Hyperscaller Pullbacks: Ghost Data Centres and Sector Resilience

Should we be concerned that infrastructure capacity is overbuilt? AWS is the latest hyperscaler to pull back on commitments, similar to Microsoft in the past few months.

The sector remains solid with long-term planning, with global economic instability bringing some conservatism. AWS CEO indicates that AI and cloud investments will continue.

Contributor, Dan Golding, suggests the rise of ghost data centres - these are unleashed facilities that accumulate value that will likely attract tenants. CoreWeave’s leasing of former Bitcoin infrastructure shows how quickly these assets can transition.

Major players like Oracle, Meta, Google, NVIDIA, and ByteDance are actively procuring data centre capacity, indicating that demand remains strong.

AI demand continues to drive infrastructure conversations, with Jevon’s Paradox beginning to unfold as companies like Thomson Reuters use savings from open-source AI models to fund further AI consumption. Lowering the cost of AI will broaden its adoption, pushing even greater demand for data centre capacity and accelerating overall infrastructure growth.

The sector has seen a wave of targeted hiring at companies like Rackspace, Green Mountain, CyrusOne, and Aligned Data Centres, especially in roles focused on hyperscale network expertise. Operators such as TierPoint, Raxio, and evroc secured financing and growth capital, while CleanArc brought in new investors and NorthC expanded through the acquisition of Colt’s data centre portfolio.