Hyperscale operators account for nearly half of all worldwide data center capacity and could hold more than two-thirds of the market by 2031, according to Synergy Research Group (SRG).

SRG's latest report found hyperscalers account for 48% of worldwide data center capacity, with 60% of that number belonging to own-built and owned data centers.

Non-hyperscale colocation capacity accounts for just 20% of total capacity, with enterprise on-premises data centers making up the remaining 32%.

In 2018, on-premises enterprise data centers accounted for more than half (56%) of total worldwide capacity.

Overall, total capacity will rise, driven by hyperscale capacity growing by a factor of three. SRG projects hyperscale owners will account for 67% of all capacity worldwide by 2031, with on-premises capacity dropping to just 19% of market share.

However, on-premises data center capacity will see growth due to generative AI applications and graphic processing unit (GPU) infrastructure, the research company said.

Colocation operator market share will also drop, but capacity will continue to increase by nearly double each year.

"Cloud and consumer-oriented digital services have been driving changes in data center deployment patterns for many years now, but over the last three years AI technology has accelerated those changes," SRG Chief Analyst John Dinsdale wrote. “We are seeing a different mix of data center usage across the regions, but overall the world is racing toward a situation where hyperscale operators are responsible for the bulk of global data center capacity. There are almost 800 hyperscale data centers in our known future pipeline, enabling hyperscale capacity to double in just three years."