Uptime Institute Global Data Center Survey 2025

The Uptime Institute Global Data Center Survey 2025 reveals an innovative and resilient industry — but one that is also facing rising costs, worsening power constraints and challenges in meeting the demands for AI. As operators expand and modernize to meet power and density requirements, they need to address availability, efficiency, staffing challenges, supply chain delays and unpredictable technological advances.

KEY POINTS

• Cost issues remain the top concern for digital infrastructure management teams in 2025 — but concerns about forecasting future capacity requirements have grown significantly.
• Average PUE levels show little change for the sixth consecutive year, with improvements constrained by legacy infrastructure and region-specific barriers to efficient cooling.
• Average server rack power densities continue to rise slowly, driven by greater adoption of racks in the 10 kW to 30 kW range. Few facilities exceed 30 kW, and extreme densities remain rare.
• The collection and reporting of key sustainability metrics have not improved in 2025 — due, in part, to rising power demand and easing regulatory pressure in some regions.
• Trust in AI for data center operations depends on the use case: most operators would allow its use for analyzing sensor data and predictive maintenance tasks, but not configuration changes, controlling equipment or managing staff.
• Impactful data center outages are gradually becoming less frequent — but one in 10 outages still cause serious or severe disruption, underlining the need for continued investment.
• Enterprises continue to adopt hybrid IT strategies, but on-premises data centers remain foundational, with 45% of IT workloads still residing in corporate facilities.
• Staffing challenges persist in 2025. Nearly two-thirds of operators report difficulty retaining staff, finding qualified candidates — or both.