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The North American data center market made gains in construction and net absorption in this year’s first half as cloud service providers and social media companies drove demand, according to CBRE. CBRE’s findings show that provid - ers brought 214.3 megawatts (MW) of new wholesale colocation supply online in the seven primary U.S. data center markets in the first half of 2021, an increase of 7 percent from the year-earlier period. However, vacancy remained low across those markets – as scant as 1.6 percent in Silicon Valley – amid persistent demand. Relief from tight vacancies likely will come from the 527.6 MW of capacity currently under construc- tion in primary markets, said CBRE researchers. That figure marks a 42 percent increase from a year earlier. “We’ve seen no indication that the amount of data created and utilized is leveling out, so demand for data centers likely will continue increasing across both primary and second- ary markets,” said Pat Lynch, CBRE executive managing director. “Users are beginning to position themselves closer to end users to support technologies including 5G, artificial intelligence and edge-computing technology. We continue to see a heavier appetite for data centers from investors who are starting to view data centers in the same category as more traditional real estate sectors.” Northern Virginia remained the most active data center market with net absorption of 70.6 MW in H1 2021 – more than triple that of Phoenix, the next highest market. Net absorption totaled 142.7 MW across the seven primary markets in the first half, an increase of 3.4 percent from the first half of 2020. Data center users leased more space in the first half of 2021 than in H2 2020 despite fewer deals being signed during this period. Phoenix saw more leasing activity in Q2 2021 than any other quarter in the previous five years. However, several markets, including Northern Virginia and Dallas, saw a drop in absorption year-over-year as some users consolidated their operations. Of the construction underway in primary markets at second quarter’s end, 317 MW (60 percent) has been preleased. Markets with notable pre-leasing activity include Silicon Valley, where 70 MW (82 percent) of the total MW under construction was spoken for, as well as Dallas (17.5 MW), Chicago (17.1 MW), New York Tri-State (13.1 MW), Phoenix (6 MW) and Atlanta (3.5 MW). North American Data Centers See Continued Increases in Supply, Absorption and Demand American Tower Announces Partner Program for DC Business American Tower announced the official launch of its Data Center Channel Partner program, expanding the market reach of its collocation and carrier-neutral data centers. The new program offers channel partners access to the American Tower metro and edge data centers for a distributed network architec- ture, which supports improved network elastic- ity and provides infrastructure ready for 5G and advanced applications. “Our Channel Partner program is designed to best support enterprise customers with experienced and committed channel partners, providing the expertise and solutions that enable new business opportunities,” said David Fox, director of business development, American Tower. “To fully realize the potential of 5G and the IoT, enterprises must move data processing closer to the edge, where the data is generated and consumed. Our program and data centers are well-positioned to help enter- prises usher in the next generation of techno- logical advances.” American Tower began offering data center services in 2019, beginning with one metro data center in Atlanta, Ga. Six additional edge data centers were added in Atlanta; Austin, Texas; Boulder, Color.; Denver, Colo.; Jacksonville, Fla.; and Pittsburgh, Pa. Lever- aging existing real estate at the base of the towers, additional sites can develop quickly and at scale, based on market needs, said American Tower. CORE COMMUNICATIONS Top 10 Most Active DC Markets: Market H1 2021 Absorption Market H1 2021 Absorption Northern Virginia 70.6 MW Silicon Valley 13.0 MW Phoenix 20.0 MW New York Tri-State 6.0 MW Atlanta 15.0 MW Houston 5.7 MW Hillsboro, Ore. 14.7 MW Minneapolis 4.2 MW Chicago 13.4 MW Dallas-Fort Worth 3.7 MW Source: CBRE 32 CHANNEL V ISION | Fall 2021