Swedish firms are embracing cloud adoption at a rapid pace. Large-scale providers such as Amazon and Microsoft Azure are expanding their base in the country. There is surge in data center build-outs. Amazon recently announced the setting up of three data centers around Stockholm to provide cloud-based services. Facebook also plans to open third data center in Lulea, which is expected to be functional in 2021. The SaaS adoption is growing strongly among SMEs, and cloud computing is enabling big data technology in the country. GDPR will act as a driver for data center investment and regional cloud network development in Sweden.

The Cloud adoption in Netherlands is above European Union averages of about 26%. Over 90% of Netherland private enterprises and 85% of public enterprises adopted cloud productivity applications in 2018. Large enterprises are aggressively moving to the cloud platform. Around 80% of organizations in the Netherlands use Software as a service (SaaS) as preferred type of cloud service. Manufacturing and financial services industries contribute majorly toward the cloud adoption. It is expected that over 70% of enterprises in the Netherlands will adopt cloud services during the forecast period.

The cloud spending in the UK market was estimated at $8 billion in 2018.The adoption of SaaS dominated the data center market in UK. Around 35% of UK businesses have adopted cloud services. Banking, retail, and manufacturing sectors constitute over 40% of the cloud spending in the UK. Increased internet penetration, growth in smartphone and social media usage, and the rise in digital payment services are likely to the demand for cloud services in the UK. The GDPR (General Data Protection Regulation) and the Brexit will have a low impact on the data center investment. This might be due to the transfer of data between the UK and the European Union. However, the situation might change after success of Brexit.

Support for data center development from the government is high in the US. Over 30 states are providing tax incentives for data center development in the US. It also includes land for development and supportive utility power supply.

Artificial intelligence (AI) has found its way into everyday applications in various ways, including language recognition tools and AI-assisted cameras on smartphones, analysis of financial transactions in banks, and algorithms for self-driving cars. Medical imaging is undergoing a fundamental transformation with the advent of AI for various applications, ranging from diagnosis to treatment suggestions.

Data centers are mainly built in response to growing customer demand. However, the areas for the development and operation of data centers are identified based on factors such as power availability, fiber connectivity, and availability of skilled labor. Most of the modern data centers are built as per Tier III and Tier IV standards, thereby enabling high availability of service offerings. The Latin American market has grid power stability challenges. However, it supports free cooling, thereby reducing the power consumption by cooling systems. The major site selection criteria for data centers in Latin America are mentioned in the table below, along with the identified level of importance for each criterion and a description of the same.