Underwater data center market projected to reach $2.78B by 2030

By AI, Created 3:07 PM UTC, June 02, 2026, /AGP/ – The underwater data center market is forecast to grow from $1.33 billion in 2026 to $2.78 billion by 2030, driven by rising data traffic, cloud demand and the push for lower-carbon infrastructure. North America leads today, while Asia-Pacific is expected to post the fastest growth.

Why it matters: - Underwater data centers are gaining traction as operators look for more energy-efficient ways to store and process data. - The market’s projected growth signals rising demand for cooling-efficient infrastructure as global data traffic, cloud use and AI workloads expand. - The category also fits broader pressure to cut the carbon footprint of digital infrastructure.

What happened: - The Business Research Company released a report on the global underwater data center market on June 2, 2026. - The report says the market will grow from $1.11 billion in 2025 to $1.33 billion in 2026. - The report forecasts the market will reach $2.78 billion by 2030. - The forecast implies a 20.2% compound annual growth rate from 2026 through 2030.

The details: - Underwater data centers are facilities placed beneath oceans or large bodies of water to house servers and networking equipment. - The natural cold temperature of underwater environments helps cool systems and reduces dependence on conventional air conditioning. - The report identifies rising energy prices, growing storage needs, wider cloud computing adoption and telecom network expansion as major historical drivers. - The report points to liquid immersion cooling, edge computing near coastal areas, AI and machine learning processing underwater, and lower-carbon data infrastructure as key growth drivers going forward. - The report also expects broader use of water-based cooling, more shallow and deep-water installations, more energy management and infrastructure monitoring software, and greater use of remote operations and managed services. - The market report says North America held the largest share in 2025. - The Asia-Pacific region is projected to grow the fastest during the forecast period. - The report covers Asia-Pacific, South East Asia, Western Europe, Eastern Europe, North America, South America, the Middle East and Africa. - The Business Research Company also highlighted new 2026 report features, including market attractiveness scoring, TAM analysis, company scoring matrices, Excel forecasting dashboards, market hotspot infographics and updated graphics and tables.

Between the lines: - The report is framing underwater data centers as a response to a basic infrastructure problem: more digital traffic is forcing operators to find cheaper cooling and more flexible locations. - Ericsson data cited in the report shows mobile network traffic rose about 6% quarter-on-quarter from Q4 2023 to Q1 2024, reaching 145 exabytes globally. - That traffic growth helps explain why underwater facilities are being positioned as a niche option for high-density, coastal and edge computing use cases.

What’s next: - The report expects continued deployment of underwater data centers as operators test deeper integration with AI, edge computing and managed services. - Growth is likely to track demand for low-carbon, high-efficiency infrastructure in regions with strong data demand and coastal access. - The full report and a free sample are available through The Business Research Company’s website.