IDCA datacentres report: Global concentration and the Goldilocks zone

Datacentre capacity has reached 67.7GW globally, with five countries accounting for 69% of that total, and the US alone accounting for 43%, according to the International Datacentre Authority’s (IDCA) Datacentre report 2026 . The study based its research on data from organisations such as the International Energy Agency, World Bank, United Nations and International Telecommunications Union, as well as governments, datacentre developers and operators. It discovered that where datacentres account for 5% or more of electricity grid usage , there seemed to be a threshold at which public opposition rises significantly and governments move from incentives to regulation. And while there was huge growth in the datacentre industry , whether a nation or region can profit optimally depended on using its resources wisely and attaining tech sector skills among 2.5% of the workforce, it found. The US was the site for the most datacentre capacity, with 29.2GW of a global total 67.7GW. US datacentres