How many data centers do we need
Economic Daily · China Economic Net reporter Lin Huocan
This year, my country clearly wants to speed up the construction of new infrastructure such as 5G networks and data centers, and a number of data center construction projects will continue to be launched in various regions. The overall size of the data center market will grow rapidly, and the average annual compound growth rate is expected to be no less than 30% in the next three years. Experts suggest that when planning data centers in various places, we must scientifically plan and coordinate the layout according to the application needs to avoid "one-stop ups" leading to invalid investment.
The data center is an important part of the information infrastructure and the "infrastructure" in the "new infrastructure". In recent years, the pace of investment and construction of data centers in my country has continued to accelerate, and the number of existing data center racks in the country has exceeded 2 million.
On March 4 this year, the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee convened a meeting to clearly accelerate the construction of new infrastructure such as 5G networks and data centers. This also means that the construction of data center projects in various places will continue to expand. With the advent of the digital economy, how many data centers does my country need to invest in?
Why is the data center "sweet and sour"
What is a data center? In the era of the digital economy, digital computing capabilities, like water, electricity and other means of production, are one of the most fundamental social infrastructures. As a data hub and application carrier, the data center is a basic guarantee facility that carries digital computing power and information systems in various industries. It is an important prerequisite for building an information platform and a key link in the development of the digital industry chain.
Since the beginning of this year, various localities have implemented the central government's decision-making and deployment, accelerating the promotion of a number of new infrastructure construction projects, and data center projects have become one of the "fragrant buns" of new infrastructure in various regions.
Sun Huifeng, President of CCID Consulting, predicted that this year, my country's data center investment will reach 416.68 billion yuan, an increase of 12.7% year-on-year. By 2025, this investment scale is expected to reach 707.09 billion yuan.
Why are localities keen to invest in and construct data center projects? He Baohong, director of the Institute of Cloud Computing and Big Data at the China Academy of Information and Communications, told reporters that the data center, as one of the important new infrastructures, can not only serve the Internet, but also serve the digital transformation of traditional industries and effectively promote the transformation of local superior industries. Upgrade and innovative development.
"With the development of 5G and the Industrial Internet, the Internet and traditional industries will be further integrated, and new infrastructure will gradually shift from supporting consumption to supporting industrial development and social digital governance, becoming a digital infrastructure for the entire economic and social development, and data centers will also become various The basic leading industry on which the industry relies on development will greatly increase its importance in the entire economic system." He Baohong said.
Huang Wei, Chairman and CEO of IWC, told reporters that the data center business has grown with the development of the Internet. In the era of digital economy, the stable operation of data centers is an important guarantee for the normal work of various industries. For example, by providing services for clearing and settlement financial institutions, the data center can guarantee the normal development of financial activities, consumer payments, and social and economic activities; by supporting online office and instant messaging, it can ensure the normal operation of enterprises and personal communications.
Pan Helin, Executive Dean of the Digital Economic Research Institute of Zhongnan University of Economics and Law, said that data centers are popular among localities. On the one hand, data centers will provide important support for the construction of smart cities; on the other hand, the digital economy supported by data centers The rise will drive industrial upgrading from both the supply and demand sides and inject more new momentum into economic growth.
Demand will increase substantially
There are many shortcomings in the field of infrastructure in my country, and the shortcomings in the new infrastructure are more obvious. Since 2018, the Central Economic Work Conference has clearly stated for two consecutive years that it is necessary to accelerate the construction of new infrastructure.
In accordance with the central government's decision-making and deployment, various regions have accelerated the pace of "new infrastructure" and launched a series of investment projects. The "Government Work Reports" of various provinces show that a number of data center construction projects will continue to be launched this year.
As an information infrastructure, how many data centers does my country need to invest in?
"Data centers are the key infrastructure for industrial digitization. With the rapid increase in network data volume, the rise of cloud computing, and the beginning of the 5G era, the demand for data centers will increase significantly." Pan Helin said that since this year In response to the impact of the New Coronary Pneumonia epidemic, many industries are accelerating the expansion of online business. The demand for vertical businesses such as e-commerce, live webcasting, and online games, and the scale of business are constantly rising. This objectively provides more development opportunities for data center suppliers.
