More corporate IT workloads are now running in third-party data centres than in companies’ own facilities for the first time, according to new research from Uptime Institute.
The organisation’s Global Data Center Survey 2026 found that third-party sites account for 46 per cent of enterprise IT workloads, compared with 44 per cent hosted in corporate-owned facilities. A further 10 per cent of workloads are reported to be running in IT rooms or server cabinets rather than dedicated data centre sites.
The findings point to a continuing shift in how businesses manage computing infrastructure. Companies have been moving more systems into colocation facilities, cloud environments and other externally operated sites as they look for greater capacity, specialist management and improved resilience. Uptime’s survey suggests that this long-running trend has now passed a significant threshold.
Uptime Institute said it expects the balance to move further towards external facilities over the next two years. Its estimates indicate that by 2028, workloads in third-party sites could rise to 48 per cent, while the share in enterprise-owned facilities is expected to remain broadly unchanged. The growth would mainly come from workloads currently running in smaller IT rooms and server cabinets.
The survey drew responses from more than 800 data centre owners and operators across multiple countries. More than half of respondents were based in North America and Europe, according to Uptime.
The move away from in-house facilities is taking place alongside another major change: rising power density inside server racks. Uptime reported that the average typical rack density has exceeded 11 kilowatts for the first time, reflecting the gradual replacement of older server fleets with more powerful equipment.
Data centre power density has attracted wider attention because of artificial intelligence systems, which can require large numbers of specialist processors and more electricity per rack than conventional workloads. Some AI facilities have been designed for densities well above 100 kW per rack, but Uptime said most data centres still operate at much lower levels.
The headline average of more than 11 kW is affected by a relatively small number of very high-density deployments. When those sites are excluded, the average typical rack density is 7.8 kW, only slightly higher than the 7.5 kW reported in 2025.
Even so, the direction of travel is clear. Uptime found that 24 per cent of respondents now have at least some racks operating at 30 kW or above, up from 19 per cent last year. Much of the increase was reported in very high-density configurations above 50 kW, including some racks built for AI and graphics processor workloads above 100 kW.
For operators, higher density can improve computing capacity and energy performance at the server level, but it also places more demands on power delivery, cooling systems and facility design. Uptime said the benefits of newer hardware are generally accompanied by higher overall system power requirements.
The report also noted signs that some operators are shortening technology refresh cycles to less than four years. That would contrast with the approach taken in recent years by some large technology companies, which have extended equipment lifecycles to reduce depreciation costs. Uptime presented the trend as one reported by parts of the market rather than a universal shift.
Reliability remains a central issue for the sector. Uptime said outage performance has improved for the sixth consecutive year, with the proportion of respondents reporting an outage during the previous three years falling by three percentage points.
However, the institute warned that several underlying risks remain significant. These include pressure on power availability, local grid reliability, supply chain disruption and extreme weather. Such factors can affect both the operation of existing facilities and the ability to expand capacity when demand increases.
The financial impact of outages is also rising. Uptime said 71 per cent of respondents reported that their most damaging outage cost at least $100,000, compared with 57 per cent in the previous year’s survey. The report linked the increase to the growing dependence of organisations on digital infrastructure, which can make interruptions more costly even if their frequency declines.
Staffing remains another constraint. The largest skills gaps identified by respondents were in electrical roles and junior operations roles, each cited by 38 per cent of respondents. Operations management was cited by 35 per cent, while mechanical roles were cited by 34 per cent.
More than half of operators, 53 per cent, said they were having difficulty finding qualified candidates for open roles. That was up from 46 per cent a year earlier, indicating that recruitment pressures have not eased despite the sector’s growth and increasing importance to business operations.
Cost pressures are also prominent in the findings. Uptime said operators continue to face higher prices for power, staff and equipment, with AI-related infrastructure adding to capital and operational demands in some cases. Respondents also raised concerns about capacity planning, electricity availability and supply chain disruption.
The survey presents a data centre industry under pressure to support growing digital demand while managing power, workforce and reliability challenges. For businesses, the findings underline that moving IT off premises does not remove infrastructure risk, but shifts more responsibility to specialist operators whose ability to secure energy, skilled staff and resilient capacity is becoming increasingly important.
