What Is a Hyperscale Data Center?

The world is doubling down on hyperscale data centers. Quite literally, as their number is literally growing twofold every four years. According to 2024 research, the number of hyperscale data centers worldwide has officially exceeded 1000 – up from around 700 two years prior. Why is their surge so significant? What do hyperscale facilities offer that traditional data centers can’t? Let’s see.

What Is a Hyperscale Data Center?

Hyperscale data center is a large facility designed to support the IT infrastructure of big tech companies. By providing massive computing power and storage, these types of data centers offer scalability and efficiency necessary for sustaining high-performance demands.

Key characteristics of a hyperscale data center:

• Large site locations: according to an IDC definition, a hyperscale data center needs to take up at least 10,000 square feet of floor space – however, their physical space is often much, much higher, exceeding 1-2 million square feet
• Scalability: data centers should have at least 5,000 servers to be considered hyperscale, which means they allow for a rapid increase of resources as demands grow
• High-density server racks: server racks of hyperscale data centers consume more than 100 MW
• Disaggregation and modularity: hyperscale facility spreads out its computing resources into modular components, which contributes to their flexibility
• Intelligent load balancing: in the world of hyperscalers, advanced AI algorithms are key to managing and distributing workloads across thousands of servers dynamically

Hyperscale Data Center vs. Regular Data Center

How is a hyperscale data center any different from a traditional data center? The obvious answer is – size. While average facilities occupy space of anything between 5,000 and 100,000 square feet, some of the hyperscale giants, such as Apple and Google, boast surfaces of 1.3 million square feet and 2 million square feet, respectively (and they’re not even the biggest in the world). This naturally translates to their capacity and efficiency, with server count, storage, and processing power being 10 to 100 times larger in favor of hyperscale data centers.

6 Benefits of a Hyperscale Data Center

1. Optimized workload
2. Huge scalability
3. Reduced downtime
4. Improved energy efficiency
5. Cost-effectiveness
6. Unmatched reliability and resiliency

Challenges of Hyperscale Data Centers

Though the benefits of hyperscale facilities are undeniable, they don’t come without their challenges. Here are some obstacles that hyperscale data center operators have to keep in mind – and overcome: 

• High initial cost – not to be obvious, but hyperscale data centers are very, very expensive. For example, Microsoft’s facility in Illinois – one of the largest DCs in the world – cost an estimated $500 million to build. Obviously, it’s not something that every company can afford. 
• Energy consumption and eco issues – a single hyperscale data center can use up to 150 megawatts (MW) of power, which is about as much as an average US city needs. Not only does this raise concerns about their environmental impact, but also requires operators to factor in proximity to huge energy sources.
• Geographical limitations – hyperscale data centers are well… hyperscale. With the biggest ones in the world taking up literal millions of square feet, finding the right location for such a facility is quite a challenge. 
• Attack risk – among the ten biggest data breaches of 2023, as many as seven were targeted at tech companies. Since hyperscale data centers are so huge and manage so much data, they are pretty vulnerable to cyber-attacks. That’s why it’s so important their operators put very high-end security measures in place

Top 3 Hyperscale Data Centers Around the World

The hyperscale data center market is currently valued at around $40 billion – $37.12 billion in 2023, to be exact (but the number is growing). Which companies cause the industry to thrive?

Here’s a short rundown of the largest hyperscale data centers in the world:

1. Amazon Web Services (AWS)

At 33.5 million square feet, AWS is the largest hyperscale cloud provider, holding approximately 32% of the market share. Amazon’s hyperscale data center covers 32 cloud regions and 102 availability zones.

2. Microsoft Azure

Holding about 23% of the overall hyperscale market, Microsoft is the second biggest data center owner in the world. With 62 cloud regions and 2,176 MW operational data capacity, it’s a popular choice for enterprise data centers. 

3. Google Cloud Platform (GCP)

Google is known to control roughly 10% of the hyperscale market and operates in 39 cloud regions, with an operational capacity of 3,024 MW and 118 availability zones. 

Combined, these three tech giants own 65% of the entire data center market. Other companies that contribute to its growth include Meta, Apple, Huawei, Oracle, and Alibaba Cloud. In the future, the struggle for hyperscale dominance may become even more fierce as more and more businesses recognize the skyrocketing demand for data storage and continue to invest in their DC capabilities.