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More and more power-hungry data centers in Switzerland - but also more and more criticism. In Switzerland, more and more data centers are being built. US companies in particular are investing hundreds of millions of francs. But now the protest is growing. 07/26/2026, 02:42 07/26/2026, 02:42 The data center in Beringen SH recently sparked fierce protest. Image: Keystone Cameras monitor the construction site in the Zurich suburb of Glattbrugg, where US provider Digital Realty is building the ZUR4 data center, expected to be completed by mid-2028. It will be its fourth on the site. The capacity of the Zurich campus will rise to over 60 megawatts. At full load, it would need about 500 gigawatt hours per year, roughly four times as much electricity as the city of Aarau. A few kilometers away, even more electricity will soon be supplied: US company Vantage is building a campus in Volketswil ZH with a capacity of 100 megawatts. According to figures from real estate advisor CBRE, installed capacity in the Zurich area has more than quintupled between 2016 and 2026, stronger growth than in the rest of Europe. Per capita, Switzerland has the most data centers after the Netherlands, and in terms of capacity, only a few countries such as Denmark or Ireland have higher values. The rapid expansion is increasingly drawing criticism. Data centers are power-hungry and need a lot of water for cooling. Recently, activists protested against the construction of a data center by US firm Stack Infrastructure in Beringen SH. It is expected to require up to 350 gigawatt hours of electricity per year - almost three-quarters of the canton's electricity consumption. The protest camp was broken up by police. Data centers are also facing headwinds worldwide. In the German state of Hesse, a citizens' movement led to a temporary construction halt. The developer, US company Edgeconnex, even wanted to put a gas power plant into operation for operation. In the US, thousands of people recently took to the streets in over 100 locations to protest data centers. In Kronstorf, Austria, environmentalists and the Green Party are fighting against a data center from Google. But the situation in Switzerland differs in one respect. There are no huge data centers here with capacities of several hundred megawatts used for training AI models, for example. Costs for electricity, construction, and personnel are too high for that. Local data centers primarily cover local demand - for cloud or software services and data storage. Providers like Google, Microsoft, or Amazon, but also local software manufacturers, rent parts or entire data centers to be close to customers. This is important for regulatory reasons, especially in the financial sector. Proximity also guarantees fast response times (latency) and redundancy, i.e., one or more backup levels in case of malfunctions. For this purpose, several centers in a region can be connected. Many data centers also house servers from external companies (colocation) or serve to connect IT systems, cloud providers, and networks (interconnection). Private consumers also use data centers. Google search queries, for example, do not go to the US but to so-called cache servers in such a center. This shortens the process. Streaming providers like Netflix or Disney+, in turn, maintain servers where the most important content is stored locally for a smooth film and series experience. In Glattbrugg ZH, Digital Realty operates what will soon be the largest data center site in Switzerland. Image: Stefan Ehrbar/CH media So are data centers unfairly pilloried - and simply indispensable for local companies and consumers? Yves Zischek, country manager for Switzerland and Austria at Digital Realty, points out that his company uses exclusively renewable energy. The ZUR2 data center in Glattbrugg is even "the most measurably efficient in the world." Digital Realty has invested over one billion francs in Switzerland including ZUR4, spends double-digit millions annually on renovation and maintenance, and employs over 100 people. Having the technological infrastructure in the country also increases independence. "Of course, we wish that political Switzerland would recognize even more what we, as a sustainably acting provider, do for Switzerland in terms of digital sovereignty." The company primarily offers colocation and interconnection services. "Switzerland hosts many large international corporations, but also a strongly growing SME and start-up world," says Zischek. His customers include companies from all sectors, including federal operations. More electricity than the city of Zurich. The local economy, with its strong focus on services, IT and research, needs a lot of computing capacity and storage space. Switzerland remains a "central and exciting market" for his company, showing moderate but very consistent growth, says Zischek. In addition to building ZUR4, Digital Realty is discussing plans for further growth - either in existing infrastructure or with potential new projects. The federal government also assumes growth. It expects data centers' electricity consumption to rise by another 43 percent by 2029 compared to 2024, to around 3 terawatt hours per year. That corresponds to about 5 percent of total local electricity demand and would be more than the city of Zurich consumes. Geographically, the centers are unevenly distributed. In 2024, more than half of Swiss data centers' electricity consumption was in the canton of Zurich. According to a CBRE assessment, installed capacity in the greater Zurich area could more than double again between 2026 and 2030, from 209 to 483 megawatts. By 2030, the Zurich area could account for three-quarters of local capacities. More centers also in Aargau. One reason for this increasing concentration is "data gravity." Just as a planet attracts other objects due to its mass, large amounts of data also develop a kind of "attractive force." Apps and services are operated where the data is located, because moving them becomes more expensive and complex as the amount increases. Because land is scarce and not every electricity supplier can provide unlimited capacity, CBRE experts assume that more centers will also emerge in neighboring cantons. They specifically name Schaffhausen and Aargau. Among the larger providers in Switzerland is US company Equinix. According to the provider Datacentermap, it operates three data centers in Zurich and two in Geneva. Spokesman Tom Farthing says that among the most important customers are companies from the finance, pharma, technology, and telecom sectors. Microsoft invests 330 million francs. Switzerland is a "strategically important market." Strict data protection laws and data sovereignty requirements make it attractive for companies looking for trustworthy colocation and interconnection services, "especially in highly regulated industries." As a politically stable market with persistently strong demand, Switzerland offers "significant growth opportunities." Equinix