028.

GITEX 2025 will provide a crucial platform for discussing these developments and their implications for the future of data centers globally and in the MENA region specifically.