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In order to realize data center investment as soon as possible, it is important to know and become familiar with the trends of data centers, which will be in increasing demand in the future.

Demand for network communications is expected to grow significantly in the future due to the spread of telework, cloud computing, and the IT revolution, etc. The latest trend is not only in terms of the ability to process huge amounts of data using HPC, etc., and high power consumption, but also in terms of further expanding perspectives.

This time, we will introduce the data center trends of 2023.
　

・Shift to hyperscale

In recent years, cloud services have been supported by HSDC (Hyperscale Data Centers) instead of conventional DC (Data Centers).

HSDC is a large-scale facility built by a company that requires a huge amount of data communication and storage. You can see many mega cloud companies such as GAFAM.

Megacloud companies demand data centers that are “suitably located”, “large scale” and “uniform quality”.

Until recently, HSDC was a facility created for mega cloud operators to install a large number of servers, but now even smaller SaaS operators such as GAFAM are starting to use it.

As HSDCs increase globally with the proliferation of cloud services, it has been predicted that the increased power consumption by data centers around the world will have a serious impact on the global environment.

However, in 2020, a joint study by Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and others reported that while DC processing capacity has increased about sixfold from 2010 to 2018, power consumption has increased only 6 percent overall.

The widespread use of HSDCs, which can process a large amount of data with little power consumption, has reduced the increase in overall DC power consumption.

As a result, HSDCs have high energy-saving performance and contribute to reducing the burden on the environment.
It can be said that HSDCs will become indispensable facilities in the future, when sustainability will be required.
　

・Renewable Energy

　
The decarbonization of DC can be divided into two main areas.
The first is to improve the efficiency of power use in facilities, including air conditioning and power supplies, and the second is to shift to renewable energy.

In recent years, global warming caused by CO2 emissions has become an issue, and the shift to renewable energy power is accelerating.

Although the spread of HSDCs has made it possible to somewhat curb the increase in power consumption, the power consumption itself will continue to increase.

It can be said that being a sustainable data center is a prerequisite for survival. In fact, major global DC operators have set a goal of 100% renewable energy deployment.

In Japan, Ishikari City’s zero-emission DC project is underway, taking advantage of its cold climate and proximity to a renewable energy location.

There is no doubt that operating on renewable energy will be the trend for data centers in the future.

・ Edge computer market

Edge computing refers to distributed computing in which data processing and analysis is performed on devices such as IoT terminals and servers installed nearby.

Since data is processed and analyzed at the edge without being sent to the cloud, it has the advantage of high real-time performance and low communication delays due to the distributed load.

In recent years, the evolution of the IoT and AI has driven the need for instantaneous processing of large volumes of data.

The conventional cloud inevitably increases processing lead time when handling large volumes of data, and Edge DC is the answer to this problem.

In the future, it is expected that edge computing will be further developed to avoid processing delays that can become bottlenecks in the cloud due to increased data volume.

Google, Microsoft, and others are also in the process of launching cloud edge solutions and exploring new needs.

HSDCs as well as edge computers are potential investment targets.
Please take a look at the future trends in data centers mentioned above to help you forecast future investments.