wants to continue investing. Electricity supply is "very reliable" in Switzerland, the workforce is highly qualified, and the digital infrastructure is advanced. However: "High operating costs can make expansion more expensive than in other markets." Moreover, the regulatory framework can be "complex." Hundreds of millions of francs flow into the construction of data centers each year. Vantage invested 370 million francs in a data center in Glattfelden ZH, for example, and 70 million francs in a section in Winterthur; the company Stack Infrastructure is spending 132 million francs to expand the campus in Gland VD. Microsoft announced in 2025 that it would invest 330 million francs in local data centers. The construction industry also benefits from the boom. At the peak, 400 people were involved in the construction in Glattfelden. However, only about 25 people are needed for operation. IT service providers and electricity and telecom suppliers also benefit. But taken on their own, data centers are not significant job creators. Rather, they are increasingly becoming a prerequisite for companies to be able to run their business at all. (schweizheute.ch)

Digital Realty Trust posts strong Q2 2026 earnings as AI data center demand surges. Digital Realty Trust topped Wall Street estimates in the second quarter of 2026 and raised its full-year guidance, citing strong leasing tied to AI-driven data center demand, according to its SEC-filed earnings release. Digital Realty Trust (NYSE: DLR) reported second-quarter 2026 results that topped Wall Street expectations, posting record core funds from operations per share as demand for data center capacity tied to artificial intelligence workloads continued to accelerate. The real estate investment trust also raised its full-year 2026 guidance, citing strong leasing activity and an expanding development pipeline. The results were disclosed July 23, 2026 in a press release and a Form 8-K filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission. They illustrate how AI-driven compute demand is reshaping one of commercial real estate's fastest-growing sectors. Data center landlords like Digital Realty lease space, power and cooling infrastructure to cloud providers, enterprises and increasingly to companies training and running AI models - a shift that has pushed rents, occupancy and construction activity higher across the industry. Digital Realty owns and operates one of the largest data center platforms globally, with 310 facilities - including 89 held through unconsolidated joint ventures - and roughly 3,102 megawatts of IT load capacity across more than two dozen countries. The company leases space to hyperscale cloud operators, enterprises and, increasingly, AI infrastructure customers that require large, power-dense facilities to train and run machine learning models. For real estate readers, that demand is a key driver of industrial land values and power infrastructure investment in markets from Northern Virginia to Malaysia. For the quarter ended June 30, 2026, Digital Realty reported total revenue of $1.924 billion, up 18% from the first quarter and 29% higher than the same period a year earlier, according to the earnings release. Net income available to common stockholders was $443.1 million. Funds from operations (FFO), a standard REIT profitability measure that adds back real estate depreciation, came in at $2.73 per share. Core FFO per share, excluding net promote income, was $2.13 - a figure the company described as a quarterly record. Portfolio occupancy stood at 90.2%, while same-capital occupancy, a measure that strips out recently acquired or developed assets, was 92.5%. Renewal leases signed during the quarter carried cash-basis rent increases of 25.4%, the company said. Digital Realty signed $307 million of new bookings, measured as annualized GAAP base rent on a 100%-ownership basis, during the quarter, with $208 million attributable to the company's own share of joint ventures. Total leasing backlog - signed deals not yet commenced - reached $1.9 billion at 100% share and $1.4 billion at the company's share, which the company called a record. Among the quarter's larger transactions, Digital Realty disclosed a $475 million acquisition of powered land in the Kansas City metro area, a $134 million expansion of its Malaysia data center footprint, and a deal valuing a 64% stake in a Northern Virginia hyperscale campus at $3.5 billion. Citing the results, Digital Realty raised its full-year 2026 guidance. The company now expects core FFO per share, excluding net promote income, of $8.15 to $8.20, up from its prior outlook. Total revenue guidance for 2026 was raised to a range of $6.85 billion to $6.95 billion, and adjusted EBITDA guidance was increased to $3.75 billion to $3.85 billion. Digital Realty also guided to 75 to 125 basis points of portfolio occupancy improvement by year-end. "Digital Realty delivered record Core FFO per share in the quarter, reflecting robust customer demand and strong execution across our core pillars of growth," Andrew P. Power, the company's president and chief executive officer, said in the earnings release. That statement reflects management's own characterization of the results, not independently verified analysis. What it means. The verified facts are straightforward: Digital Realty's revenue, FFO and occupancy metrics all rose from the prior quarter and prior year, and the company raised its own full-year guidance in a public SEC filing. Those figures come directly from the company's earnings release and 8-K exhibit and are not in dispute. Management's framing - that results reflect "robust customer demand" - is an attributed statement from a Digital Realty executive, not an independently audited causal claim. It is consistent with broader industry trends toward power-dense data center leasing, but readers should treat it as company commentary rather than verified fact. RealtyWire's analysis: the scale of the Northern Virginia and Kansas City transactions, both tied to hyperscale and powered-land acquisitions, suggests Digital Realty is positioning its balance sheet for continued large-block leasing rather than smaller retail colocation deals - a trend likely to keep bidding pressure on power-ready industrial and data center sites in major U.S. markets. For readers tracking broader commercial real estate trends, data center demand remains one of the few segments posting double-digit rent growth in 2026. What to watch. Digital Realty's next quarterly results, expected in late October 2026, will show whether the raised guidance holds and whether bookings momentum continues at the pace seen in the second quarter. Investors and real estate observers will also watch whether the $1.9 billion leasing backlog converts to revenue on schedule, and whether power availability constraints in key markets slow the pace of new development starts. Continued real estate earnings coverage will track how other data center REITs perform against Digital Realty's benchmark this earnings season.