‘Tipping point’ for digital infrastructure

The global technology and construction industry must work closer together to ensure that the worldwide demand for data is able to be met, according to a report from Mace.

The report from the construction and consultancy company highlights that, as the number of global internet users continues to grow, capacity and demand for data processing and storage worldwide will only increase.

While demand is rising, all industries are under increasing pressure to cut emissions – digital infrastructure is estimated to account for up to 3.2% of total global carbon emissions. The global technology industry must therefore build differently in order to contribute to global efforts of tackling climate change.

In 2020 alone, more than 100 hyperscale data centres were built, with Google, Microsoft and Amazon delivering 39% of the total global digital infrastructure.

According to Mace’s report, ‘Global connectivity: Transforming digital infrastructure’, global technology companies must radically change the way they deliver their data infrastructure by adopting modern methods of construction, machine learning, AI and the latest low carbon construction solutions in order to reverse their impact on climate change.

John Jeffery, director, international technology at Mace, said, “We know first-hand the urgency around carbon reduction and rapid deployment in the data centre sector. It takes a joint effort between tech companies, consultants and the supply chain to adopt cutting edge offsite manufacturing techniques that will facilitate this globalised growth with a sustainable focus.”

“I believe that within five years we will be delivering complex construction programmes faster, more sustainable and with greater certainty, than we could have imagined a decade ago.”