Uptime Institute Global Data Center Survey 2026

The Uptime Institute Global Data Center Survey 2026 reveals a data center industry that continues to expand, invest and adapt — but under intensifying constraints and in the face of growing complexity and scrutiny. Demand remains strong, driven increasingly by the need to support high-density and AI-related workloads, but data center operators must navigate challenges such as limited power availability, falling grid reliability, rising costs, supply chain limits and staffing shortages. Maintaining resiliency while modernizing infrastructure will be critical in the years ahead.

KEY POINTS

• High costs remain the greatest concern for digital infrastructure management teams in 2026, but concerns around capacity forecasting, power availability and supply chain disruptions are growing.
• Average PUE levels continue to improve in 2026, but the gains remain gradual. Newer, more efficient data centers are being built, but legacy infrastructure and cooling constraints are slowing progress.
• Average modal rack densities continue to rise slowly, and more operators are now reporting peak rack densities of 30 kW or above.
• The share of operators who say their organization collects sustainability metrics returned to its gradual upward trend in 2026, and more than half now say they track water use.
• Expectations for AI's operational benefits declined slightly in 2026. Trust remains highest for lower-risk applications, such as sensor data analytics and predictive maintenance.
• Fewer operators report experiencing an impactful outage in the past three years, continuing a long-standing trend. However, one in ten outages is still classified as serious or severe, and the costs of outages continue to rise.
• For the first time, third-party data center facilities and services account for a larger share of IT workloads than enterprise-owned data centers (by facility, not total capacity). However, corporate data centers remain central to hybrid IT strategies.
• Staffing and skills shortages may be intensifying. More than half of respondents now report difficulty finding qualified candidates for open jobs in 2026, and staff turnover remains a persistent challenge.