Which country in Europe has the most data centers fueling the AI boom? / The latest Albania

2026-04-27 15:59:00, Aktualitet CNA

Which country in Europe has the most data centers fueling the AI ??boom? /

Albania is the first country in the world to introduce a “minister” led by Artificial Intelligence. But, beyond the great attention this news received in 2025, the real figures show another picture: the country ranks at the bottom of the European list for the number of data centers.

This shows that, despite its AI ambitions, Albania still has a limited level of digital infrastructure needed to support the development of artificial intelligence.

Albania currently has a very limited presence in data center infrastructure, with only one reported data center. This puts the country far behind Western European countries like Germany or the United Kingdom, which have hundreds of such and are major centers of artificial intelligence development.

Data centers are the backbone of artificial intelligence (AI) and support everything from queries to AI chatbots, to streamed videos and files stored in the cloud.

They are large facilities that house servers, storage systems, and networking equipment used to store, process, and distribute data. The more data centers, the more AI. But they consume large amounts of energy and require a lot of land space.

Data centers are “where the compute power is,” according to the AI ??Index 2026 report, published by the Stanford Institute for Human-Centered Artificial Intelligence. The report notes that “their capacity, geographic distribution, and associated supply chains determine what AI systems can be built and where.”

The US leads by a large margin

The majority of global data center infrastructure is concentrated in a small number of countries. According to Cloudscene, which is also used by the report, the United States leads by a wide margin, with 5,427 data centers in 2025. That's more than ten times the number of any other country, showing the extent of America's leadership.

Germany and the United Kingdom ahead of China

Two major European economies, Germany (529) and the United Kingdom (523), follow the U.S. Significantly, they rank ahead of China, which has 449 data centers, despite its strength as a technological and innovation powerhouse.

Canada (337), France (322) and Australia (314) are other countries with over 300 data centers. The Netherlands is also close to this level with 298 centers.

Most other countries have fewer than 300 facilities.

Russia (251) and Japan (222) round out the top ten for the number of data centers. Brazil and Mexico also have between 150 and 200 centers.

The EU total is less than half of the US

EU countries together have 2,269 data centers. This accounts for 42% of the US total. When the UK is included, the figure rises to around 51% of the US level. This once again highlights the strong position of the US.

Distribution of data centers in Europe

After the strong positions of Germany, the United Kingdom, France and the Netherlands, only a few other European countries have more than 100 data centers. These are Italy (168), Spain (144), Poland (144) and Switzerland (121).

Sweden (95), Belgium (81), Austria (68), Ukraine (58), Ireland (55) and Denmark (50) have between 50 and 100 data centers.

Regional patterns are clear in the distribution of data centers in Europe. Western Europe dominates, while Northern Europe has fewer but remains strategically important. Central and Eastern Europe is more fragmented and less developed.

Some EU countries have fewer than 35 data centers. Among EU candidate countries, Turkey leads with 35.

The data center industry in Europe is centered around a well-known group of cities: Frankfurt, London, Amsterdam, Paris and Dublin, the so-called FLAP-D markets. They attract the bulk of investment, infrastructure and operator activity, according to AtlasEdge.

These countries dominate because they combine large internet exchange points, strong demand from the financial and technology sectors, excellent connectivity, a strong cloud technology presence, and stable regulatory and business environments.

While FLAP countries rank among the most important in Europe, including the EU, candidate countries, the European Free Trade Association and the United Kingdom, Ireland lags behind in the total number of data centers.

Capacity matters.

These figures only reflect the number of data centers. “The US may have a clear lead, but other countries’ rankings should be evaluated keeping in mind that the number of centers does not reflect differences in facility size, computing capacity, or utilization levels,” the report notes.

According to the World Bank report "Advancing Cloud and Data Infrastructure Markets", four factors determine investment decisions in cloud and data infrastructure:

"Low- and middle-income countries face challenges in attracting investment in data center infrastructure due to weaknesses in power supply and broadband connectivity, as well as the strength of their business environment," the report concludes. / Euronews