Data centre build costs vary more than threefold across 52 global markets

LONDON – 1 October 2026 – Building a megawatt of data centre capacity costs 211% more in the most expensive of 52 global markets than in the cheapest, according to STL Partners’ Global Data Centre Investment Calculator, which benchmarks construction and operating costs across 52 markets in 37 countries. The gap, of more than three to one, is set by land, labour and construction costs before any IT equipment goes into the building.

“A three-fold difference in build cost between the most and least expensive markets means location is one of the biggest levers operators have on returns,” said Jonas Topp-Mugglestone, Senior Consultant at STL Partners, who built the calculator.

The variation comes from the inputs that differ most from one market to the next. The calculator prices land at market-level powered-land benchmarks and scales construction labour to local wage benchmarks, with equipment hire and design and project management added on top, so two facilities of the same size and specification can carry very different price tags depending only on where they stand.

Location shapes the running cost as well. The calculator estimates operating cost from staffing, priced at market labour benchmarks, and from electricity, priced at market-specific rates applied a year, so the same benchmark can be read for the cost of operating a facility as well as building it.

The calculator covers four build archetypes, including hyperscale AI and hyperscale cloud, and draws on more than 100 data sources. It ranks all 52 markets by total cost per megawatt and groups them into lower-, mid- and higher-cost tiers, so an operator can see at a glance where a given market sits against its peers in 37 countries.

For operators, the analysis argues for a wider shortlist. As AI pushes capacity requirements up, the calculator lets a team compare an established hub against alternative markets on a like-for-like cost basis, for a chosen IT load, archetype and efficiency assumption, before committing capital.

“As AI demand pushes capacity needs up, operators who look beyond the established hubs and model the full cost of land, labour and construction will have a real advantage,” Topp-Mugglestone added.

The Global Data Centre Investment Calculator is free to use here, where users can set IT load, build archetype, power usage effectiveness and staffing assumptions to estimate the capital and operating cost of a build in any of the 52 markets.

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STL Partners is a leading research and consulting company that focuses on the telecom industry and adjacent markets by helping telcos and their partners innovate, grow and stay ahead of the competition.