Data traffic volume at DE-CIX internet exchanges (IXs) around the world has more than doubled since 2020, reaching a record 79 exabytes (EB) in 2025, with North America experiencing one of the largest year-over-year increases, according to the company. Across its global platforms, the 79 EB of data exchanged was a 16 percent increase from 2024 and up 147 percent from 2020 (38 EB), DE-CIX officials said.
To put the volume in perspective, 79 EB is equivalent to the amount of data it would take to stream the Super Bowl in full HD for 2.2 million years, according to DE-CIX.
While Europe’s largest IX, DE-CIX Frankfurt, saw traffic rise 6 percent to 48 EB from 2024, data traffic across the DE-CIX North American platform grew 46 percent, reaching 11 EB, up from 7.5 EB in 2024. New York saw 16 percent growth (5 EB) year over year, while Dallas grew by 35 percent to 3.5 EB. In addition, the young IX in Chicago saw 400 percent growth, reaching more than 650 petabytes (PB).
Two of the newest DE-CIX locations that went live in 2025, Mexico City/Queretaro and Sao Paulo experienced 24 PB and 10 PB data traffic, respectively, in their first months of operation. The distributed IX DE-CIX Mexico has seen strong traffic gains in the new year, with peak traffic growing 200 percent in the first half of January, setting the stage for further growth in the North American ecosystem in 2026, officials said.
Elsewhere, Madrid and Dubai (UAE) each had 2.7 EB of data traffic in 2025, while Lisbon, Portugal, achieved 115 PB. In Istanbul, 927 PB of traffic was exchanged, up 28 percent from 2024. Traffic at the distributed platform in Southeast Asia grew 140 percent to 1.2 EB, with Malaysia’s traffic reaching 93 PB.
The single busiest day last year occurred on Dec. 9, coinciding with a busy UEFA Champions League matchday, in which global data throughput reached 26.99 terabits per second (Tbit/s) at 8:11 p.m. Central European Time. At the same moment, DE-CIX Frankfurt set an all-time record of 18.73 Tbit/s, the company said.
“The growth in global data traffic is being driven by streaming, AI workloads, billions of connected devices, and the rise of remote and hybrid work around the world,” said Ivo Ivanov, CEO of DE-CIX. “Add the spikes from major live events, gaming and software releases, and significant global happenings, it’s clear that resilient, high-capacity digital infrastructure has never been more critical for our connected world.”