Pan Helin said that my country's epidemic prevention and control has achieved major strategic results. Many new formats and new models have further developed and become more mature under the impact of the epidemic, and the demand for data centers is also increasing. At the same time, in the context of accelerated advancement of technologies such as 5G, Internet of Things, and blockchain, the potential of data centers to invest steadily and cultivate new industries and new formats still needs to be further explored.
He Baohong believes that the shortcomings in the field of infrastructure in my country can work together with the traditional infrastructure through the "new infrastructure" to coordinate the advancement of shortcomings and promote innovation to form a joint force. At the same time, with the convergent development and widespread penetration of digital technologies represented by 5G and the Industrial Internet, low-latency, large-bandwidth application scenarios will continue to increase, which will bring about a substantial increase in data volume, which will further drive the expansion of data center market demand. He said that the overall size of the data center market will continue to grow rapidly, and the average annual compound growth rate is expected to be no less than 30% in the next three years.
Huang Wei told reporters that at present, China's demand for data centers is mainly concentrated in eastern economically developed provinces. The population and the density of Internet users in these regions are far ahead of the central and western regions. The number of large Internet, cloud computing, technology innovation enterprises and government and enterprise users It is also far ahead of other regions and has a greater contribution to the digital economy. It is the region with the strongest data center business demand in China.
"At present, the availability of data centers in these regions has reached 60% to 70%, significantly higher than other regions, and the gap between supply and demand is still expanding." Huang Wei predicts that in the next 5 to 10 years, China's data center market Demand will continue to increase, especially as 5G applications become more mature, more applications will be spawned, and then greater demand will be spawned.
How to avoid "one-on-one"
"Whether it is traditional infrastructure construction or emerging infrastructure construction, if there is a lack of scientific and rational planning, blind investment and follow-up construction will definitely lead to a series of problems such as unscientific layout, unreasonable layout and repeated construction." He Baohong said.
From the development experience of developed countries, the construction of data centers will generally be scientifically planned and planned. For example, service data centers are generally distributed in densely populated and informatized central cities (main urban areas). Some enterprises will also transfer disaster recovery services with lower network latency requirements to cold regions for deployment to better utilize local resources.
He Baohong suggested that when laying out data centers, we must pay attention to scientific planning and overall planning, and classify and plan large and super large data centers and edge data centers. Among them, the edge data center supports short-cycle data storage and real-time business processing, which requires high network latency and requires localized deployment; large and ultra-large data centers support long-period data storage and big data analysis services, and require network latency. Relatively low, its construction needs can be gradually transferred to the suburbs of first-tier cities, surrounding cities and even the central and western regions.
"Data center investment as a heavy asset is measured by the life cycle of 15 to 20 years. If the layout is improper, it will most likely lead to invalid investment." Huang Wei pointed out that in the past 10 years, many data center projects have been built in various places. The total gap is not large, but the characteristics of economically developed areas where demand exceeds supply, and economically underdeveloped areas where supply exceeds demand are more prominent. Therefore, it is recommended to use population density and corresponding flow demand as the important decision basis for the layout of the data center, combined with local policies, natural environment and other conditions, comprehensive planning and comprehensive planning to achieve a reasonable layout of national resources.
In Huang Wei's view, the construction of data centers in the future will present two important characteristics. One is that data centers will continue to be large-scale and large-scale; the other is that the carriers of edge computing will sink to the edges of communities and factories. Affected by this, the construction of data centers in the future will also be divided into marginal and centralized types, "bigger is bigger, smaller is smaller; closer is closer, farther is farther".
Huang Wei suggested that two factors must be considered in the location of large-scale data center construction. One is whether the customer's mid- and long-term application needs can support the construction of the data center; the second is that it must follow the changes in technology trends to develop the layout. As future technology updates will make the data center's technical threshold higher and higher, technology foresight will be an important factor to ensure the future adaptability of the data center and maintain the stability of return on investment.
Pan and Lin said that with the increasing demand for data centers, the construction of various types and sizes of data centers is increasing day by day. As a highly energy-consuming and highly sought-after industry, data centers are prone to repeated construction and excessive construction. Therefore, on the one hand, it is necessary to do a top-level design, make overall plans, fully consider the local economic development and industrial development needs, select the appropriate area, and do not blindly pursue scale in the construction of data centers. On the other hand, we should pay attention to improving the utilization rate of the data center, to be guided by market demand, and building a data center should be more targeted.