Data centre infrastructure spending in Australia is expected to rebound in 2021 and continue growing through to 2024, despite posting a sizable decline this year.
Australian organisations are forecast to spend $3 billion on data centre infrastructure in 2021 according to research from analyst firm Gartner.
The amount represents an increase of 6.5 percent for the year following a 10.4 percent decline in 2020, with Gartner citing restricted cash flow as the major cause.
Gartner senior research director Naveen Mishra said the priority for most companies in 2020 was keeping the lights on.
"So data centre growth is generally being pushed back until the market enters the recovery period.
“Gartner expects larger enterprise data centres sites to hit pause temporarily and then resume expansion plans later this year or early next. However, hyperscalers will continue with their global expansion plans due to continued investments in public cloud.”
Globally, spending is projected to reach $200 billion in 2021, a 6 percent increase following a 10.3 percent decline this year, as end-user spending is also expected to grow alongside it.
In addition to cash flow constraints, Gartner also credited the declines to ongoing COVID-19 lockdowns, affecting 60 percent of planned new facilities construction in 2020.
“Much of the reduced demand in 2020 is expected to return in 2021 when staff can physically be onsite,” Mishra said.
“For now, all data centre infrastructure segments will be subject to cost containment measures and enterprise buyers are expected to extend life cycles of installed equipment.”
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