As of April 14, 2026, there were a reported 4,767 data centers in the United States, the most of any country worldwide. A further 568 were located in the United Kingdom, while 533 were located in Germany. What is a data center? Data centers are facilities designed to store and compute vast amounts of data efficiently and securely. Growing in importance amid the rise of cloud computing and artificial intelligence, data centers form the core infrastructure powering global digital transformation. Modern data centers consist of critical computing hardware such as servers, storage systems, and networking equipment organized into racks, alongside specialized secondary infrastructure providing power, cooling, and security. AI data centers Data centers are vital for artificial intelligence, with the world’s leading technology companies investing vast sums in new facilities across the globe. Purpose-built AI data centers provide the immense computing power required to train the most advanced AI models, as well as to process user requests in real time, a task known as inference. Increasing attention has therefore turned to the location of these powerful facilities, as governments grow more concerned with AI sovereignty. At the same time, rapid data center expansion has sparked a global debate over resource use, including land, energy, and water, as modern facilities begin to strain local infrastructure.