Greater Chicago 2019 Data Center Market Overview

The Chicago data center market is one of the nation’s premier markets for data center services, occupying a central place in America’s geography and mission-critical infrastructure.

The region has become a favored location for hosting, colocation and cloud computing companies. In fact, the greater Chicago market is home to more than 3.39 million square feet (SF) of commissioned data center space, representing 325 megawatts (MW) of commissioned power, according to market research from datacenterHawk.

The market has experienced an active building phase that has added 115 MWs of capacity in the past two years. During that time, the vacancy rate for data center space has risen from 8.5 percent to 13.8 percent.

New players continue to enter the market, while incumbent providers are adding space to accommodate future demand.

Chicago is among the regions positioned to benefit in coming years as new technologies drive massive demand for data center space and network capacity.

And after several years of steady but unspectacular leasing, a new special report from Data Center Frontier, courtesy of RagingWire Data Centers, shows colo interest in this market is on the rebound — sparked by recently passed economic incentives and new projects in both the Downtown and Suburban Chicago markets.