This report characterizes the data center industry and its importance for AI development. Data centers are industrial facilities that efficiently provide compute at scale and thus constitute the engine rooms of today's digital economy. As large-scale AI training and inference become increasingly computationally expensive, they are dominantly executed from this designated infrastructure. Key features of data centers include large-scale compute clusters that require extensive cooling and consume large amounts of power, the need for fast connectivity both within the data center and to the internet, and an emphasis on security and reliability. The global industry is valued at approximately $250B and is expected to double over the next seven years. There are likely about 500 large (above 10 MW) data centers globally, with the US, Europe, and China constituting the most important markets. The report further covers important actors, business models, main inputs, and typical locations of data centers.

翻译：本报告阐述了数据中心产业的特征及其对人工智能发展的重要性。数据中心作为高效提供大规模计算能力的工业设施，构成了当今数字经济的"引擎室"。随着大规模AI训练与推理对算力需求的日益增长，这些专用基础设施已成为执行此类计算任务的主导平台。数据中心的核心特征包括：需要大规模冷却系统并消耗巨大电力的计算集群，对内部高速互联与互联网接入的严苛要求，以及对安全性和可靠性的高度重视。全球数据中心产业估值约2500亿美元，预计未来七年将翻番。全球范围内约存在500座大型（超过10兆瓦）数据中心，美国、欧洲和中国构成最重要的市场。报告进一步分析了该领域的主要参与者、商业模式、核心投入要素及典型选址特征。