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Nearly 7,000 of the world’s 8,808 operational data centers are located in climates that fall outside the temperature range recommended for efficient operation, according to a new analysis that maps global data center locations against long-term climate data. While only a minority are in regions that are persistently too hot, the findings underline how economic, political, and network realities often outweigh environmental suitability when companies decide where to build.

The analysis, published by Rest of World, combines location data for 8,808 operational data centers with historical temperature records from the Copernicus Climate Data Store. It compares those locations against guidance from the American Society of Heating, Refrigerating, and Air-Conditioning Engineers (ASHRAE), which recommends that data centers operate most efficiently when inlet air temperatures fall between 18 C and 27 C. Above that band, cooling systems work harder, energy use rises, and costs increase. Below, condensation and reliability can become an inhibiting factor.

Based on that definition, nearly 7,000 data centers worldwide sit outside the recommended temperature range. The majority of those are in cooler regions below 18 C, where temperature is less of a constraint, but humidity management and airflow are more important. Around 600 facilities, or under 10% of the total, are located in areas with average annual temperatures above 27 C, where heat is a persistent challenge.

In 21 nations, including Singapore, Thailand, Nigeria, and the United Arab Emirates, every operational data center is located in a zone classified as too hot under the ASHRAE recommendation. Nearly all facilities in Saudi Arabia and Malaysia fall into the same category. In Indonesia, close to half of the country’s roughly 170 data centers are in overly hot regions, while in India, about 30% of its more than 200 sites are exposed to sustained high temperatures.

Singapore, with average daily temperatures hovering near 33 C and humidity frequently above 80%, has one of the densest concentrations of data centers in the world, with more than 1.4 gigawatts of capacity already online, and the government plans to allow several hundred additional megawatts under tighter efficiency rules. Data centers accounted for about 7% of Singapore’s electricity use in 2020, a share projected to rise sharply without intervention.

The pressure to build in less-than-ideal, borderline unsuitable climates is only accelerating globally. Demand for data centers to support cloud services and generative AI is rising fast, particularly in regions that are also among the hottest. At the same time, governments increasingly require data to be stored within national borders, limiting the option to centralize workloads in cooler locations such as Scandinavia. As a result, data centers are spreading geographically rather than clustering only where cooling is cheapest.

Even when data laws don't apply, decisions around data center locations are often guided by the availability (and the cost) of power and water. Other factors include the price of land, the frequency of natural disasters, and local governance factors like tax exemptions and building permits. Essentially, ambient temperature is one of a myriad of factors steering data center build-outs, which could explain why so many don't fit into ASHRAE's optimal temperature range.

Higher ambient temperatures bring compounding risks, with increased cooling loads putting strain on local power grids while also reducing the efficiency of electricity transmission. According to the International Energy Agency, data centers consumed about 415 TWh of electricity in 2024, roughly 1.5% of global demand. That figure is expected to more than double by 2030 as AI workloads scale, intensifying the impact of where new capacity is built.

Operators are responding by rethinking how facilities are cooled. Air cooling still dominates globally, representing 54% of the market, but liquid-based alternatives are catching up, particularly for use in dense AI racks where a Blackwell Ultra can consume as much as 140 kilowatts.

Even so, retrofitting existing facilities is expensive, and many of the world’s hottest data center markets are also those with the most constrained power and water resources. Risk analysts warn that by 2040, extreme heat could materially affect two-thirds of major data center hubs worldwide, including all major hubs in the Asia-Pacific and the Middle East. (Tom's HARDWARE)