The report found that $61 billion went to data center deals in 2025

The data center market is booming with little sign that it will slow down anytime soon — despite efforts to halt the expansion of processing.

According to A New report from Standard & Poor’s Globalthe global data center market will swell to $61 billion in 2025, an increase of half a billion dollars from last year and another record high for the industry. These funds attempt to keep pace with expanded infrastructure projects needed to funnel more data processing power to generative AI and its makers.

Despite concerns that interest in AI will wane and render projects moot, S&P experts told CNBC they expect demand for AI applications to remain strong in 2026, and skepticism of major players in AI is unlikely to change market trends. However, the numbers may not be as positive as they seem. S&P Global found that the majority of the financing boom came from private equity financing, an unstable debt model required to fuel massive, energy-intensive industry, CNBC reported.

According to an October S&P Global report, data centers were expected to do just that Increase use of their electricity grid by another 22% by the end of 2025, and they expect this number to triple by 2030. Other experts have monitored Similar trends.

In response to these trends, communities across the country have been resisting data center deals. Earlier this month, a coalition of 350 environmental nonprofits signed a letter outlining key concerns about the environmental impact of large data centers, urging all 50 states to halt the expansion of data center projects. Over the past year, data center deals have faced legal and social backlash from community groups and local advocacy organizations, including cases in Virginia and wisconsin. He even created defenders Litigation Toolkits To support the fight against AI data center expansion.

Meanwhile, the Trump administration has pledged to do so Speed ​​up federal data center authorization and Exceeding applicable environmental laws In order to achieve the goals set out in the new Artificial Intelligence Action Plan.