Growth of European data center capacity operated and owned exclusively by hyperscalers will outpace colocation supply growth in the region this year, according to research from real estate services firm CBRE.

CBRE’s Europe Data Centres report, which covers Q4 2025, predicts hyperscaler self-build capacity will reach 4.2GW in 2026, a 24 percent increase on the previous year and the seventeenth consecutive year of double-digit growth.

In comparison, CBRE expects the top 15 European colocation data center markets to grow 19 percent year-on-year. The colocation segment is expected to remain about 50 percent larger than the self-build segment at the end of 2026.

This new supply will be delivered across nine European countries, with 60 percent of Europe’s operational hyperscale self-build capacity located in Ireland, the Netherlands, Sweden, and Belgium.

“The hyperscaler self-build segment is growing as hyperscalers are looking to build facilities at scale and control more of the supply chain, the design of the facility and ensure they have the power necessary,” said Andrew Jay, head of Data Center Solutions, Europe at CBRE.

Kevin Restivo, director, European Data Center Research at CBRE, added: “Traditionally, the fastest route to market for hyperscalers in need of data center capacity delivered are the developer-operators. We expect this to remain true for the foreseeable future. Hyperscalers will, in some instances, build their own facilities, though.”

Vacancy and take-up

The report, which examines a number of metrics across the European data center market, revealed that vacancy rates have hit an all-time low in Europe, and are expected to drop to 5.7 percent by the end of the year. This is a three percent drop from 2025.

Vacancy rates remain low worldwide, sustained over several years, driven by AI demand and development headwinds. In the US, for example, vacancy has remained at one percent for two years in a row.

However, CBRE’s Q4 2025 data showed a take-up of 455MW, falling short of a supply of 517MW. The firm said this was the third consecutive quarter of oversupply in Europe, and the first year that new supply exceeded take-up since 2021, evidencing a year of weaker-than-expected demand.

“Take-up of colocation data center capacity in 2025 was slower than first expected as hyperscalers needed less capacity to support their AI delivery and cloud expansion efforts,” the report said, “last year, hyperscalers relied more on the data center capacity that has been secured by neocloud firms, for new capacity than they have in the past.

“To accommodate hyperscaler demand, neocloud firms have procured data center capacity in the Nordic region and elsewhere in Europe where power-intensive AI workloads can be most readily accommodated.”

Despite 2025’s take-up statistics, CBRE remained optimistic on 2026 demand, with the expectation that new data center supply will exceed take-up by around 138MW this year. The real estate services firm said this reflects strong demand from neoclouds and hyperscalers for European data center capacity. It also said this evidenced difficulties facing providers in securing land, power, and planning to build data centers.

“The resource constraints are exacerbated by the need for larger data centers to match customer needs. Developers are trying to accommodate by building more facilities outside the largest data center clusters in Europe,” the report said.