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JLL said the combined Frankfurt, London, Amsterdam, Paris, and Dublin (FLAP-D) markets have reached 3.8GW of live capacity by the first half of 2026,
In sum – what to know
Record year for FLAP-D – Europe’s Frankfurt, London, Amsterdam, Paris and Dublin markets have reached 3.8GW of live capacity, with another 453MW forecast for delivery in 2026.
AI shifts development patterns – Greenfield sites now account for 39% of the 2026–2028 pipeline as AI workloads push operators toward locations with available power and land.
Middle East pipeline delayed, not cancelled – Regional conflict has slowed deliveries, but JLL says projects are being deferred rather than abandoned, with capacity still expected to quadruple by 2030.
Europe’s five largest data center markets are on track for a record year of capacity expansion as artificial intelligence continues to reshape infrastructure deployment across the EMEA region, according to JLL’s EMEA Data Centre Mid-Year 2026 Report.
The real estate services firm said the combined Frankfurt, London, Amsterdam, Paris, and Dublin (FLAP-D) markets have reached 3.8GW of live capacity by the first half of 2026, with approximately 453MW of additional capacity forecast to come online by the end of the year. If achieved, annual deliveries would almost triple 2020 volumes.
Paris led first-half deployments, adding 72.5MW of new capacity, already exceeding its full-year forecast. London delivered 49MW, followed by Frankfurt with 45MW, Amsterdam with 16.3MW, and Dublin with 11.4MW.
Despite continued regulatory and grid constraints, JLL said the core European markets continue to expand. The report noted that FLAP-D live capacity has grown from 1.8GW in 2019 to around 3.8GW in the first half of 2026, with a further 1.4GW under construction and 2GW planned.
Artificial intelligence remains the primary force behind the next phase of development, driving demand for significantly larger sites with greater power availability, according to JLL.
“We’re seeing a fundamental change in how data center infrastructure is planned. Historically, operators built as close as possible to major population centers, but today’s growing AI training infrastructure follows a different logic,” said Assad Noori, head of data centers, work dynamics, EMEA, at JLL. “The determining factor is increasingly where sufficient power can be secured, rather than simply where demand exists. Data centers are being brought to where the power is, not the other way around.”
That shift is changing where new facilities are being built. According to JLL, greenfield developments now represent 39% of the 2026–2028 pipeline, compared with just 8% over the previous three years. Hyperscale greenfield campuses average 175 kilometers from a hub city, up from 46 kilometers previously, reflecting AI infrastructure’s larger power and land requirements.
The report also found that FLAP-D prime powered land costs have increased 82% since 2021, rising from €1.24 million ($1.43 million) to €2.26 million per megawatt. Primary markets now command a 2.3-times premium over secondary markets and a four-times premium over tertiary locations.
JLL said the higher costs are not reducing demand in Europe’s largest hubs. Instead, demand is becoming increasingly segmented, with latency-sensitive enterprise workloads remaining in primary markets while AI training infrastructure increasingly follows available power into secondary markets and the Nordics.
“Europe’s core markets will remain critical because enterprise demand isn’t going anywhere. However, hyperscale AI infrastructure requires a completely different scale of power and land,” said Martin Jensen, EMEA division president, data centers at JLL. “These requirements are accelerating investment into secondary markets, greenfield developments, and entirely new locations capable of supporting the next generation of AI capacity.”
Meanwhile, the report said the Middle East’s development pipeline has paused rather than contracted. The region has reached 1.6GW of live capacity, with 2.6GW under development and 13.8GW in the planning pipeline.
According to JLL, regional conflict has delayed major project completions during the past six months, but projects are being deferred rather than cancelled, leaving the region on track to quadruple capacity by 2030.
The report also found that supply remains constrained across Europe’s largest markets. Colocation vacancy across FLAP-D stood at 6.4% in the second quarter of 2026, while Frankfurt remained the tightest market at 3.1%. JLL said pre-leasing has become “a necessity rather than a choice,” with speculative development remaining limited and contiguous high-density capacity scarce across all five markets.
