Frankfurt is one of the fastest growing data centre markets in Europe, leading the industry along with London. Although the London data centre market is more mature, Frankfurt’s characteristics are more accommodating for rapid expansion. Because of this, Frankfurt actually leads London in total capacity. Several characteristics leading to Frankfurt’s growing data centre industry include:
- Major Financial Hub – Frankfurt is home to the Deutsche Bundesbank (German Federal Bank) and the European Central Bank, as well as several other leading commercial financial institutions.
- Central Location – Frankfurt’s location makes the city one of the most central cities in not only Germany, but also Europe.
- Availability of Land – Unlike many developed European cities, Frankfurt has ample land suitable for data centre development.
Data centre demand in Frankfurt comes from a variety of industries, but primarily is driven by the financial and information sectors. Frankfurt is undoubtedly the economic seat of Europe, due to the presence of the European Central Bank and Deutsche Bundesbank headquarters, as well as numerous commercial banks. Financial institutions create ample data centre demand, needing low-latency transactional processing, and highly sensitive information storage. Frankfurt is also considered the internet capital of Europe, with the German Internet Exchange processing 6.1 terabits of traffic per second in September 2020. As such an important connectivity hub, Frankfurt becomes an essential location for a company’s trans-European operations.